On your mark ready set let’s go… you kitchen pro.  Even if you’re not, these little gems are sure to make you look like them. 

It all started with an invitation to the monthly garden swap.  Our hosts would be opening up their quaint Tudor home to the Floral Park gardening masses. This month’s theme would be figs.  Appropriate given the shade of the fig tree that cover’s their backyard.  But I have no such tree… what’s a cook to do?

Well, dried figs are readily available and I do have lots of rosemary, so the cocktail cookie was born.  What a surprise these were!  Crisp on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside.  Tender and flaky.  Savory and sweet.  The perfect accompaniment to a cheese platter… or a fig themed garden swap.  I’ll be gettin’ figgy with these more often…  you should too.

Na na na na na na na, na na na na nana

Fig & Rosemary Cocktail Cookies

• 3/4 c figs, chopped (3.5 oz)
• 1/2 c brandy
• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 1/2 Tbsp rosemary
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 c olive oil
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 c flour

Put the chopped figs in a microwavable bowl, and cover with brandy.  Heat in the microwave for 1 minute and allow to absorb & reconstitute the fruit while you assemble the dough.

In a food processor, combine the butter, rosemary, salt and sugar until light and fluffy.  Then add the olive oil, and egg yolk and pulse to combine.  Next, add the flour and pulse until the dough is moist and crumbly.

Strain the figs from the brandy (reserve the liquid for a cocktail while the cookies bake ).  Put the figs into the food processor, and pulse 3-4 times to combine the figs into the dough.  DO NOT OVER MIX.  You want to have large pieces of figs in the cookies.

Put the dough in plastic wrap to rest for 20 minutes before rolling out.  You can make the dough a day ahead.  When ready to make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cut the dough in half and roll out half the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap to a 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut with a biscuit cutter or other cookie cutter (I used one about  1.5 inches in diameter) and place cookies on a lined baking sheet.  Repeat until all dough has been used.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until the edges start to turn a golden brown.  Now go make your cocktail while you wait…

Makes about 50 small cookies.