Low ingredient - Extra Helpings

How to Use Extra Garlic

When we make dinner, we put garlic in everything. That’s no accident! European, Mediterranean, and Asian cuisines all have used the alium bulb to season food for millennia. When a Blue Apron box arrives, it will almost always include a whole head of garlic, but most recipes only use a couple of cloves. If you’ve gotten a few boxes, you might have leftover garlic piling up. This isn’t a problem, it’s an opportunity. Here’s how to use extra garlic to create flavorful meals all week long.

The flavor of garlic changes drastically depending on how it is prepared. Raw garlic adds spiciness; gently cooked garlic becomes fragrant, and roasted garlic becomes sweet and melt-in-your-mouth tender.

Watch the video below to see how Chef Lili Dagan uses extra garlic to make spicy garlic bread, sweet garlic confit, garlicky roasted tomatoes, and chewy garlic chips.

How to use extra garlic

Make spicy garlic bread

Vampires beware: raw or lightly cooked garlic adds extraordinary flavor! Even a little bit will add a big bite to salad dressings or roasted vegetables. We’re not talking about chomping on uncooked whole cloves here. To make garlic spicy, not overwhelming, we start by mincing each clove, then keep chopping until the cloves resemble a paste. You can speed things up with a food processor, like chef Lili does while making spicy garlic bread.

Make sweet garlic confit

Slow heat turns garlic soft and sweet. Using low heat to make a garlic confit will create cloves so mild that you can eat them whole. To try this at home, you’ll need a lot of peeled garlic and olive oil. Try our hack for peeling multiple cloves at once: just separate the cloves, put them in a sealed container, and shake until they slip right out of their skins.

Make savory tomatoes with garlic

If separating all those cloves sounds like too much work, try this recipe for slow-roasted garlic and tomatoes. Just chop a whole head of garlic in half and send it into the oven. The garlic will infuse the tomatoes and oil with flavor. After it’s cooked, the cloves will pop right out of their skins.

How to remove garlic odors

After you’ve chopped it, the odor of garlic can linger on your fingers for the rest of the evening. Here’s a trick for removing the scent: just rub lemon or another citrus fruit on your hands. This works particularly well if your dish just so happens to have orange or lime in it, in which case prep the garlic first, then prepare the citrus and vanquish the garlicky odors once and for all.

Five-Ingredient Lemon Croissant Bread Pudding

Five-ingredient recipes can be a lifesaver when you want a simple treat. When you keep the shopping list this short, each ingredient really has to hold its own. We used flaky pastry as the base of this croissant bread pudding to create an impressive dessert (or breakfast) that will make it seem like you spent hours in the kitchen.

The key to good bread pudding is starting with stale bread (or croissants). The slightly dry pastry does a better job of absorbing flavor and moisture from the custard. This croissant bread pudding is a great way to use up day-old pastry leftover from breakfast.

To start, all you do is cut your croissants into pieces like the ones you see above. You can also just pull them apart if you don’t want to deal with a cutting board.

In order to give your bread pudding a little bit of a twist, add some lemon juice and lemon zest to the custard mixture of eggs, cream, and brown sugar.

Pour that over your baking dish full of croissant pieces, let the custard mixture sink into the croissants for half an hour, and put the whole thing into the oven. The croissants will puff up and brown on top.

Lemon Croissant Bread Pudding

INGREDIENTS

2 eggs
2 cups half-and-half
1/2 cup light brown sugar
4 croissants (stale if possible – stale bread always works better for bread pudding)
1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Cut or break the croissants into medium-sized pieces and place into an approximately 10-by-7-inch baking dish.

Using a peeler, take the skin off the lemon and mince the zest. Cut the lemon into quarters.

Whisk the eggs, half-and-half, light brown sugar, lemon zest and the juice from 2 lemon wedges (or all 4, if you’d like it to be more lemony), until thoroughly combined.

Add the egg mixture to the baking dish. Let this mixture soak for at least 10 minutes or up to 30 minutes.

Bake the pudding for 1 hour or until the middle is set. Remove and let cool and completely set for about 20 minutes. Serve your croissant bread pudding plain, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or with a dollop of whipped cream.

For more five-ingredient recipe ideas, try these easy brownies.

