Cali-Persian Fest!

Many thanks to the June issue of Bon Appetit and my lovely friend Hannah for a weekend of RIDICULOUSLY amazing food! We ate like royalty! The menu included Shirazi Salad, Shallot Yogurt, Jeweled Rice, Grilled Saffron Rack of Lamb and Rose Water Shortbread Cookies! The recipes are all from Bon Appetit but the inspiration to actually make all of this dreamy food was a visit from a my dear friend, who came to take care of me post-surgery. All of the recipes in the Cali-Persian article are AMAZING!!!! If you don't have this issue run, don't walk, to the closest store and get it! You will be in love!!!! I'm only going to share one of the recipes here because it uses rose water and it is a delightful dessert that is gluten free! Happy cooking everyone!

Rose Water Shortbread Cookies

½ tsp. ground cardamom

1 ½ c. white rice flour, plus a little for rolling if needed

¾ c. powdered sugar

½ c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 large egg

1 tsp. rose water

1 tsp poppy seeds

1.     Whisk cardamom and 1 ½ c. rice flour in a medium bowl and set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in a medium bowl until smooth. Add egg and rose water and beat to blend.

2.     Reduce mixer speed to low; gradually mix in dry ingredients (dough will be stiff). Cover and chill at least 6 hours or overnight.

3.     Preheat oven to 300F. Scoop level tablespoonfuls of dough and using lightly floured hands (I didn’t need to flour my hands!), roll into balls. Place on parchment lined baking sheets, spacing about 1 ½” apart. Using a fork or another utensil that can make a decorative pattern in dough, flatten balls to a ¼” thickness. Sprinkle cookies with poppy seeds.

4.     Bake cookies until firm but still pale, 20-25 minutes. Transfer to wire racks; let cool. (Makes about 3 dozen cookies)