I don’t think I’ve ever created a recipe that delighted all of my senses as much as these cookies. If you decide to embark on this journey, you’ll start with your sense of smell. Whether you purchase dried rose petals or make them yourself, they’re pleasantly fragrant. I used dried rosebuds, but you can also use dried rose petals. To find dried rose petals, click here. To find dried rosebuds, click here. I pinched the calyx and stem off of the rosebuds to avoid large crunchy bits in the cookies, then I crushed the roses with a mortar and pestle. You can also place them in a plastic bag and roll over them gently with a rolling pin. Your sense of hearing will be satisfied with the crunching of the delicate, dried rose petals. Next, you’ll use your sense of touch to experience the fun rolling cookie dough into balls and maybe even trigger some childhood memories.
The finished cookies have a rustic, almost shabby chic look with their cracks, rose-speckled dough and beautifully imperfect dried roses. You’ll gaze at your beautiful handiwork. And of course, you’ll sample a warm cookie, before you’re supposed to. The cookies will taste tender and slightly sweet with a hint of rose. I like a more subtle rose flavor in my baked goods. But if you prefer a stronger rose flavor, feel free to add a small amount of rose water to your dough. Start with 1/8 teaspoon or 1/4 teaspoon, because a little goes a long way.
If you’re like me, you’ll taste a spoonful of the raspberry ganache because you can and should. Speaking of the raspberry ganache, please use a good quality white chocolate! In some recipes, it’s fine to use white chocolate chips or candy melts if you prefer, but NOT this one. In my humble, yet educated opinion, you should never use chocolate chips to make ganache. I studied chocolate in culinary school with a master chocolatier. I never use chocolate chips for ganache because they contain stabilizers that keep them from melting completely, which prevents you from having the smoothest ganache possible. They also contain less cocoa butter and tend to have a waxy mouth feel.
For this recipe, when it comes to butter, you should also be a little bit picky for successful baking. Low quality butter tends to contain more water and your cookies may spread too much. So make sure to use good butter. Your butter should be room temperature, but not warm. If the butter is shiny, it’s too warm. Don’t try to speed up the softening of butter with your microwave. That’s not a hack, in spite of what you may hear on the internet. Microwaves heat unevenly and will potentially melt your butter. The best way to speed up the softening of your butter is to simply cut it into cubes. By the time you get the rest of your ingredients ready, the butter should be soft enough to use. My last, but most important success tip, is to weigh your ingredients. U.S. Imperial weights are shown in parenthesis on the recipe.
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cookies
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- 1/3 cup (2 oz or 59ml) raspberry purée, strained
- 1/4 cup (2 oz or 59ml) heavy cream
- 3 ounces (or 85g) white chocolate, finely chopped Do not use white chocolate chips
- 30 dried rosebuds for decoration optional
Ingredients
Filling
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- In a small saucepan, bring the pureéd raspberries to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer until the purée is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Transfer the raspberry reduction to a small bowl and set aside.
- Place the white chocolate in a medium heat safe bowl and set aside.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the heavy cream to a simmer, just until bubbles form around the edges. Do not boil. Stir in the raspberry reduction and heat just to a simmer again. Do not boil.
- Pour the hot cream mixture over the white chocolate, making sure all of the white chocolate is submerged. Let it sit for 2 minutes, then stir with a spatula until smooth.
- Let the ganache cool until slightly thickened. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon into the indentation of each cookie. The ganache will continue to firm up as it sits.
- When the ganache in the cookies has firmed up, decorate with dried rosebud or rose petals, if desired.
*To find dried rose petals, click here.
**To find dried rosebuds, click here.
I LOVE short bread, these caught my eye because they’re different pinning them to give them a try.
Hi Leslie, I hope you enjoy the cookies. Thanks for stopping by!
With the cookie recipe, I had a bowl of crumbly dry ingredients that would never have formed a ball. Not knowing what to do, I added milk. What did I do wrong?
Hi Lacey! Shortbread dough is dry and crumbly. This is normal. It typically doesn’t contain liquid because liquid encourages the formation of gluten, which we don’t want in shortbread. If your dough is much too dry and won’t stick together, it’s likely that you added too much flour. Weighing your ingredients is the most precise way to guarantee success.
Hi! I’d like to try and make these for Easter, but my sister-in-law can’t eat dairy. I can’t find/afford non-chip nondairy white chocolate, and was wondering if nondairy white chocolate chips (with coconut cream instead of heavy cream) would work? You probably haven’t tried this, but in your professional opinion!
Thanks!
Hi Annie, I haven’t tried to make a dairy free ganache. If I was going to test it, I would probably try using vegan white chocolate or vegan white chocolate chips if that’s all that is available. For the heavy cream replacement, I would try one of the dairy free substitutes such as Silk Dairy Free Whipping Cream Alternative or Califa Farms Dairy Free Heavy Whip Substitute. There are recipes for vegan ganache out there that are successful with full fat coconut milk, but it may give your ganache a coconut flavor. Hope this helps!
Do the petals add flavor?
Do you think I could add rose water instead of the crushed rose petals?
Hi Cynthia, the dried rose petals add subtle flavor. You can use rose water instead if you prefer.
These are delicious but because of the ganache do they need to be refrigerated?
Hi James, ganache is safe to leave at room temperature for a couple of days. I leave the cookies loosely covered on my counter for up to two days. For longer storage, refrigerate the cookies. Bring them to room temperature before eating.
I made them and they are perfect. I have made them twice and both turned out perfect.
Hi Jenni, thanks for stopping by to let me know. I’m so glad they worked out for you. Have a great week!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Hi Vanessa, the cookies can be kept at room temperature up to 2 days. For longer storage, keep them in the refrigerator for 5-7 days.
There is some confusion in steps 2 and 3 for the filling, there is some repetition. Trying these out now for Valentines day, I will update with results.
Hello! My apologies for the confusion. The recipe was just corrected and the extra repetitive text was removed. Thank you for calling this to my attention. Have a great Valentine’s Day!
Thank you! The cookies were amazing, definitely one of the top 5 cookies I have ever baked. Shortbread is a favorite for sure
Hi BakerBun! I’m so glad you loved them. Thanks for taking the time to let me know.