Rosemary Cornmeal Cookies

I was invited to dinner at a neighbor's last night, so I automatically asked what I could bring.  She insisted that I just bring myself, but I couldn't do that!  Not knowing what was on the menu, I didn't want to step on any toes by making a salad or some sort of dinner rolls, so I figured I'd play it safe and bring a dessert.  That made me think about the cookbook I recently reviewed, Cookiepedia, and that there were a few recipes in it that I wanted to try.  I settled on the Rosemary Cornmeal Cookies.

INGREDIENTS:

citrus zest (optional)

3/4 c butter - room temp
1/2 c sugar
2 yolks
1 t vanilla
1 1/4 c flour
1/2 c cornmeal
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
Rosemary

If you plan to include citrus zest, she recommended incorporating it into the butter at the start.  I whipped 2t lemon zest into the butter before creaming it together with the sugar, but I will definitely increase that next time.  

Once that mixture is light and fluffy, add the egg yolks, then the vanilla, beating well.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.  Add 1/3 at a time to the butter mixture.  Form into ball, wrap in plastic and chill 1'.

 

The original directions recommending rolling out the dough on a lightly-floured surface to 1/4" thick.  Cut using 2 1/2" cutter and place 1" apart on parchment.  Sprinkle with rosemary, pressing to adhere.  Bake until edges start to brown, 10-12".

I had already planned to cut the cookies with a pizza wheel rather than cutters, so I was thinking I could roll it right on the parchment, transfer the parchment to the baking sheet and separate the cookies to give them growing room.  What I didn't count on was how soft the dough was.  First it kept pulling up as I was rolling it.  That was fine because it was so easy to just press it back in, but I didn't think trying to slide them around on the parchment would work well, so I ended up using a mini spatula to transfer them to another sheet. 

I don't know why, but for some reason, it popped into my head to whip out my gnocchi board (no, I still haven't actually made gnocchi) to press lines into the cookies.  I ended up being pleasantly surprised that it only stuck to a few.  

All in all, I like these cookies and would definitely make them again, but I'll increase the lemon zest and cut back a little on the cornmeal.  I like that the cornmeal added a different layer of texture, but it was actually a little too much for these delicate cookies.