Rosemary Pinenut Shortbread

I like being surprised.

A little while ago, I visited the newly installed Blue Bottle Coffee storefront in the Ferry Plaza Marketplace, SF for a cup of drip coffee before attending the Rising Tides Competition displayed in the same building. The coffee was somewhat too strong for my taste, necessary perhaps for the patient but tired-looking bankers and business people queuing for a cup on Wednesday morning. Instead of the much-talked-about coffee, good but not surprising, I was impressed by the $1 pinenut rosemary shortbread displayed in the glass bakery counter under my coffee-stained paper cup. What a first bite, "savory more than sweet," with a pleasing crunch of fleur de sel.

I tend to like my baked treats lightly sweet, to join an afternoon cup of tea or coffee. However I'm intrigued by unexpected combinations and having tasted the savory-salty version of shortbread I've been meaning to give it a go in the kitchen ever since. I've also been working my way slowly through the epic Tartine Bakery cookbook for oh 3+ years or so now and I decided to work from their shortbread recipe.



Pinenuts are a bit unusual in the pantry and I'm not always immediately inspired by them beyond the usual basil pesto... they do crop up occasionally though. A few days back I had a flavorful and unexpected sardine ragu filled with chunks of fresh sardine, sweet dried currants, and pinenuts in a heirloom tomato-based sauce. Very very good. But where was I?

For the shortbread I mixed some fresh, minced rosemary from the herb patch into the softened butter as I would do to make an herbed butter. I also toasted a handful of pinenuts in a mini cast-iron skillet with a drop of olive oil and folded them into the dough as the last step. Dry roasting would also work well I imagine. The nuts have a lot of natural oils so they take on a golden hue quickly, less than 5 minutes shaking the pan constantly. Other than these two additions, I cut back on the sugar slightly and sprinkled coarse sea salt on the top of the dough before baking. I cut the original recipe in thirds (experimental) so the baking was done in two mini aluminum loaf pans (5-3/4 x 3). Pressing the buttery dough into the pans is a bit awkward, the dough tended to stick to my hands rather than the pan. Damp hands help a bit. Remember to cut the cookies into squares or rectangles while they are still warm otherwise they will crumble. Delicious but somewhat less elegant.



I'm ready for my cup of tea.