French Lavender Shortbread Cookies

These French Lavender Shortbread Cookies are crisp, buttery cookies that have a delicious hint of floral flavor. They are the perfect tea-time cookies for spring and summer.

The bees have all but taken over our lavender. Who could blame them? Their bright purple blossoms fill the air with a sweet scent. The beauty of their buds is striking against the lush green foliage. Still, I brave the buzzing around my head to chop several stems so that I can hang those lovely bundles to dry in the kitchen and make these very special French Lavender Shortbread Cookies.

They are the perfect tea time or coffee cookie and fun to make this time of year. Especially if you have lavender to harvest.

And on that note, if you find yourself with extra lavender. Check out this How to Make a Lavender Wreath to make a beautiful wreath for spring or summer. One of my personal favorites for using our lavender is this Lavender Oil that has many uses including culinary. But before I go on too much let’s not forget about these incredible French Lavender Shortbread Cookies. They are the star of today’s post.

French Lavender Shortbread Cookies Are…

• Easy to make
• Buttery, crisp with a delicious floral essence
• Great for spring and summer when lavender harvesting is at its peak
• Can be made with English or French lavender
• Store well and are good for up to one week in the cookie jar
• A great dough to make ahead of time or freeze for later
• Perfect for dunking in milk, tea or coffee!
• Simple, elegant cookies that everyone loves

Ingredients

Lavender- For this recipe you can use either French lavender or an English variety. Either way, the lavender adds a lovely floral note to these cookies.

Butter- Use salted real butter if you can. If you only have unsalted on hand be sure to add a 1/2 tsp of sea salt to the dough.

Flour- I suggest using all-purpose flour. For this recipe I use unbleached organic all-purpose flour but standard all-purpose will work just fine.

Sugar- These cookies call for white sugar. I like to use pure cane sugar but regular refined white sugar works well and creates a nice crispness to the cookies just the same.

Vanilla- Use pure vanilla extract. On that note here is a simple tutorial for making homemade vanilla extract right at home.

What You Will Need To Make Them

3 tsp of dried ground French Lavender

3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 cup of sugar

1 1/2 cups of salted butterr

3 tsp of vanilla extract

Tools

Mixer (optional)

Baking Sheet

Directions

Begin by crushing the lavender either with a mortar and pestle, or by adding the lavender to a Ziplock bag, and using a rolling pin to crush it. Get the lavender as fine as you can so that it evenly distributes into the cookie dough.

In a bowl or stand mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, vanilla, and lavender. Add the flour and mix until the dough comes together. It will look crumbly at first. If mixing by hand, you may need to press the dough together to form a ball.

Roll out onto a piece of parchment paper.

Cut into shapes and lay the cookies onto a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet into the fridge for 1 hour before baking.

Bake at 350℉ for about 20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.

Baking Notes

• Be sure to chill the cut cookies for an hour before baking them.
• If you use unsalted butter be sure to add 1/2 tsp of sea salt.
• You can substitute French lavender for English. If doing so, use 2 tsp as the flavor of French can overwhelm the dough.
• For easy clean up use parchment paper on the baking sheets
• The dough can be placed in a freezer bag and frozen to save for later
• If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you can use a Ziplock bag and a rolling pin to further smash the lavender down.

French Lavender Vs. English Lavender

Not all lavender is created equal. Some are better for soap making rather than for eating and vice versa. Culinarily speaking, most lavender recipes out there will call for English lavender varieties as these are considered the best to use for cooking and baking. And on that, certainly these cookies can be made using them.

However, what is unique about French Lavender is not just in appearance although its feathery stalks and eye-catching purple buds are hard to beat. French lavender is not only edible but incredibly fragrant and great for use in soaps, sachets, oils, and these delicious French Lavender Shortbread Cookies to boot. Making it one of the most versatile lavenders you can grow, in my humble opinion. It took me years to try it in my kitchen because there is so much conflicting information out there about cooking or baking with it that I didn’t try it for years.

Turns out you can’t believe everything you read on the internet, who knew? I am here to tell you that you surely can use it in your kitchen with great results.

The main thing to keep in mind for baking or cooking with French lavender, over its counterpart is that it can easily overpower whatever you put it in. Causing the dish to be soapier flavored rather than floral. So it is a good idea to go lightly when mixing up your recipes. These cookies call for 2 tsp of dried French lavender, which gives it a subtle hint. Which you can always increase or decrease as you like.

Our Lavender Harvest

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Baking Sheet

Dried Culinary Lavender

Stand Mixer

Unbleached Parchment Paper

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