White Chocolate Dipped Mixed Herb Sugar Cookies

These were part of my solution to the reality show that is going on in my garden called, Herbs Gone Wild. 

For me, t’s easy to get lazy using up home-grown fresh herbs when they are so plentiful during the summer months. Many others are much more diligent about taking advantage of the season. Lately, I had a wave of garden guilt so it was time to get busy. 

Of course, I could start freezing them and make sauces and pesto to preserve. But let’s not get crazy. Baby steps. 

These proved to be an easy peasy solution to my Herbs Gone Wild problem. I cut a swath into my garden, gathered a bunch of different varieties and headed to the kitchen.

These soft chewy sugar cookies and a creamy vanilla neutral flavor spiked with a bit of lemon flavor. I chopped up fresh lemon thyme, sage, spicy oregano, rosemary, lemon balm, marjoram and a few varieties of mint (chocolate, apple, pineapple, etc.) The result is a cookie with a fresh flavor explosion. 

These are good on their own and you can stop there. However, because I couldn’t stop there, I melted some white chocolate chips, dipped half the cookies in the chocolate and then pressed fresh herbs into the chocolate before it hardened. Only do this last step if you plan on serving the cookies right away. No one wants to eat a cookie with wilted fresh herbs attached.

Ingredients:

• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, room temperature
• 1½ cups white granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped mixed fresh herbs (I used rosemary, basil, and thyme) plus small sprigs for pressing into the chocolate.
• 1/3 cup white granulated sugar for rolling the cookies before baking
• 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350º F. 
• Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
• Sprinkle the 1/3 of granulated sugar out on a flat plate.
• Mix the unsalted butter and sugar until creamy, about 3 minutes. 
• Mix in the egg, vanilla and lemon extracts.
• Add the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time until just combined.
• Add the fresh chopped herbs and combine evenly.
• If you like, use a teaspoon or cookie scoop to portion out the dough. Take each portion and roll into a ball, then roll in in the plated sugar.
• Place the cookies on baking sheet and use a wooden spoon to flatten them out.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes. Be careful not to let the cookies get too brown so check them at 6 minutes onward. 
• Remove from oven, transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let cool completely. 
• You can snitch one while it’s warm to taste (recommended)
• Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler.
• Dip half the cookies in the melted chocolate, then press a herb sprig into the top and place back on the wire rack.
• When the chocolate has set, plate and serve the cookies.