Five-Ingredient Coconut Macaroons

The arrival of spring means blooming flowers, chirping birds, and, of course, holidays. No matter the season, holidays require a little menu planning. For a sweet spring celebration, consider a classic: coconut macaroons. These treats are passover-friendly, and with just five-ingredients, they couldn’t be easier.

Flour-free desserts are the norm at passover. If you don’t observe the holiday, you’ll find that light and sweet macaroons are perfect for any spring feast. These coconuts treats would be perfectly at home as part of an Easter spread, too.

To make these simple cookies just combine shredded, sweetened coconut with sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract. Whip egg whites until they’re light and fluffy, fold together with the coconut, bake, and enjoy!

coconut macaroons on tray — Coconut macaroons fresh from the oven

Read on for the complete recipe!

Five-Ingredient Coconut Macaroons

INGREDIENTS
14 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 egg whites
¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

In a large bowl, combine the shredded coconut, condensed milk and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, using a whisk or electric mixer, whip the egg whites and salt in until the egg whites are white and firm or “firm peaks.” Then, carefully fold the whipped egg whites into the coconut-milk-vanilla mixture.

Using a spoon or a scoop, make 1½ -inch diameter cookies and place on a sheet pan, lined with parchment paper or wax paper, if you have it.

Bake for 23 to 27 minutes, or until cooked through and golden brown.

Remove from the oven and let cool on the sheet pan for 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely…or eat warm. Enjoy!

Makes 12 -14

For another Passover-friendly five-ingredient dessert, try this coffee granita!

Make Everything Better with Epicurean Butter

What separates a restaurant-quality dish from homemade dinner? More often than not, it’s the ingredients. Restaurants tend to put extra effort into creating a luxurious sauce, garnishing with a crunchy topping, or finishing with decadent compound butter.

compound butter scallops — Garlic & herb butter make these scallops outstanding

John and Janey Hubschman founded Epicurean Butter with the goal of making these special restaurant touches achievable for home cooks. The company got its start in 2004 when the Hubschmans were looking for their next venture. After working in the fine dining industry for 20 years, John was looking for a way to bring restaurant-quality meals into peoples homes. Since its launch, Epicurean has expanded in ways the Hubschmans never imagined. Today, Epicurean Butter offers 14 different products, available in over 6,000 grocery stores. You can find their garlic & herb butter on the Blue Apron Menu.

These flavored butters are a quick and easy way to make almost any dish taste even better. Epicurean products are made with high-quality ingredients. For the butter with truffles, coming soon to the Blue Apron menu, white and black truffles are imported from Italy.

garlic bread with butter — Garlic butter is a breeze with pre-made garlic & herb butter

In addition to adding flavor, compound butters save time while you’re cooking–there’s no need to measure out herbs and spices. Epicurean Butter can be used to sauté, cook, bake, or finish a dish. The right Epicurean product can transform anything from vegetables, pasta, meat, or seafood into a restaurant-quality dish in minutes.

The dedication to quality, ease, and flavor makes Epicurean butters right at home on the Blue Apron menu. With high-quality compound butter delivered to your door, it’s never been easier to make restaurant-quality meals at home.

Find recipes with Epicurean Butter on the Blue Apron Cookbook.

Easy 5-Ingredient Baked Pumpkin Custard

Pumpkin custards make a fantastic easy pumpkin dessert for Thanksgiving, or any other festive fall dinner. They’re the perfect way to end a meal, whether you’re hosting a dinner party with a few good friends, or celebrating the holiday with family members and a Blue Apron box. Make them in place of a traditional dessert, or just serve them alongside your favorite pumpkin pie.

A traditional pumpkin pie has two parts: the crust and the filling. The crust can be a pain to roll out and bake, especially if you’re also cooking up the rest of Thanksgiving dinner. The filling, on the other hand, is a relatively simple baked custard. That custard is the inspiration for what we’ve reproduced here. Without the crust, this seasonal dessert only takes minutes to prepare. Bonus: you’ll get to savor the most amazing Thanksgiving-y scent while they’re in the oven.

When it’s time for dessert, serve these custard cups right in the ramekin, topped with whipped cream.

