It’s already week 5 of the Twelve Weeks of Christmas Treats so y’all know what that means. Christmas is swiftly approaching. In a way it’s terrifying – where has this year gone? On the other hand, I’m doing a happy dance because my favourite holiday is a-comin!

My dear friend, Soul Sista, is a personal trainer and a damn good one at that. She runs a boot camp outdoors in a beautiful park so she only holds them during the weather-tolerable months in Vancouver (May to October). I’ve always been afraid of boot camps and never signed up for her class until I saw some before & after pictures of her lil bro. After participating in her boot camp for only a few months, without any other exercise or changes to his diet, he’d totally lost weight and buffed way the hell up. Since I actually know her lil bro and believe that these are real results (unlike in infomercials where the before and after pictures are clearly photos of different people), I was inspired to sign up for Soul Sista’s last month of boot camp for 2012. I’m so happy that I did – it has forced me to get some much-needed exercise, it breaks up my 14 hour days of sitting in front of a computer screen, it gets me outside into the wilderness and everyone in the class is super fun and supportive.

The other night we were running through the park, a light, drizzling rain softly pelting our faces, when I caught a whiff of winter in the air. Do you know what I’m talking about? When the air is cold and crisp, almost to the point of hurting when you breathe it in, and there’s a smoky scent mingled with the smell of evergreens? There is nothing more wintry than that smell. As I continued running, the Bing Crosby song from Holiday Inn started playing in my head…

Happy holiday…happy holiday…may the calendar keep bringing… happy holidays to you…

Just hearing that tune makes me happy. I love when the voices in my head start singing to me! Sometimes they sound eerily similar to this:

For this week’s Christmas treat, I’m recreating a cookie I first tried at the BFF’s house a few months ago. A friend of hers had gone to a bakery in Edmonton and brought back chocolate rosemary sea salt cookies. I’d never had rosemary in a sweet baked good before and I was hooked at first bite. I’m ashamed to say that I ate most of the BFF’s cookies (apologies to her friend who so graciously brought them all the way from Edmonton!).

I knew I had to make them myself.

Chocolate rosemary sea salt cookies (adapted from Cathy Lowe’s Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies)

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sea salt (plus more for sprinkling)
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
2 tbsp fresh, chopped rosemary
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
1 packet Starbucks VIA instant coffee
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 365 degrees F. Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl, stir together flour, salt and baking soda.

In another large bowl, stir together butter, rosemary, both sugars, eggs, vanilla and cocoa. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by the spoonful onto your cookie sheet. I made my cookies about 2 inches in diameter and placed them 2 inches apart from each other. Slightly flatten the tops of the mounds of dough and sprinkle generously with sea salt.

Bake for approximately 12-14 minutes. Remove cookie sheet from oven, leave the cookies on the sheet for a couple of minutes, then move to a cooling rack.

I couldn’t wait to get this cookie into my mouth. It satisfied the urge I’ve had to taste that cookie again.

Savoury, minty, fresh. Herbacious. Sharp crack and crunch of salt. Dark, rich, deep chocolate.

Sounds weird but tastes oh so good. So good I can’t even string together whole sentences to describe them.

Twelve Weeks of Christmas Treats is the fabulous brain child of Brenda from Meal Planning Magic. Visit her blog for goodies from the past four weeks or if you want to join along in the fun.

And check out everyone else’s yummy Christmas treats by clicking on the linky button below.

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