Oopsie!

It's November already! And about time I posted about my lavender shortbread! I know, I know, certain few (you know who you are) have been waiting ever since I posted the photos up on Flickr a month ago. I'm really sorry! School's been busy like hell giving me no time to eat and sleep on most days much less *think* about blogging. Now that everything is finally over and I have a long break from now up to the new year, I've got lots of time to cook, blog, photograph and most of all enjoy myself. Now that's worth celebrating!

So... back to the cookies. I've previously cooked with roses and it was delightful. I love how instead of just the sense of smell, each mouthful treats you to the lovely taste and scent of rosebuds: pleasantly sweet. So when I first saw lavender cookies, I knew, somehow, that I had to get my hands on to baking them. Lavender in cookies, isn't that just plain ingenious? I've always been intrigued by cooking with flowers and cooking with lavender isn't something that I would pass on.

The first lavender cookies I encountered were these babies from Milk and Cookies. That got me itching to get some dried lavender, but as the obvious procrastinator would, I procrastinated. Then, these came. Now I really have to go get that pack of lavender!

And I'm awfully glad I did. Refreshing and slightly tangy, these lavender shortbread cookies were a breath of fresh air. Sugar-coated buttery goodness. Mm~

To be honest, when I was preparing the cookie dough, I was a little apprehensive of the amount of lavender to put in. I can't really remember if I added 3/4 of a tablespoon or less, but I remember being extra hesitant about it. It was after all my first time adding lavender to food and although I wanted to be able to taste lavender in every mouthful of cookies, I didn't want to be overwhelmed by it all. When the cookie dough didn't smell or lavender at all, I started wondering if it was too little. But cookie dough(s) deceive! Once the cut cookies hit the oven, the beautiful scent of lavender filled the house. The aroma toned down once the cookies cooled, but one bite and there's no doubt about it. My sister took one cookie without any knowledge of what was in it and immediately said, "Tastes like lavender!" And everytime I open the cookie jar, I would be greeted by the smell of sweet sweet lavender. Each cookie is like a sprig of lavender flowers. So, what's not to love about these cookies?

Lavender Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients
80g icing sugar
3/4 - 1 tbsp dried lavender
140g unsalted butter, cubed
1 tsp lemon zest
210g plain flour
3 large egg yolks
Granulated sugar (for coating)

- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Whisk icing sugar and lavender together in a bowl.
- Add butter, lemon zest and lavender/sugar mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer and mix until smooth and light in colour.
- Add flour and mix until well combined.
- Add egg yolks and mix just until the eggs are fully incorporated and the dough comes together.
- Form a disk from the dough, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (about 30mins).
- Roll the dough out between 2 layers of plastic wrap to 1.5cm thickness and cut cookies out with a cookie cutter.
- Toss each cookie in a bowl of granulated sugar to coat.
- Place the sugar-coated cookies on a lined baking tray and bake till lightly golden (12 - 15mins).

P.S.: I thought the eggs I had at home were small and used 4 egg yolks instead of 3. Apparently, the were sufficiently big and I got a less crumbly texture from the cookies as the dough was moister.

P.P.S.: Handle the cookie dough as little as possible and each time after I cut enough cookies for one batch, I'll chill the remaining cookie dough again so that it's easier to work with. Also dusting the cookie cutter with flour before each cut helps to remove cookies from the cutter.

P.P.P.S: Ain't those little noodle boxes cute?! I'm working on it as a gift idea for Christmas!