Lavender & Lemon Shortbread Cookies

All the Derby parties and spring events such as Easter and Mother’s Day have had me thinking of tea and cookies. There’s just something about large hats and brightly colored spring dresses that remind me of playing tea as a child. I also have thoughts of the traditional British 4 o’clock tea time, complete with plates of biscuits or cookies. Those memories and thoughts are the inspiration for this recipe for Lavender and Lemon Shortbread Cookies.

Shortbread cookies are the prefect accompaniment for tea or a glass of milk. They’re light, airy, crispy and always filled with subtle flavors instead of walloping you in the head with a strong taste. The lavender and lemon come through so gently on these cookies, you’ll be thinking at first they lack in flavor but then it hits and you receive the nuances of the two as they play on the tongue.

Another advantage to making shortbread cookies is they aren’t time-consuming at all. While it does say 1 hour to make these, half of that hour is spent with the dough resting in the fridge. The rest of the time is the mixing and the baking. So easy to make that I actually made two flavors of shortbread in about an hour and a half. I’ll share the Thai Basil and Lime with Olive Oil on another day.

Just writing about the Lavender and Lemon Shortbread Cookies makes me want to have another. I think it’s time for me to go put on a pot of tea, find my big hat and sit with my pinky raised while I enjoy a cuppa tea with my wonderful cookies. You are all invited to join me for a lovely afternoon tea party.

• Servings: about 20 cookies
• Time: 1hr
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

7 Tbsp. butter, room temp.

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. dried lavender

lemon zest from 1 lemon

lemon juice from 1/2 lemon

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 egg yolk

Holding back the egg yolk, mix the rest of the ingredients together until they resemble breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and mix gently until you can form a soft ball of dough.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for about a half an hour.

Preheat oven to 325° F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Roll out the dough onto a floured surface to about 1/4″ thick. Using a cookie cutter or upside down glass, cut out the dough and place on the prepared cookie sheet.

Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes or until they are turning light brown.

Remove from the oven and cool.

More fun with cookies:

Chewy Lime Sugar Cookies from the Defloured Baker

Raspberry Jam Cookies with Homemade Raspberry Sugar from The Tough Cookie

Tahini Cookies from Plum Deluxe

Fancy Molasses Cookies from Art and the Kitchen

Lemon Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies from Hungry Couple