I was browsing epicurious, looking at recipes in the desserts category that had herbs in them. I have a little herb garden on my balcony with a variety of herbs: sweet basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, to name a few, and I thought it would be fun and delicious to try something out. I had high hopes for this recipe for lemon-thyme crisps. It got a four fork rating (the highest) so I intrepidly went ahead and made them this weekend. The result: meh.

Sweet Lemon-Thyme Crisps
From Epicurious.com

• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons finely chopped fresh lemon thyme or regular thyme leaves
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons finely grated fresh lemon zest
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger root
• confectioners' sugar for dusting

Directions:

• Into a bowl sift together flour, baking soda, and salt and stir in thyme.
• In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter, granulated sugar, and zest until light and fluffy.
• Add egg, beating until combined well, and beat in lemon juice and ginger root.
• Add flour mixture, beating until just combined.
• Halve dough and on separate sheets of wax paper form each half into a 14- by 1 1/2-inch log, using wax paper as a guide.
• Freeze logs, wrapped in wax paper and foil, about 20 minutes, or until firm, and up to 3 weeks. If frozen solid, bring logs to cool room temperature for ease of slicing.
• Preheat oven to 350° F.
  
• Cut 1 log into 1/4-inch-thick slices and halve each slice.
• Arrange cookies about 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets and bake in batches in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, about 12 minutes total.
• Immediately transfer crisps with a spatula to racks to cool.
• Dust cookies lightly with confectioners' sugar.

Makes 120 crisps.

Notes about this recipe: I thought the directions were very good and easy to follow. I had no trouble making the dough. I didn't read carefully enough (as usual) about spacing the cookie rounds 1 inch apart. I put my cookies very close to each other and they bled together to form a sheet that I had to cut into rectangles using a knife just after they came out of the oven. Oh well, not disastrous. I also halved the recipe so I didn't have to eat these cookies into next year. As it turns out, this was the right thing to do.

I probably only cooked these guys for 10 minutes. If I had gone longer they would have burnt. Crisps is an excellent descriptor.

As implied earlier, the result was less than what I'd hoped for. I really wanted a recipe I would love to make again and again and a recipe worth sharing with everyone. Sadly, this has not happened. These crisps start sweet and yet they finish savory. Even though there is a lot of lemon zest and lemon juice, it is not detectable in the final result and neither is the ginger root. You definitely get the thyme. And me and my roomie can't get past the unmistakable fact that your left with a familiar flavor on the pallette: popcorn. Yes, I said popcorn. It's as weird as it sounds.

If you absolutely love thyme you will love these cookies. If you're in the mood for something different, these may also suffice. For my part, I'll keep looking for better herb laden desserts. I have a five-herb ice milk recipe that's calling my name...