I remember watching a baking show years ago where a chef made Lavender Cookies. At that time, the concept of adding dried flowers to cookies made no sense at all to me. Then, years later, I came upon several shortbread recipes that incorporated culinary lavender. My interest was piqued, especially since we have a Neob Lavender Boutique right here in Niagara-on-the-Lake! Most of my friends associated lavender only with soaps, essential oils, room sprays… that’s it. But I changed their mind on lavender shortbread with just a few bites of this crispy shortbread cookie!
The dough needs to chill for at least 30 minutes. So do not preheat your oven yet! This recipe makes a lot of cookies, so be prepared to bake several sheets of cookies.
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups salted Butter (no butter substitute will do)
1 cup white Sugar
4 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 tsp. Almond Extract
2 tsp. dried culinary Lavender
Cream butter until smooth. Room temperature butter works best, but if you are using cold butter, cut it into cubes and cream for a few minutes until smooth. Add the sugar and continue mixing at medium speed, scraping the sides only about 1-2 minutes. Add the flour, one cup at a time, still running the mixer on medium speed and stopping every few minutes to scrape the sides down. Once the dough looks fairly incorporated and smooth, add the almond extract and the lavender. Scrape the sides and continue on medium speed for 1-2 minutes until smooth and consistent.
Turn the dough onto a long piece of parchment paper. Do not flour! If you do not have parchment paper, wax paper or plastic wrap will do. Work the dough with your hands until you have one long roll, or 2 shorter rolls. Note that the dough will be sticky to work with and should not be dry or crumbly.
Refrigerate your rolled up dough for 30 minutes. Once that time has elapsed, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Since the dough has a lot of butter in it, I find that there is no reason to grease the cookie sheet. Unroll the dough but keep it on the parchment. Cut finger width disks and place on your cookie sheet. Not too close together, but at least one cookie width apart. These cookies do not rise and spread just a little. Bake on middle rack for 15 minutes (give or take) or until the edges have a nice golden colour and the tops of the cookies are paler than the edges.
Cool for at least 10 minutes, then lift cookies off of cookie sheet with a kitchen spatula. Place in air tight container. They are good for at least a week. They freeze well too but are best served fresh within a day or 2 of baking time.
These cookies make wonderful gifts as well! Stack 4-6 cookies in a cookie bag with a nice ribbon and a sprig of lavender and your friends will be thrilled! Enjoy!
Lolita Bakes! 