Lavender and Dried Strawberry Shortbread with pansy decor

I love a light-handed touch of lavender in baked goods. It adds an earthy floral taste that is very pleasant. I grow lavender and dry the blooms in the summer, so I am always looking for a new and delicious way to use it. Lavender shortbread is certainly not new, probably having been made since the very advent of the crumbly cookies. But it was something I had never had the opportunity to taste. When that happens, I just say, "I can do it myself!" (That should give my moma a horrifying flashback to my childhood! :)

My first attempt was really just a reason to use the carved pin that was my Grandma Tommy's

I found a lovely looking and sounding recipe at mountainmamacooks.com . I made the recipe and...you guessed it, did whatever I wanted. Have we had the discussion about my patience...? "Pardon me, but I want my cookies now, please (add a polite smile with slight eye twitch)." So I did not want to chill the dough for four hours, and I did not want to roll it into logs and cut it. I also didn't want to counteract my lovely ground lavender with the lemon zest. I also changed out an amount of her powdered sugar for granulated because I know how much better the abrasiveness grinds the lavender. Gosh, I sound so cantankerous!;)

So, I changed the recipe a lot and I rolled out the dough so I could cut it into the shapes that I wanted. And then I had a stroke of inspiration! I had a bag of freeze-dried strawberries in the pantry that I found at Aldi. You know that I can't resist trying anything new like that. They are very tart, yet with all the strawberry flavor. And they are well and truly dried. You can make them into dust with just a bag and rolling pin (Hey, I was contemplating uses. Maybe sprinkled over the whipped cream on a strawberry shortcake for a little extra pink gorgeousness and hit of tart?). So I crushed up a bit in a bag, not to dust, just nice bits, and mixed them in with half my lavender dough. It was beautifully purple and pink speckled.

Lots of the berries looked like little hearts, so I couldn't resist adding some whole!

These cookies baked up wonderfully. They kept their shape and were the perfect consistency of buttery and crumbly that a shortbread should be. I only wish the strawberries had stayed vibrant pink, but they darkened in the oven just like fresh berries would have.I served these first for my book club and they were a hit. Then I made just the lavender ones for a baby shower for a little boy. I think as long as I have dried strawberries I will continue to add them to half of the dough so I don't have to choose!

These cookies (and unfrosted sugar cookies) are wonderful to add fresh, edible flowers to as decoration. You simply use a thin layer of egg white brushed on as a "glue" to hold the flower down, then brush more over the top to secure it and add shine. 

You can leave it like that, or do a tiny sprinkle of white sugar over the top for more shine.

 Bake the cookies, without the flowers on, for 6 minutes. Take the sheet out and apply the flowers. Flat ones like pansies are perfect. Then cook another 2 minutes till the egg white is dry and the cookies edges are golden. Aren't they beautiful?

Without further ado, here is my much revised recipe. 

Lavender Shortbread recipe

preheat oven to 375 degrees

ingredients:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp dried lavender buds
2 sticks (1 cup) butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup powdered sugar 2and 1/4 cups flour
coarse sanding sugar, if desired

Grate butter into bowl. Grind granulated sugar and lavender buds in a food processor or mortar and pestle until broken up, but still in large pieces. Add this to the grated butter along with the powdered sugar. Beat with mixer till combined and lumpy. Add flour and salt and beat again.

 Use hands and rub the buttery lumps between you fingers, combining the butter and flour until you can squeeze a handful and it makes a lump of dough. It will still be dry and crumbly! 

Scoop out onto a sheet of waxed paper, and cover with a second piece. Use a rolling pin to press the mound into a sheet of dough a little less than 1/4 inch.

 Remove top waxed paper and use a cookie cutter to make cookies and transfer to sheet with a spatula. Gather any dough scraps together press again, place second sheet over and roll out again. 

Bake 8 minutes till just golden around the edges. Eat and enjoy!

Note *This is a very accommodating dough. I added about an 1/8 cup or so of crushed dried strawberries to one half of the lavender dough and it was wonderful. You could even take out the lavender and use all lemon or orange zest. 

If the dough is too crumbly and giving you fits, try the original recipe at mountainmamacooks.com. The whole reason I did it this way was NO CHILLING TIME. I can have these made and baked in 15 minutes. If you don't mind the four hour wait time, the other dough may be easier for you to work with. Or maybe you have your own fabulous shortbread recipe? Don't hesitate to mix it up with all type of add-ins. I am still considering what more I can do!