Pine nuts and fennel seed aren’t necessarily ingredients you expect to find in cookies—really, they sound much more like they’re going into a pesto—but they’re the secret flavors in this buttery, flaky shortbread dough that will melt in your mouth. Ground fennel seed isn’t as easy to find as the whole seeds, so buy them whole and grind them at home in a mortar and pestle or coffee/spice grinder. I like to make this dough ahead of time and freeze it, then bake it off as needed.

　　

Ingredients

makes about 3 dozen cookies

　　1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

　　1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

　　1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

　　1 teaspoon ground fennel seed

　　1/4 teaspoon salt

　　1 large egg

　　1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

　　1/4 cup pine nuts

　　

Step 1

In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla, ground fennel seed, and salt with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Add the flour and mix just until blended.

　　

Step 2

Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap and shape into an 8-inch-long log. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.

　　

Step 3

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 heavy, large baking sheets with parchment paper.

　　

Step 4

Cut the dough log crosswise into 1/8- to 1/4-inch-thick slices. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, spacing evenly apart. Press the pine nuts decoratively atop the cookies, and bake until the cookies are golden around the edges, about 15 minutes. (The cookies can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)

　　Reprinted with permission from Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes by Martha Stewart Living Magazine. Copyright © 2005 by Giada De Laurentiis. Published by Crown Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.Giada De Laurentiis is the star of Food Network's Everyday Italian and Behind the Bash. She attended the Cordon Bleu in Paris, and then worked in a variety of Los Angeles restaurants, including Wolfgang Puck's Spago, before starting her own catering and private-chef company, GDL Foods. The granddaughter of movie producer Dino De Laurentiis, Giada was born in Rome and grew up in Los Angeles, where she now lives.