My friend, Jolene Adams, President of the American Rose Society, was recently our houseguest for a few days as she was asked to speak at the annual Yankee District Convention. This year’s extravaganza was hosted by New England Rose Society, based in Massachusetts, and because Jolene lives in the San Francisco area, it makes life easier for her to come a couple of days early so she can settle into our different time zone. Also, she had a mission: to bake a recipe for her lecture.

Baking with Roses

We have a dear friend in Connecticut Rose Society, Becky Martorelli, who has been gradually introducing us to the idea of baking with roses. Now, mind you, I had a lot of trouble with this subject when it first came up. I felt like a guilty cannibal when I tried one of Becky’s crispy rose cookies for the first time, but I seem to have gotten over that! Becky’s latest culinary delight was an almond rose pound cake which was to die for! It was rich and dense with slivered almonds on the top and it got moistier every day for a week! She brought the cake over when Jolene was here so she could sample it. It made a great breakfast food, too, with a cup of hot coffee the following morning. Becky uses organic Bulgarian Rose Water to flavor her culinary rose delights.

Rose water is really an amazing phenomenon. It is super for cooking, putting into a soothing bath, or used as an astringent on the face…and it smells heavenly! It is distilled from fresh rose petals and lasts for a really long time. I’ve had my bottle for a year or so, and a little bit goes a long way. If you check out Amazon, you can find the same Bulgarian Rose Water and lots of other rose-based treats. There are rose petal jams, rose hip jellies, and rose marmalade…what a delicious way to get your Vitamin C!

Jo brought rose marmalade with her, made from rose petals. She wanted to make some cookies, so I pulled out my rose water and we started going through all my cook books, looking for a suitable recipe. She wanted to make thumbprint-type cookies so she could use the rose marmalade in the center of them, and after scouring through several books, here is the recipe we found (with alterations we made):

Recipe: Rose Shortbread Cookies

2 cups softened butter
1.5 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup rose water
4 cups unsifted flour
Rose jam, jelly, or marmalade

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add rose water and beat until well mixed. Gradually add flour and mix well. Chill 2 hours or overnight…dough will be very stiff. Shape into 1″ balls and place 1″ apart on ungreased baking sheets. Press thumb into center of each ball; fill with preserves. Bake 14-16 minutes or until lightly browned.

So, Jo put the cookies in the oven and all of a sudden, a wonderful aroma was permeating the kitchen! We pulled them out when they were finished baking and we each savored a warm, rosie cookie. And, I mean savored! The rose flavor of the cookies doesn’t go away when swallowed: it infuses its savory-ness right up to one’s nose. You don’t just eat these cookies…they are a flavorful, fragrant experience!

By the way, Tazo makes an herb tea called ‘Passion,’ and it is wonderful with these cookies! This tea is rich and red, made from hibiscus flowers and (you guessed it) rose hips! I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do! Happy baking…