These delightful custard cups only call for five ingredients: pumpkin puree, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, eggs, and cream.

Is Canned Pumpkin the Same as Pumpkin Puree?

The sort of answer here is: sometimes. Canned pumpkin puree is readily available in most grocery stores, especially in the fall. For this recipe, make sure to read the label closely. You’re looking for canned pumpkin puree, not canned pumpkin pie filling (which is already seasoned and sweetened). Of course, you can also make pumpkin puree at home from a whole sugar pumpkin.

Read on for the full recipe.

Five-Ingredient, Super-Easy Brownies

Brownies — universally beloved, endlessly adaptable — can be cleanly divided into two categories: fudgey and cakey. The variety made with melted chocolate yields a dense, fudge-y bar that begs for a glass of milk. The other, the kind made with cocoa powder, comes out moist and cakey with a crackly top. We love both versions equally and could not possibly pick a side, but when we find ourselves in the middle of a chocolate emergency (you’ve had one of those before, right?), we always go the cocoa powder route. These five-ingredient brownies will scratch your chocolate itch in a hurry.

Cocoa powder-based brownie recipes are notoriously simple, requiring only a handful of ingredients and about five minutes of active work before the pan goes in the oven. Our favorite iteration requires no fancy equipment, no waiting for butter to soften, and nothing more than a few pantry and fridge staples:

That’s it. Seriously. All-purpose flour, white granulated sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, a pair of eggs, and a bit of unsalted butter — a collection you very well may have at the ready at this very moment, just begging to become a pan of brownies. Scroll down to read Blue Apron’s Five-Ingredient, Super-Easy Brownie recipe in full and never panic during a chocolate emergency again.

Five-Ingredient Brownies

Brownie Ingredients

½ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup salted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for greasing the pan
2 large eggs
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Method

Prepare the pan:
Place an oven rack in the center of the oven, then preheat to 350°F. Grease a 9-by-9-inch baking pan across the bottom and up the sides.
Make the batter:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and cocoa powder. In separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter and eggs. Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture, stirring until just combined.
Bake the brownies:
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top into an even layer. If you’re into it, you can scatter the top of the brownies with flaky sea salt before sticking them in the oven. The salt adds a bit of crunch to each bit, as well as highlights the full flavor of the chocolate. Bake 25 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool 5 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!

If you’re hungry for even more dessert, try these five-ingredient blondies.

5 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips

Picture making cookies on a Tuesday night. Can you? Or is baking such a production in your mind that this doesn’t quite compute? With these 5 ingredient peanut butter cookies, you don’t need a special occasion to flip on the oven.

Simple 5 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

Well, that’s because you’re not relying on miracle ingredient peanut butter. You may think you already understand peanut butter’s glory, having made peanut sauce or eaten a “bread-free PB&J” right from the spoon. But until you’ve seen how a cup of creamy peanut butter can turn into a batch of cookies, you haven’t admired the nut’s full range.

Of course, even peanut butter needs a little help. Here, we measured out brown sugar, an egg, baking soda, and chocolate chips in addition to the creamy spread.

Close-up of Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips — 5 ingredient peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips

That all gets mixed together, a process that’s not nearly hard enough to warrant the use of an electric mixer (phew!). Formed into balls, the dough looks a whole lot like regular not-five-ingredient cookie dough.
And then: bake! These only take about 8 minutes to turn from dough balls into bona fide cookies, so even if you’re hesitant to turn on the oven, you can have freshly baked cookies without turning the kitchen into a sauna.

Bonus! If you care, these are gluten-free. Also, though we like using creamy peanut butter – but if all you have on hand is crunchy, the cookies will still be wonderful.

Recipe for Simple Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips

Three Spices for Your Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Carving pumpkins in one of the greatest activities of fall. Culinarily speaking, however, the best part comes right after you create your jack o’lantern: making roasted pumpkin seeds. From a food-loving grown-up perspective, the entire pumpkin carving ordeal may just be an excuse to pull out the pumpkin seed seasoning.

How to Roast Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seeds, or pepitas, are a true culinary treasure. To make roasted pumpkin seeds at home, the first thing you’ll need is a pumpkin. It doesn’t need to be a small sugar pumpkin. A large carving pumpkin will work perfectly.

