Hearts and Roses Shortbread Cookies

I wanted to make rose themed sweets to celebrate roses and hearts for Valentine’s Day. Heart shaped cookies with hint of rosewater and rose sugar is delicious to eat and beautiful to look at on the tea table.

Rose Shortbread Cookies

I have been wanting to bake rosewater cookies ever since I saw the recipe in The Charms of Tea: Reminiscences and Recipes. This book features so many beautiful and delicious tea time recipes and has been one of my go to books for a long time. Rosewater is commonly used in dessert recipes in the middle east and rose scented cookies and cakes taste so elegant! These days it’s so easy to find good quality, pure culinary rosewater and rose petals and I found both of them on Amazon.

I ended up making a simple shortbread cookie dough because I didn’t have certain ingredients listed in the original recipe. I chilled my dough for 2 hours in the fridge, rolled out the dough to 1/4″ inch thickness using a 2 ½” inch cookie cutter. These cookies are soft, buttery and not too sweet. It also has enough rosewater ( I added 3 tsp) to scent the cookies without being overwhelming.

See also my recipe for Strawberry Jam Cookies also adapted from The Charms of Tea: Reminiscences and Recipes.

Rose Sugar

Instead of baking the cookies with sprinkled sugar on top like the original recipe, I decided to sprinkle rose sugar on my baked cookies. You can gently crush and grind rose petals with a sheet of paper towel. Place rose petals on a paper towel, (parchment paper also works) form the paper gently into a loose ball then roll the ball between your hands. Combine the petals with sugar and you have rose sugar. They make your cookies even more gorgeous!

Valentine’s Day Tea

Celebrate Valentine’s Day tea with special teacups, tea set or tableware. My pale pink teacups are by Luneville, renowned French pottery manufacturer. Teacups and saucer have rose petals and leaves decorated all over it and is appropriately named “Rose Thé”. My dessert plate is Limoges and has classic design with roses painted on it. Both Luneville pieces and Limoges are not antique, but they’re part of my precious collection!

Print Recipe

Rose Shortbread Cookies

Recipe adapted from The Charms of Tea: Reminiscences and Recipes

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Servings: 26 Cookies

Ingredients

Rose Shortbread Cookies

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• ½ tsp salt
• ⅔ cup powdered sugar
• ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 tsp rosewater

Rose Sugar

• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2-3 tbsp culinary rose petals

Instructions

Rose Sugar

• Place rose petals on a sheet of paper towel or parchment paper and gently fold paper into a loose ball. Roll the ball between your hands gently to crush and grind rose petals.
• In a small bowl combine sugar, rose petals and set aside.

Rose Shortbread Cookies

• Combine flour and salt in a bowl and set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Beat in vanilla extract, rosewater and scrape down sides with silicone spatula.
• Gradually mix in the flour and do not over mix. Divide dough in half, transfer onto two sheets of plastic wrap and form into discs. Chill the dough in fridge for 2 hours.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat and turn on the oven to 300°. On a well floured surface roll out the cookie dough in ¼ inch thickness. Use 2½ inch cookie cutter to cut out cookies.
• Line cookies 1 inch apart on a baking sheet and bake for 22 – 25 minutes. When cookies are done baking, sprinkle cookies with rose sugar and let cookies cool completely.