Cookie Lavender: Lavender Shortbread recipe
"Is this cookie lavender?" Sarah looked up from her herb snipping with a big grin. "I hope it's cookie lavender!"
Most people probably associate lavender with soap or maybe perfume, but not cookies! Who has ever heard of lavender cookies?
Well, let's start with the obvious: yes, they smell like lavender! (and butter, if that helps) The scent is either intoxicating or...well, off-putting might be an appropriate term. I have taken these to several parties and I love the reactions.
Some
people smell them and immediately get the lavender scent. I can tell
because the response is usually a skrinched nose accompanied by a
moment while a polite way of ask if they contain...umm, err, soap is sought. (Seriously, I can see the wheels whir. The thought goes: "These smell like soap! OMG! I can't say that? But she knows how to cook! How could she...but she must have tasted one...but...SOAP!" So far, I haven't laughed, but it is getting harder.)
Others simply can't identify the scent.
Every once in a while, a sniff is met with an arched eyebrow, and an inquisitive glance. Those people get a special little note in my internal list of people I can suck into tasting weird creations. Err, I mean recipe testers!
One bite, however, and the cookies have gained a fan. Never fails. These tender little cookies are melt-in-your-mouth buttery with a delicately floral taste. Nary a hint of soap.
There are several types of lavender commonly available, but for culinary uses, English Lavender is what most cooks choose. Most other lavenders are too strong, being either more camphorous than sweet or simply overwhelmingly flowery.
Interestingly enough, English lavender is actually not a scientific designation of lavender. This common name refers to a number of lavender species with the most common being Lavandula angustifolia officinalis, which is most common and prized for its sweet scent and flavor along with superb oil quality. The Lavandula angustifolia species "Hidcote," "Munstead," and "Melissa," along with Lavandula intermedia "Provence" are amongst the favorites for cooking.
Although only a handful of lavenders are suitable for culinary uses, there are a number of others that definitely deserve a spot in your garden. Some of my favorites are:
Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas) has lovely bracts, often called "rabbit's ears" or "wings," making it one of the showiest garden lavenders. I have half a dozen different Spanish Lavender species, including several shades of purple and one or two pinks, but this yellow lavender (said to smell of lavender and rosemary) is going on my endlessListOfThingsIWant right now!
French lavender (Lavandula dentata) has finely-toothed leaf edges and small, pale purple flowers. It is another attractive, and less common, plant for the garden.
Lavandin (Lavandula intermedia) is a hybrid cross between L. angustifolia and Lavandula stoechas with particularly long flower stalks. Lavandin is commonly used for perfume oil and is also common in gardens.
Woolly lavender (Lavandula lanata) has silver leaves and dark purple flowers, making it a beautiful landscaping plant.
Sweet Lavender (Lavandula heterophylla) is an oddly named plant as it is far too camphorous to use in cooking. It is one of the tallest lavenders, however, with spikes of up to 4 feet.
Cookie Lavender (Lavandula cookieus), which isn't a species, but should be, is usually Munstead, but occasionally Melissa, or even Alba, grown in my front garden bed. Soon in Sarah's garden too.
Lavender Shortbread Makes 24 cookies While
it might look a bit complex, this recipe is a breeze to make. They can
be partially made ahead of time (see Notes) and are even tastier the
day after baking. Ingredient Volume US weight Metric Sugar 1/2 cup 3 1/2 ounces 100 grams Butter 1 cup (2 sticks) 8 ounces 224 grams Flour (see note) 2 cups 9 ounces 252 grams Lavender buds 4 teaspoons fresh 2 teaspoons dried too light to weigh Make lavender sugar Combine
the sugar and lavender buds in a food processor or herb grinder and
process until the buds are chopped into small bits. If you have only a
standard food processor, you may want to make larger quantities of this
sugar at a time. You can use 2 cups of sugar and 1/3 cup of fresh buds
(or a scant ¼ cup of dried) and store the unused portion in an airtight
jar on the pantry shelf. Make the dough Shaping Baking Nutritional information - per cookie:
122 Calories; 8g Fat (56.6% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 12g
Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 21mg Cholesterol; 78mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates. Notes Lavender sugar
You can create a large quantity of this lavender/sugar mixture and
store it in your pantry for many months. I suggest using buds that are
at least partially dried if you plan on doing this. (See also this article on lavender sugar.) Freezing These cookies can be frozen at a number of different points in the process: After mixing, before rolling out
Form rectangle of dough, wrap tightly in two layers of plastic wrap and
place in freezer bag or other container. Thaw in refrigerator for a
couple of hours before rolling and cutting. This recipe comes from one of my favorite, and most used, cookbooks: The Herbfarm Cookbook
by Jerry Traunfeld. It has some truly wonderful recipes along with
brief, yet very useful, references on most of the herbs he uses in the
book, food and herb pairings, and even herb gardening. Plus, gorgeous
pictures! Some photos courtesy of Robin Catesby, who is a talented writer, marvelously fun artist, great photographer, and runs Belly Timber (home of the original Christmas Cookise of Cthulhu and this
- just go look, trust me, it's cool!) with Chopper Dave, my favorite
extreme chef. They were once fortunate enough to live close to the
lavender farm in those photos and she was gracious enough to share
these lovely images with us. The lavender field overlooking the pond is
quite the tempting spot, isn't it? Speaking of edible flowers, I was interviewed by Liz Nakazawa for The Mettle of Petals
in the May edition of Northwest Palate magazine which is, as they say, on newsstands now. Welcome to readers of that article who have found their way here.
Flour
It is important not to use more flour than is called for in this recipe
lest you get overly dry, crumbly cookies. If you remember from this article,
measuring a cup of flour is treacherous business, so if you are
measuring by volume, make sure the flour is well aerated (shake the
container before measuring) to avoid getting compacted (and thus
heavier, meaning more) flour.