#cookiesandkindness Recipe for May: Goat Cheese and Chive Cookies

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Let’s go savory for this month’s #cookiesandkindness selection with Goat Cheese and Chive Cookies (page 385 in Dorie’s Cookies)! We’ll still be making cookies and we’ll still be sharing them – of course! – but this month, let’s think about sharing them at a cocktail party, alongside a glass of wine (these are terrific with Prosecco) or at a picnic. Think about dropping them at the doorstep of a good friend who needs a pick-me-up, your neighbors or even the wine shop where there’s someone who always gives you good advice.

The cookies are made like shortbread and, with the exception of the goat cheese and chives (or scallion greens), have an ingredient list similar to the ones that turn out shortbreads. But for a reason I’ve never figured out, once baked (and despite the fact that there is no leavening), the cookies have the look and feel of biscuits – they’re tender and have layers.

A word on the goat cheese: choose one that’s soft, fresh (not aged), mushable, mashable and spreadable. Cheeses like this are called chèvre (the word for goat in French) even in American supermarkets.

Bake, share your batches with family and friends and post with the tag #cookiesandkindness – xoDorie

REMEMBER: if you’d like to get stickers and tags and fun things to dress up your cookies, click here!

Photograph by Davide Luciano

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Goat Cheese and Chive Cookies

From Dorie’s Cookies

Makes about 35 cookies

1 stick (8 tablespoons; 4 ounces; 113 grams) unsalted butter, cut into chunks, and at room temperature

3 ounces (1/3 cup packed; 86 grams) soft fresh goat cheese

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon cracked or coarsely ground pepper (black or white)

2 tablespoons finely cut fresh chives or minced scallion greens

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon honey

1 1/4 cups (170 grams) all-purpose flour

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter, cheese, salt, pepper and chives together on medium-low speed until light and well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and honey and beat for 2 minutes. Liquid will pool on the bottom of the bowl — it’s not pretty, but it’s okay. Turn off the mixer, add the flour all at once and pulse to start incorporating it. Then mix on low speed only until the flour disappears and the dough comes together. If you have some dry ingredients on the bottom of the bowl, stir them in with a flexible spatula.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and press it into a disk. Place the disk between pieces of parchment paper and roll 1/4 inch thick. Keeping the dough between paper, slide it onto a baking sheet and freeze for at least 1 hour.

When you’re ready to bake, center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Have a 1 1/4-inch-diameter cookie cutter at hand.

Peel away the parchment paper from both sides of the dough and return it to one sheet. Cut out as many cookies as you can and place them on the baking sheet, leaving at least an inch between them. (If the dough gets soft as you’re cutting, stop and put it and the already cut cookies in the freezer to firm briefly.) Gather the scraps together, flatten them into a disk, re-roll 1/4 inch thick and freeze.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until the cookies are browned on the bottom, lightly golden and firm to the touch on top. As the cookies bake, you’ll see butter bubbling around the tops and edges — it will settle into the cookies as they cool. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and allow the cookies to rest for at least 5 minutes before serving, or let them cool completely.

Cut and bake the scraps, making sure the baking sheet is cool.