To get at the seeds and preserve the shell for carving, you’ll want to cut a lid. With a sharp knife, cut around the stem in a circle or shape of your choosing. Angle the tip of the knife slightly towards the stem, that way you’ll create a wedge-shaped lid that will sit snuggly in your pumpkin without falling through.

Now it’s time to scoop out all those gooey pumpkin seeds. Each pumpkin holds a different quantity of seeds, so don’t bank on having a pumpkin seed feast until you’re sure you’ve got plenty. If you want a guarantee, invite friends over for a carving (and eating) party. Scrape the inside of the pumpking with a large spoon to clean out the seeds. It’s ok if things get a little messy.

Before you roast, you want to rinse the seeds in a big bowl of water to remove the orange slime. Then, the take seeds and place them on a dish towel on the counter. Pat them dry with a towel. You’re now ready to roast and season pumpkin seeds.

Basic Pumpkin Seed Seasoning

This simple roasted pumpkin seed seasoning is the classic. Preheat the oven to 300°F, then arrange your seeds in one layer on a baking sheet and with a bit of olive oil and a good pinch of salt. Roast for about 30 minutes, until they’re dry and browned. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with a little more salt if you like, and you’re done.

Sweet Roasted Pumpkin Seed Seasoning

The flavors of pumpkin pie obviously pair well with roasted pumpkin seeds. The trick is in getting the nutmeg and cinnamon to stick to slimy seeds. The glue? Egg white. To make a batch of these, you’ll need at least 3 cups of washed, dried seeds from two to three large pumpkins. Start by whisking together one egg white with a teaspoon of water until foamy. Add 1/3 cup of brown sugar and big pinches of cinnamon and nutmeg (throw in ginger and cloves, too, if you have them). Whisk in a pinch of salt, then add the seeds. Use a wooden spoon to help you coat the seeds, then scoop onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast in a 300°F oven for about 30 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes, until the seeds are dry.

Spicy Pumpkin Seed Seasoning

pumpkin seeds with spicy seasoning — Roasted pumpkin seeds with sweet seasoning

Getting spice to stick to your seeds requires the same cooking know-how you acquired in the sweet take, above. Again, start with at least 3 cups of seeds, then whip up an egg white until thick and foamy with a teaspoon of water and add just 2 tablespoons of sugar. Throw in big pinches of your favorite hot spices: we combined smoky chipotle chili powder, peppery ancho chili powder, and cayenne for pure heat. Get some salt in there too, to make the flavors pop. If you’re not a spicy food lover, opt for smoked paprika instead. Same deal for roasting: throw the seeds in one layer on a parchment-lined sheet, then roast until dry in a 300°F oven, tossing every 10 minutes, for about 30 minutes.

In the mood for more pumpkin? Try these festive twists on pumpkin pie.

The Bell’s Restaurant Egg Salad Sandwich Will Soothe Your Soul

Blue Apron is teaming up with chefs across the country to support Feeding America®. To participate, head over to our social media channels. Share our Facebook post or tag a friend on Instagram, and Blue Apron will donate $5 to Feeding America, up to $50,000. Thanks to Daisy and Gregory Ryan for sharing the hearty and comforting Bell’s egg salad sandwich recipe.

egg salad sandwich recipe — Buttery, eggy, delicious

The story of Bell’s Restaurant is a homecoming. Chef and Owner Daisy Ryan grew up in the Santa Ynez Valley in California. As an adult, she spent several years in New York. She first attended culinary school at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde park, and then cooked in a handful of New York’s best restaurants: Per se, Chef’s Table Brooklyn Fare, Gramercy Tavern. When it came time to open a restaurant of her own, Daisy and her husband Gregory Ryan relocated to Los Alamos, and together they opened Bell’s.

Bell’s is both elegant and welcoming. The Ryan’s menu features French classics and comfort food. It’s the type of place where drinking a glass of organic wine alongside a bag of Utz potato chips makes perfect sense.

Even though the restaurant has temporarily closed in response to the COVID-19 epidemic, the Ryans are still hard at work feeding people and supporting their community. They quickly realized that one of the standouts on their lunch menu, an egg salad sandwich with savory tomato jam, would be easy to deconstruct and repackage as an at home “egg salad survival kit.”

