Vanilla Lavender Shortbread Cookies

Delicately flavored with dried lavender and vanilla bean, these lavender shortbread cookies are an easy yet elegant cookie for dessert or for tea time.

Vanilla Lavender Shortbread Cookies

I adore shortbread.  There’s just something about the straightforward simplicity of shortbread cookies that I find immensely satisfying.

The trick to shortbread, of course, is to make sure that your ingredients are top notch.  With only flour, sugar, butter, salt, and flavoring, the flavor profile of shortbread relies heavily upon its basic components.

I’m working with some very good quality stuff today.  Bob’s Red Mill Unbleached All Purpose White Flour is freshly milled from organic hard red wheat with no additives.

It’s versatile and suitable for all types of baking, from bread to cookies to pastry.  You can get a coupon here!

Also coming into play is a bag of edible lavender that I’ve been dreaming about using for ages.  I was at a specialty spice store when I first spotted this intriguing ingredient.  At the time I purchased it, I wasn’t precisely sure what I would use it for, but I knew I’d find a purpose for it eventually.

It was during one of my many daydreams of cookies that I decided to use it to make shortbread.

These vanilla lavender shortbread cookies are the perfect cookie for the holidays.  You can make them quickly and easily, and they store quite well.  Serve them at your own holiday party, or pack them up as gifts to take along.

They look and taste fancy, but only you will know how simple they were to whip up.  Using a good flour like Bob’s Red Mill Organic Unbleached All Purpose White Flour will help ensure success.  While you’re shopping for ingredients, you can also check out their Organic Almond Meal and Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour.

Tips for Making Vanilla Lavender Shortbread Cookies

• Choose the best quality flour, butter, and cane sugar.  I like to use sea salt in these vanilla lavender shortbread cookies.
• Cookie scoops are one of my favorite kitchen tools.  They come in different sizes (small, medium, large) and are useful for cookie dough scooping and ice cream, too.  I use a small cookie dough scoop for this recipe.
• Make sure you buy edible lavender, also known as culinary lavender.  The kind that is sold as a potpourri or air freshener may have chemicals added, so make sure you buy your lavender from a spice store or a health food store, and check the label to make sure it’s for cooking purposes.
• I like to use vanilla bean paste in this recipe (it has a unique flavor and makes pretty speckles in the cookies), but if you don’t have any (or don’t want to buy any), you can substitute an equal amount of pure vanilla extract.

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Vanilla Lavender Shortbread Cookies

Delicately flavored with dried lavender and vanilla bean, these lavender shortbread cookies are an easy yet elegant cookie for dessert or for tea time.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 18 cookies

Author Katie Moseman

Ingredients

• 1/4 teaspoon edible dried lavender flowers
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar plus 2 tablespoons
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
• 1 1/8 cup Bob's Red Mill Organic Unbleached All Purpose White Flour (equal to 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Grind the dried lavender to powder using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Whisk the powdered lavender, vanilla bean paste, and sea salt into the sugar until well combined.
3. Add the butter and beat into the sugar until combined. Add the flour and stir until the dough comes together, pressing it with your hands to form a large ball of cookie dough.
4. Using a small cookie dough scoop or tablespoon, scoop up balls of dough, roll into a smooth ball, then place on the baking sheet and gently flatten with fingertips until about 1/2 inch thick.
5. Prick each cookie with a fork in a decorative pattern. Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, or until golden around the bottom edges. Cool completely before storing.

Get your Bob’s Red Mill coupon here for all your holiday baking needs!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.