Rose Geranium Cookies

These floral butter cookies taste like a garden in the best possible way. Rosewater and finely chopped rose geranium leaves work together to give each cookie a delicate, perfumed sweetness that’s completely different from your standard vanilla drop cookie.

The rosewater goes into the wet ingredients for a consistent floral backbone, while the chopped leaves folded in with the flour add tiny green flecks and a more complex, herbal dimension. The leaves release their oils during baking, so the aroma is incredible as these come out of the oven.

These are soft, cakey drop cookies, not crisp ones. The milk in the batter keeps them tender and slightly puffy.

Pro Tips

• Go easy on the rosewater. One teaspoon is plenty. Too much and the cookies taste soapy instead of floral.
• Chop the geranium leaves very fine. Large pieces can be tough and bitter, while finely minced leaves release their fragrance evenly.
• Only use leaves from rose-scented geraniums (Pelargonium graveolens), not standard garden geraniums. The scented varieties are the edible ones.

Variations

• Press a small, whole geranium leaf onto the top of each cookie before baking as a decorative garnish.
• Add a light glaze of powdered sugar and rosewater drizzled over the cooled cookies for extra sweetness and shine.
• Substitute lavender buds for the geranium leaves for a Provencal-style floral cookie.