Those in Los Alamos can order a kit with loaf of buttery bread, a quart of egg salad, and homemade pickles. It’s enough food to keep you assembling egg salad sandwiches all week. For those not in California, here’s your chance: recreate this rich and savory egg salad sandwich with tomato jam at home using the recipe below.

Recipe: Bell’s Egg Salad Sandwich

For the egg salad

15 large eggs
¼ cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chives
2 tablespoons fine sea salt
1 tablespoon fresh cracked pepper

For the tomato jam

16 Oz canned whole tomatoes
2 cups medium yellow onions, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup olive oil
3 tablespoons fine sea salt
1 tablespoon fresh cracked pepper
2 tablespoons sugar

Make the egg salad

1. Fill a large pot halfway with water. The pot should be large enough to fit all the eggs in one layer on the bottom, with water deep enough to cover the eggs by an inch.

2. Add a tablespoon of salt to the water and bring to a boil on the stovetop over high heat.

3. Meanwhile fill a large bowl with ice water.

4. Once the water is boiling, add all of the eggs. Lower them with a strainer, spider, or spoon, so they don’t hit the bottom of the pot and crack open.

5. Boil eggs for 8 minutes and then plunge them into the ice water to stop the cooking.

6. Allow to cool completely and then peel and quarter.

Make the tomato jam
1. Preheat the oven to 375 °F.

2. In a large heavy bottomed pot melt the butter and olive oil.

3. Add onions and cook over medium heat until they become translucent.

4. Add salt, sugar and pepper and stir.

5. Add tomatoes, including juice, and cook over high heat until liquid has reduced by half.

6. Put the pot in the oven uncovered. Stir every 20 minutes, the surface should start to blacken a little bit, and the consistency should be similar to tomato paste. This will take approximately 3 hours.

7. After the mixture has reached the consistency of tomato paste, approximately three hours, transfer to a food processor and process until smooth.

Assemble the Sandwich

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Heat a cookie sheet or sheet tray in the oven.

2. Butter two sides of the bread, and spread the tomato jam on the inside of one piece.

3. Toast the bread butter side down for about 7 minutes, or until the bread appears to be turning golden.

4. Spread your desired amount of egg salad on one slice of bread, add a pinch more salt, top with the other slice and serve.

Ricotta Toast is A Restaurant-Worthy Snack

Some days, it takes a little treat to make it to 5 pm. For those occasions, Chef Jessica Goodman seeks out a good snack. If you’re feeling a little peckish, check out her recipe for whipped ricotta toast.

ricotta toast — Take a break, have some toast

Nothing creates a moment of zen in the middle of a chaotic afternoon like a well-composed snack. If the snack is easy to make, that’s even better. This dressed up toast would fit right in on a hip brunch menu, but it’s also easy to *whip* up in your home kitchen.

Any flavor of jam works well here, just grab your favorite jar and go for it. If you don’t have a food processor, a blender will work. If you really feel like going the extra mile, you could make your own ricotta ahead of time. It’s a great way to use up milk that’s approaching its expiration date.

Whipped Honey Ricotta Toasts:

1 cup of ricotta
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon salt
1 piece sourdough bread
1 tablespoon jam

1. Place the ricotta, honey, and salt into a food processor. Whip the ricotta until it forms a smooth consistency. Taste, and adjust seasoning as desired.

Whipped ricotta, honey, and salt in a food processor showing the correct texture. This ricotta is ready to be spread on a piece of toast. — Whip until light and fluffy

2. Toast the slice of sourdough bread to your desired doneness. Layer on a thick swoop of the whipped ricotta, and a tablespoon of your jam.

ricotta being spread onto sourdough toast — Don’t be shy, spoon on a generous portion

3. Enjoy, ideally while looking out of a window with a cup of tea.

Tortilla Española Is Comfort Food for Carb Lovers

Chef Lili Dagan is finding comfort in carbs this week. Here’s her recipe for Tortilla Española, a classic Spanish dish that works for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Growing up, every morning my mom would send me to the bus stop with a microwaved russet potato. Every morning! Maybe it wasn’t a traditional snack, but I always enjoyed gnawing on an 8oz spud on the way to go learn about civics. To this day, I love pure, unfussy carbs.

the finished tortilla espanola — Asparagus, ramps, eggs

For the past few weeks, I’ve been revisiting my love for potatoes. I’ve changed the menu a bit, but this Tortilla Española is still anything but fussy: it’s hearty, it can stay in the fridge for days, and you can make it with just about anything in your fridge. It’s elegant enough to make a lovely dinner, but still makes me nostalgic for the microwaved potatoes of my past. Best of all, it’s good hot or cold, which means the leftovers make a perfect lunch.

