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These buttery, melt-in-your-mouth, shortbread-style Rosemary Butter Cookies are lightly sweet, with a hint of warm Rosemary and bright lemon! Finished with sparkling sugared edges, this easy cookie recipe is one you’ll go to for those special moments like parties and showers, but also one you’ll want to keep on hand for afternoon tea or coffee. They’re perfect for sharing with a friend!

Easy shortbread butter cookies made with rosemary and lemon zest.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Flavor is always going to be my #1 reason for loving a recipe. And the flavor of these Rosemary Butter cookies completely stole my heart! Light and lemony on a backdrop of warm, herby Rosemary, these butter cookies are more delightful shortbread/ tea biscuit than your usual sweet cookie.
And you know there’s something about a delightfully light sweetness that is completely addictive!
Then there’s the aroma. Not only does your home smell incredible while they’re baking, these butter cookies continue to be beautifully aromatic days after baking!
Not to mention, they’re visually simple and elegant.
Each time you reach for one, it’s a complete, beautiful experience you get to savor. And that’s the way food should be.

Rosemary butter cookies with fresh rosemary, a lemon and a bowl of sparkling sugar on a cooling rack.

Are Butter Cookies & Shortbread The Same?

Both are made mainly of butter, flour and sugar. The difference is the balance, or ratios, of those ingredients.

Shortbread has a higher butter to flour and sugar ratio than butter cookies. Butter cookies are made with the same amount of butter as shortbread but contain more flour and sugar.

Even though the balance of ingredients varies some, the flavor is very similar. So, if you love shortbread, you’ll love these Rosemary Butter Cookies!

Recipe Ingredients & Overview

All of the ingredients needed to make rosemary butter cookies with text overlays identifying each ingredient for a user friendly list.

I’ll walk through an overview of ingredients & steps in these next sections along with helpful tips!

Look for specifics at the end of the post in the recipe card.

salted butter
white granulated sugar
large egg yolks
pure vanilla extract
lemon zest
all purpose flour
chopped fresh rosemary
salt
sparkling sugar for finishing

Recipe Variations: Dried rosemary can be used instead of fresh rosemary. Use 1 teaspoon dried rosemary to each tablespoon of fresh rosemary.

If you don’t want to add the sparkling sugar to the edges, you can leave it off. We love it for texture, added flavor and fabulous appearance.

How to Make Rosemary Butter Cookies

A 6 part collage showing all of the steps to making rosemary butter cookies, from making the dough, to forming and freezing 2 logs of cookie dough, to slicing and baking.

Mix the Dry Ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and chopped Rosemary. Set aside.

Mix the Wet Ingredients. Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, vanilla and lemon zest. Mix until ingredients are combined.

Combine the Two. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients while mixing. As the the ingredients first mix together, they will sort of separate and look like wet sand. When they come back together to form a soft dough, stop mixing.

Form Logs for Slicing. Turn the cookie dough out of the mixing bowl onto a silicone baking mat or a large piece of parchment paper. Half the dough. Roll each half into 2 inch diameter logs without over handling the dough. Pat to create square ends, instead of tapered ends, on the logs to create uniform cookies when slicing later.

Finish with Some Sparkle. Pour sparkling sugar on the parchment paper. Roll each log through the sugar to coat. When coated, roll each log in plastic wrap. Twist the ends to seal and freeze 1 hour-overnight.

Bake. Remove cookie dough from freezer, slice into ½ inch thick, even slices. Place on baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake 14-16 minutes, or until the shortbread just starts to become golden brown around the edges. Be careful not to over bake.

Tips for Making The Best Butter Cookies

Spend a little extra to buy a high quality butter. European-style butters usually have a higher fat content and make a richer cookie.
The same goes for eggs- splurge and buy the best ones you can. When you crack it open and there’s a really richly colored yolk, you know you’ve hit the jack pot for flavor, etc.
You’ve bought a great butter, now don’t over work it. When butter is beaten too long when creaming the butter and sugar together, it creates flat cookies.
Additionally, if the cookie dough is handled too much when forming it into logs, the butter in the dough will begin to melt. If at any point your dough starts to get sticky, refrigerate it until it firms back up.
Lastly, don’t skimp on the chilling time. The colder + firmer your dough is when you bake it, the sharper and cleaner your edges will be. If the edges melt and spread out, the dough was not chilled long enough before baking.

Rosemary butter cookies with lemon on a saucer with a hot cup of tea as an afternoon snack idea.

Making Ahead and/or Freezing

If using freezer-proof plastic wrap, the cookie dough can last in the freezer for up to a month, allowing you to bake cookies from one log and have cookies later too!