Put the flour, shredded cheese, minced rosemary, salt and pepper into the bowl of a food processor. Add the chunks of softened butter and pulse about 30 times to combine into a crumbly mixture.

Then process until the dough comes together...this should not take longer than 30 seconds to a minute. If the dough does not come together (likely), add a TINY bit of water as it's mixing, starting with 1/2 teaspoon and adding a bit more if needed. 

Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap and bring together into a smooth flat disk, like you do with piecrust dough. The dough should be smooth and uniform, without dry floury parts, but mine was still pretty dry and hard to work with but turned out fine. Knead it with your hands if necessary. Wrap the disk in the plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Roll out the dough to about 1/4 to 1/8-inch thickness.  It may be a little hard to roll and try to fall apart, just be patient.  You can roll it between two sheets of wax paper or parchment paper and then you don't have sticking issues.

If you want to laminate herbs onto the surface of the dough, lay them out onto the dough, leaving space between. Put the wax/parchment paper back over the top and lightly roll with your rolling pin to press the herbs right into the dough.

Use a 2-inch round cookie cutter to cut out your circles. Remove the dough to a baking sheet. Reform the leftover dough, roll and repeat until all the dough is used.  Do try to re-work the dough as little as possible though, it will get tougher each time.

Bake the shortbread for 10-15 minutes, until they are just starting to turn pale golden around the edges (and should be golden on the bottom). Cool for a few minutes on the pan, then remove to a rack. The shortbread will firm up as it cools.