A savory slice-and-bake shortbread that puts Roscoff onion butter, Comte and rosemary into one small crisp round. This is the French answer to a cheese straw: a sandy, short dough rolled into a log, chilled, sliced and baked. The Bordier Roscoff Onion Butter is doing the flavoring rather than any added seasoning, which is why the biscuits taste of sweet cooked onion without a single onion being chopped. One batch makes about 50, and the dough needs a half hour in the refrigerator before it goes anywhere near the oven.
At a glance
- Difficulty: Easy
- Serves: Makes about 50 shortbreads
- Active time: About 15 minutes, plus at least 30 minutes chilling
- Cook: 10 to 15 minutes at 200 C (400 F)
- Key ingredient: Bordier Roscoff Onion Butter
Why this works
Bordier added the Roscoff onion butter in 2016 after meeting the Johnnies of Roscoff, the Breton onion growers who used to sell their pink braids door to door across Britain. The AOP Roscoff onion is sweet and low in sulfur, closer in character to a shallot than to a supermarket yellow onion, and Bordier folds it into hand-churned salted butter rather than cooking it into a paste. In a shortbread that is exactly what you want, because a wet onion mixture would ruin the dough's texture while a flavored butter simply replaces the plain butter you would otherwise use.
The technique is the classic sable method. Rubbing cold butter into flour with your fingertips coats the flour in fat before any water arrives, which limits gluten development and gives you a biscuit that crumbles rather than bends. The egg then binds it just enough to slice. The mandatory 30 minute chill is not about flavor, it is structural: warm dough smears under the knife and spreads in the oven, while cold dough cuts into clean disks that hold their shape.
Ingredients
Bordier's ingredient list specifies grated cheese without naming a variety, though the recipe title calls for Comte. Any firm alpine cheese with real age on it will behave the same way.
| Ingredient | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 200 g | 7 oz, about 1 1/2 cups |
| Bordier Roscoff Onion Butter | 100 g | 3 1/2 oz, about 7 tbsp |
| Grated cheese (Comte) | 100 g | 3 1/2 oz, about 1 cup grated |
| Egg | 1 | 1 |
| Fleur de sel | 2 pinches | 2 pinches |
| Rosemary, finely chopped | 1 tbsp | 1 tbsp |
Method
Step 1: Rub, bind and roll the dough
Rub the dry ingredients into the butter with your fingertips until the mixture looks sandy and no large lumps of butter remain. Work in the whole egg, then the cheese, rosemary and fleur de sel. Knead briefly, just enough to pull everything into a ball, then roll the dough into a long tube the way you would for icebox cookies.
Step 2: Chill, slice and bake
Wrap the log in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes so it firms up. Slice into disks 0.5 to 1 cm (1/4 to 1/2 inch) thick and bake at 200 C (400 F) for 10 to 15 minutes, until the shortbreads are golden brown.
Tips from our kitchen
- Start with cold butter, straight from the refrigerator. Soft butter blends into the flour instead of staying in distinct flecks, and you lose the short, sandy crumb that gives these their name. Cut it into small cubes first so your fingertips do less work.
- Stop kneading the moment the dough comes together. Bordier says knead quickly for a reason. Every extra turn develops gluten, and an overworked savory shortbread bakes up tough and slightly chewy rather than crisp.
- Grate the cheese finely and use it dry. Coarse shreds of Comte leave holes and can weep fat in the oven. If your cheese feels damp, spread it on a plate for ten minutes before it goes into the dough.
- Roll the chilled log on the counter before slicing. A log that has sat on one side flattens. Giving it a quarter turn every few cuts keeps the disks round.
- Watch the last three minutes. At 200 C (400 F) these go from pale to golden to bitter quite fast, and the cheese at the edges browns before the center sets. Pull them when the rims are deep gold and let them firm up on the sheet.
- The dough freezes better than the baked biscuits. Wrap the log tightly and freeze it whole. Slice from frozen and add a couple of minutes to the bake, which is far more useful than reviving stale shortbread.
How to serve it
These are aperitif food, meant to be eaten standing up with a glass of chilled white or a dry cider. Pile them in a bowl and put out something to cut the richness, a few cornichons or a dish of olives. They also make a good base for a canape, since a disk this sturdy will hold a slice of cured ham or a spoonful of jam without going soft. If you are building a French cheese and charcuterie board around them, our guide to Alain Milliat jams covers which fruit preserves stand up to a salty, savory biscuit.
Where to buy Bordier Roscoff Onion Butter in the US
The French Pantry ships Bordier butter across the United States in insulated overnight packaging, straight from the workshop in Brittany.
- Churned Roscoff Onion Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): pink AOP Roscoff onion folded through hand-churned Breton butter, sweet enough to carry a savory dough on its own.
To see how it sits against the rest of the flavored range, browse the Maison Bordier collection.
Frequently asked questions
How much Bordier butter do I need for this recipe?
The recipe calls for 100 g, and a Bordier block is 125 g (4.4 oz). One block is enough for a full batch of about 50 shortbreads, with a little left over.
Can I use a different Bordier butter?
Yes. Salted butter is the neutral option and lets the Comte and rosemary lead. Espelette pepper butter is the better choice if you want some heat behind the cheese.
Can I use a cheese other than Comte?
Any firm aged alpine cheese works, Gruyere and Beaufort among them. Bordier's own ingredient list simply says grated cheese, so treat Comte as the recommendation rather than a rule.
How should I store the butter?
Keep it refrigerated in its wrapper and fold the paper back over the cut face so the surface does not dry out. Cut off only what you need and return the rest to the cold.
Does the butter need to be refrigerated?
Yes. Bordier butter is a fresh, hand-churned product and ships cold. Put it in the refrigerator as soon as it reaches you.
How long do the baked shortbreads keep?
Two or three days in an airtight tin at room temperature. They soften as they sit, and a few minutes in a warm oven brings the crispness back.
Related reading
- Bordier Butter: What It Is, Why Chefs Love It, and How to Use It
- How to Choose Your French Butter: A Buyer's Guide
- Alain Milliat Jams
Recipe and photograph adapted from Maison Bordier, with thanks. The French Pantry is an authorized US retailer of Bordier butter.