Recipe: Tortilla Española

½ cup Olive oil + extra
6 eggs
1 lb waxy potatoes
1 large onion
1 cup asparagus or greens

A few notes to start: I love making a big tortilla, but sometimes it’s easier to start with smaller ones (I often make 2 small tortillas and bring one to my neighbors, because that’s what my mechanic told me to do.) As a general rule, I use 4 eggs to every pound of stuff in my tortilla. For this particular tortilla, I used 6 eggs and made two tortillas in a 6” non-stick.

1. First, sweat the onions in ½ cup of olive oil. Add about a pound of thinly sliced waxy potatoes. Keep the heat on medium low, and stir it around until the potatoes are cooked, about 20 minutes. When the potatoes are cooked, add in whatever else is going in your tortilla. For mine, I leftover asparagus, a few stray ramps, and some sorrel.

tortilla espanola filling — Strain the filling

2. After the greens have softened, strain the filling through a sieve, and set it aside in a bowl. Be sure to reserve the strained oil, it’s delicious. If I’m making toast to go with my tortilla, I’ll use this oil to fry it up. You could also use it for your next tortilla! Let it speak to you.

3. Next, crack and whisk your eggs in a big bowl. Fold in your potato mixture.

4. Drizzle a bit of oil into your non-stick frying pan. On low-medium heat, ladle in half the mixture. Cook until when you push the mixture away from the edge the bottom is starting to brown, about 3-5 minutes.

5. The next bit takes a bit of boldness—flip your tortilla onto a large plate, and then slide it back into the pan to set the top (which is now the bottom, isn’t it funny how life works). Let the bottom set for another 2-4 minutes.

flipping the tortilla — It just takes a plate and a little confidence

6. Slide it out and allow it to cool. Enjoy it with aioli, toast, a combination of both, or alone.

This Simple Shortbread Recipe Is the Sweet (or Savory!) Treat You Need

Cheese and herb shortbread — Sweet & savory

We like to think of shortbread as a day-to-evening cookie. The buttery, crisp base transitions smoothly from sweet to savory, and has the ability to fit perfectly on a cheese plate or a cookie plate. It’s the butter and flour equivalent of a little black dress.

Best of all? This shortbread recipe is simple. The base of the dough is only 4 ingredients. Our version includes cheese and herbs for a sweet and savory cookie that pairs perfectly with cocktail hour. If you’re more of a true dessert person, you can take a little creative license here: swap the herbs and cheese for vanilla and lavender, orange zest and poppy seeds, or any of your favorite baking spices.

Herb & Cheese Shortbreads

Recipe by Chef Alex Saggiomo

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tsp finely chopped herbs (rosemary, sage, thyme, marjoram)
1/2 cup finely grated cheese (Gruyere, Parmesan, Aged Cheddar, Manchego)
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

Place the flour, sugar, herbs, salt, and cheese into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until combined. Add the butter and pulse just until a soft dough forms; the dough should hold together when squeezed with your hands; if not, add a tablespoon of water and pulse until combined.

Place a large sheet of plastic wrap on a work surface and transfer the dough onto it. Form the dough into a loose log along 1 edge of the long side of the sheet. Roll the dough log, twisting the plastic gathered at the ends in opposite directions until the log is tight and compact, about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Chill in the refrigerator until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Slice the dough log into 1/3-inch thick slices and arrange on the lined sheets, about 1-inch apart. Bake until the edges are just beginning to brown, 11 to 13 minutes.

Cool the shortbread on the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Store the shortbread in an airtight container at room temperature until ready to serve. Yields 24 cookies.

Want even more simple dessert recipes? Try these 5 ingredient brownies.