Lavender Shortbread Cookie Recipe

I LOVE shortbread cookies, but you know what's better, LAVENDER shortbread cookies! The smell when they come out of the oven is like heaven... And while it’s not quite lavender season, I was lucky enough to get my hands on some culinary dried lavender so today we bake!

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The first time I ever tried lavender shortbread cookies was when I got off the ferry in a small port in a tiny town in B.C. and I fell in love. When I got back from my trip I sourced some amazing local culinary lavender and of course lavender extract. I have been making lavender shortbreads now for over 10 years, but today I swapped out a few old ingredients for new ones.

Instead of using grocery store bought lavender extract, I decided to replace it with culinary lavender essential oil from Young Living, and wow what a difference. I didn't think it was possible for this recipe to taste any better, but it does.

This recipe only requires a few ingredients, is easy to make and oh so delicious!

And let's be honest, lockdown means time to bake and eat!

(The shortbread recipe was from an old church recipe book which I memorized and adapted to incorporate the lavender flavour. You could also add lemon to the recipe or even a lemon glaze icing if you wanted to get fancy).

Ingredients:

1/2 salted butter (vegan butter works too)

1/4 cup refined sugar (coconut sugar works too)

1 tsp dried culinary lavender (we sourced ours from a local lavender farm in Creemore)

1 cup unbleached organic all purpose flour

1/8 tsp culinary lavender oil (YL Lavender)

Instructions:

Mix together butter, sugar and dried lavender (tip I always mix the sugar and dried lavender together first to release some of the flavour)

Add lavender oil

Add flour and mix well until fully blended

Place dough onto plastic wrap or beeswax wraps and roll into a log of about 1 inch in diameter

Put the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes until hardened

Preheat oven to 350F

Cut dough into 1/2 inch circles

Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

Bake 10-12 minutes (could be up to 15 depending on oven)

Remove from oven and let cool before transferring to a cooling rack

Once cooled, take photos, share with me, and enjoy!

*Yields appx 12-18 cookies