Lavender Cookies

Lavender. What do you think about when you smell it? Spring? Freshness? Or perhaps shortbread cookies? This post was inspired by several different memories, all of them involving lavender…and I thought what better way to make a keepsake?

Has it ever happened to you that you meet someone and don’t think much of it, until he/she does something that you didn’t expect – pleasantly surprising you in the process, and from that point forward you see him/her in a completely different light? For me, it’s always about the small gestures of kindness and the thought behind it, and this one was no different. A few years back I had a pleasure of meeting a French exchange student that started playing on our varsity soccer team. One day I had a gathering at my house for all the soccer buddies and I invited Victor and his friends to also come along. I had very brief interactions with him before that. On the day of the party, he brought a small gift for me. It was a sachet of dried lavender that his mom made from the lavender that grew around their house in France. It bore the name of their estate. He said it was to be put in my closet to make my clothes smell nicely. Since then I have kept it, and it is featured in this post. Thank you Victor for showing me that life is all about the small gestures of kindness!

Another lavender related memory, a more recent one was from last weekend when my best friend Z came to visit. Z’s visits are like food to the soul – always so much laughter and fun! Recently, also much of reflection and self-discovery.
Among our many adventures over the two days, one of them was a quest to find a bunch of lavender. I had already invisioned what this post would look like and a bunch of lavender was essential. Apparently, tis not the season for lavender yet, so we had a hard time finding it, and this post was almost pushed for later in the summer. Z wanted to go ‘antiquing’ in Cambridge, and I’m glad we did, cause she found awesome clogs and an interesting clock…and just when we weren’t expecting it, in a flower shop close by, we found a bunch of lavender also! I guess it was meant to be 🙂

So, it’s the end of May and I can count the number of sunny days on one hand in this month! That is probably the reason I didn’t have more posts this month…natural light was very bland. This past Sunday I got lucky for a few hours in the morning with some sunshine and decided to make the best of it. The sun was hiding behind the clouds from time to time, which actually worked out perfectly cause I needed the bright sunlight softened down. The lavender lends itself so easily to photos, the colour is so vibrant.

The cookies themselves are quite easy to make….the list of ingredients is small, and most of these things you would most likely already have in your pantry. Aside from perhaps lavender, although it’s readily available (the actual buds are, but if you’re as determined as me to find an actual bunch of lavender, this may take a little while longer :)). The lavender gives the shortbread based cookies quite an interesting flavour. I wonder what the fresh buds would taste like and if they would be much different from the dried ones. Regardless, they are quite decorative…and you may choose to make them all different shapes…I just found a round-edged square to be interesting for me 🙂 Happy Spring!

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Click on each photo to view the high resolution images.

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RECIPES

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Lavender Cookies

• 1 cup (250 mL) unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 1/4 cup (50 mL) granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling on top

• 5 tbsp (70 mL) icing sugar

• 2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour

• 2 tbsp (25 mL) finely chopped fresh lavender flowers

• 1/8 tsp (0.5 mL) salt

 

1. Cream butter until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sugars, then flour, lavender and salt. Form into a round flat cake, wrap with waxed paper and refrigerate for an hour. Coat baking sheet with nonstick spray or line with parchment paper.

2. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Roll out dough on a floured surface to 1/4-inch (5-mm) thickness. Cut with a 2- to 2 1/2-inch (5- to 6-cm) cookie cutter and transfer to baking sheet about 1-inch (2.5-cm) apart. Prick each cookie with a fork and dust lightly with granulated sugar. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly coloured. Remove from sheet, cool on a rack and store in an airtight container.

Makes 24 cookies