Well, my mum finished the Camino. 800 some odd kilometres of walking, beaming the entire way, sending me pictures of the foodie delights she would enjoy each evening (paella, €3 bottle of wine, fresh cheese, local olives… I mean, come on).
So, she reached Santiago and was like… well, what now? So she kept walking. She walked to the end of the road, literally called Cape Finisterre, the end of the land. Not wanting to come home quite yet she hopped a train back up to France and spent a couple days in Provence (again, come on, I am green with envy!).
More unbelieveable food and wine there, of course. She texted me pictures of her visit to Châteauneuf-du-Pape and her strolls through endless fields of lavender. This recipe is my small way of paying tribute to her adventure, and trying to live vicariously through it.
My garden is at peak abundance this month so I’m keen to use as much of it as possible and preserve the rest. Since we started our lavender from seed and don’t spray any pesticides on it, our bushes are perfect candidates for cooking with (see also: this delicious cocktail).
Culinary lavender is available in some grocery stores, but it might take some hunting around to find. If you do have some cleanly grown fresh stuff available, I encourage you still to dry it out for this recipe. Fresh lavender has too much moisture in it for baking and could make these cookies a little gummier than usual.
As for my mum, henceforth referred to as the Lady Deebs, she has traveled on to Zurich, where she met up with a good friend of mine. They are currently doing a multi-day hike into the Alps because of course she is.
My mum, the consummate adventurer…
| Lavender Shortbread Cookies | | Print |
- ¾ lb unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar, extra for sprinkling
- 1 Tbsp culinary lavender
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3½ cups flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- In a cleaned coffee grinder, grind up the culinary lavender. If you don't have a coffee grinder available you can finely chop it with a kitchen knife.
- Using the paddle attachment on a standing mixer (or using a good ol' bowl and spoon, I'm lazy), mix together the butter and sugar until combined. Add vanilla and finely chopped lavender and mix.
- In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the salt and flour. Add to the stand mixer and mix until a dough forms.
- Turn dough out on to a floured surface and roll into a log roughly 6 centimetres in diameter. (I flattened each side on my counter to form little squares but you can keep it round if you prefer a circular cookie). Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or as long as overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Using a sharp knife, slice the log of dough into ¼ inch thick slices. Place slices on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Allow cookies to cool to room temperature and then sprinkle the tops with granulated sugar or lavender sugar.*
I’m pretty excited to try these cookies, tbh. Lavender is such a neat spice. I’m making them tomorrow (since I don’t have any butter softened rn). 🙂
Wondering where to get the Lavender for the shortbread cookies?
I like to try new cookies during the holidays!
Hi Debby, dried culinary lavender is available in some grocery stores in the spices section. I have also seen it in specialty gourmet shops, craft fairs and online. ‘Tis the season for cookie baking, I hope you enjoy these! 🙂
Thank you,I will try to do it.
I never tired of cookies, These cookies looks awesome!
Thanks, SBO! I love the delicate lavender flavour in these cookies.
I just tried (and published) your recipe. These shortbreads are delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Salut, Laurence! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! I love seeing pictures from people who have tried out our recipes 🙂
These are delicious! I like to bake just a few cookies at a time but was wondering how long they would last stored in the fridge. Thanks!
This recipe is really good! I just baked them today and put the lavender sugar on top. I did add a little lemon from our tree we harvested a bit ago.
Glad you enjoyed it, Tracy! Yum, I should add some lemon zest next time I make a batch, that sounds like it would be a match made in heaven.
I’m having a hard time finding lavender in Toronto. I was wondering if a lavender tea could be used in its place. Thanks!
Hi Sabrina, I’m sure lavender tea could be used as a substitute. I would check to see what the other ingredients in the tea are and maybe even take a visual to see what the rough proportion of lavender blossoms is in relation to the other ingredients. If it looks like it’s mostly made up of lavender blossoms and omits stronger flavours like hibiscus, I’ll bet it would still turn out very similar to the original recipe. That being said, even if it looks like there are a lot of other flavours in there- if you LIKE those flavours, I would still give it a try! I love using Earl Grey tea in shortbreads!
You can find dried lavender at the Bulk Barn
Oh, nice! Thanks for the heads up, Dawn. I do really love a good Bulk Barn run…
I made this recipe for the first time and it came out great! I made it for a party and everyone loved them. This recipe is definitely a keeper and I will surely make these again. Well done!
So great to hear, Vanessa! Thanks for your kind words 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the cookies!
Did you use icing sugar in your recipe or regular sugar? The sugar that is sprinkled on top of these cookies looks like icing sugar. I just don’t want to use the wrong stuff.
Granulated sugar for both the dough and the sprinkling on top 🙂 Hope you enjoy, Deborah!
You created such an awesome recipe! I love it! I’d like to bake this, but unfortunately it’s hard to find lavender in my country.
Oh darn! Perhaps try ordering online? Depending on where you live, culinary dried lavender can be easily shipped. Best of luck!
I bought my lavender from http://www.spiceandtea.com
Awesome, thanks for the feedback and the link, Carol!
Awesome, thanks for the feedback and the link, Carol! Depending on the humidity of your current environment, baking can really vary… a LOT! I live in a mostly-wet-cold environment so no surprise that most of my fluffy pastries fall flat 🙁 So good to hear you attempted again with percentages that fit your climate and equipment. You’re a star!!
Love these cookies! I used dark non-stick cookie sheets, so I reduced the temperature to 325°F. I also reduced the flour to about 3 cups 1/8 cup. These changes improved the cookies from my December attempt. Golden on the bottom and the dough was easier to work. They were a good texture too!
I have made these cookies at least four or five times, and every they are big hit! I have never used the lavender sugar though, I’ve either used a lemon glaze or even more popular was a white chocolate lemon glaze that one would use on biscotti. The last time I actually rolled the dough into a flat thick slab and slice them into cookie fingers and drizzled the white chocolate lemon on top. I’ve had more people ask for this recipe than anything I’ve made.
OMG… WHITE. CHOCOLATE. LEMON. You just blew our mind, Jennifer. We HAVE to try this!!