I’ve wanted to make lavender shortbread cookies since the beginning of the school year. Ever since my friend Hannah mentioned that she had made some, I hankered to make my own cookies. However, I was held back by my inability to find dried lavender at a store near me. Living in the middle of Baltimore doesn’t make it super easy to find niche ingredients so I put my desire for lavender cookies on the back burner because I knew it would be hard to find what I needed. However, on a recent weekend trip into Virginia, I found a great spice shop that had a huge selection of niche spices! It was a great find and they ship nationwide so I may come back for more! However, now I am left with more dried lavender buds than I think I’ll ever be able to use because I bought an 8 ounce bag…I guess I’ll just have to be creative and find other ways to incorporate them into my cooking! After finding the lavender at last, I told myself that it was time to make my lavender shortbread dreams come true!

As with most floral flavors like rose or elderflower, lavender can pack a punch and if too much is used, the food or beverage item with the flavor may end up tasting soapy. Thankfully, that was not the case with these cookies! I’m also extremely fond of lavender lattes which may make me more disposed to enjoy other food items with lavender in them. This recipe is a straightforward shortbread recipe and includes steps for chilling and rolling out the dough. I was a little overly enthusiastic when microwaving my butter so I ended up chilling for longer than the original recipe. The first step in the recipe has you blend the lavender buds with sugar in a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, a mortar and pestle could do the trick to blend the two. What you’re really trying to avoid is biting a chunk of lavender by itself. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, rubbing the lavender with the sugar in between your fingers will do the trick to imbue the sugar with a mild lavender flavor. If you opt for the rubbing, you may want to try to chop up the buds just to avoid eating one whole. Otherwise, I think this recipe turned out great for me and if you have any suggestions on recipes to use up the rest of my lavender, add a comment below! Happy baking!

Lavender Shortbread Cookie Recipe

• 8 ounces (1 cup or 2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons dried culinary lavender bulbs
• 1/2 cup sugar + extra for dusting before baking
• 2 cups All Purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Blend together the sugar and lavender in a food processor or blender for about 30 seconds.
2. Cream the butter in a separate bowl by itself then add the lavender/sugar mix. Mix until well-combined. Add in the flour and mix until smooth and there are no lumps.
3. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on to plastic wrap. Cover with an additional sheet of plastic wrap and shape into a disk. Let chill for 30 minutes or more in the refrigerator before the next step.
4. Remove the dough from the fridge. Sprinkle some flour onto a hard surface and place the dough disk on top, removing the plastic wrapping. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter or your hands to cut out shapes and transfer cut out cookies to parchment paper. Let chill on cookie sheet in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or more. (I used a random plastic bit in my kitchen to cut out my cookies and it turned out well so be creative!)
5. Preheat the oven to 300F. When ready to bake, remove the cookies from the fridge. Setting down the sheet, take some sugar and sprinkle it in an even layer on top of each cookie. After the sugar coat, bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden on the edges and aromatic. (You should smell butter more than lavender if you’re relying on your nose)
6. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and let cool. Enjoy your cookies!

Makes about 24-30 cookies depending on thickness and shape.