rosemary in desserts

Rather than one BIG post about dinner with Sarah and her friend Tim last night, I'll break this into two or three and post throughout the day. Though I spent much of yesterday (and a good bit of time the previous two days) in the kitchen, I still have more to do today: a vegetable side dish for the Smelts' Thanksgiving potluck tonight. Once Conrad gets out the door to catch his flight to Honolulu, I'll get to work on some potatoes to boil and mash.

Remember my multitasking error with the biscotti? This was one of my distractions that evening: rosemary butter cookies. I made up the dough Friday night and left it to chill overnight. I still have some in the fridge, in fact - maybe I should bring a small selection in to the banquet? I'll think on it.

The idea of using rosemary in cookies intrigued me. The herb has such a lovely scent - I love it when I'm visiting a place where it's used as a bedding or border plant because then I can just reach down and rub some between my fingers, then breathe in the aroma from my hands. Wonderful.

The recipe was another from the Martha Stewart book Karen gave me. I paired the cookies with a red wine poached pear for dessert, and some Roquefort cheese. The poaching liquid also uses fresh rosemary, and the doubling of that flavour appealed to me. In the end, the cookies' flavour was a little elusive and took some active guessing on the part of our guests. Still, I'm pleased with how they turned out, and I'm glad to add them to my repertory.