The days are shorter, the temperatures are dropping, and if there’s one thing we look forward to at the end of the day it’s cozying up with a hot cup of tea (or coffee, or cocoa!) and a few seasons of our current binge-worthy show. But what really is a cup of tea (or coffee, or cocoa) without a little something to dunk and crunch with it? The short of it is, we love a shortbread cookie to have on hand pretty much all year round to perfectly accompany our hot beverage of choice. Today we thought we would share our three favorite shortbread recipes that we hope you love as much as we do! But first, a little history on the shortbread cookie.
While shortbread cookies have been around for years and years, we can actually thank Mary Queen of Scots and her team of French chefs in the 16the century for perfecting the art, well, the recipe at least. But it was years before these delightful cookies were enjoyed with tea because tea didn’t arrive in England until the mid-1600s. Crazy to think, isn’t it? Now, the term shortbread could have come about a couple of different ways; one, because of the crumbly or “short” texture of the dough, or two, because of butter or “shortening” being the main ingredient.
With any luck, we’ve got you drooling just thinking about these delightful, buttery cookies, so we can’t just leave you empty-handed with no recipes to try! Here are three of our favorite shortbread cookie recipes.
Light and Buttery Lavender Shortbread Cookies
If you haven’t been cooking, baking, or making refreshing lemonades with culinary lavender, then you’re missing out. We highly recommend baking some light buttery shortbread cookies that have just a hint of lavender in them, they pair nicely with an Earl Grey tea or Chai. These cookies also make for a unique and delicious gift! Snag the recipe here.
Chocolate Chip Shortbread
Here is a shortbread recipe for all of you chocolate lovers! Combining the flavors of a buttery cookie with sweet chocolate morsels? Count us all the way in. We love these with our coffee or hot chocolate, and these cookies are excellent for having around in case you have unexpected guests stop by. Grab the recipe here!
Rosemary Lemon and Honey Shortbread
The savory herbs mixed with the tanginess of lemon then sweetened up with some honey? PLUS the buttery goodness? It doesn’t get much better than that in a single cookie. There is no right or wrong pairing, but we’re particularly fond of these with herbal teas. If this sounds like something you would gobble right up, check out the recipe here!