Shrewsbury Cakes A recipe I swiped off the Internet, of course. These are apparently from the 1600's and before, and are named after Shrewsbury, England. They've got a strange flavor that I really like. Ingredients 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup butter 1 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 2 teaspoons rosewater 2 cups flour Patty Cake, Patty Cake Heat oven to 350. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, using an electric mixer. Add the rosewater and beat until combined. In a small bowl, sift the nutmeg together with the flour. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and sturr until well combined. Dough will be crumbly. Roll into small balls, place on a cookie sheet, and smush with a glass or a measuring cup. Bake until "done", which means the edges are just barely brown. The top of the cookies should remain white. In my oven, this is about 10 minutes. Notes and Hints and Stuff What the hell is rosewater? It's distilled essence of rosepetals, and smells like roses. You can sometimes get it at the pharmacy, but a better bet is a specialty European deli or grocery. I got mine at a Greek deli/Russian Grocery in Portland. Any place that specializes in Greek groceries should have it, and some of your snootier yuppie stores might have it. Or, you can substitute vanilla, but it won't be as distinctive. The Accidental Variation When I first made this, I accidentally doubled the butter and not the rest of the ingredients. If you do this, you get flat cookies instead of little cakey cookies, and they're really yummy still.