My grandmother’s favorite scent was lavender (I wonder if lavender is the favorite scent of ALL grandmothers?). I’d like to say she was a baker and a cook, but she wasn’t. She did, however, have an endless sweet tooth. She would always eat just enough dinner so she would be sure to have room for dessert. I like to think she would have made room for these.
I found a recipe for butter cookies in a knitting book I bought, and I had also recently bought lavender buds to bake with. It seemed as if this would be a great opportunity to make lavender cookies.
The recipe calls for a pound of butter. That’s four sticks. And it makes 120 cookies…120 cookies you have to slice. I try to not cook with that much fat and my patience wears thin when slicing. Instead, I halved the recipe in order to make it more manageable. The original recipe also calls for milk or sour cream. I had neither – only some creme fraiche, which worked just as well.
The cookies came out thin, crisp, with a hint of lavender – perfect for taking with tea.
Lavender Butter Cookies – adapted from Weekend Knitting
2 sticks of butter
1/2 and 1/8 cup of sugar
half an egg, beaten
1 tablespoon creme fraiche (or milk, sour cream, or orange juice)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour, sifted
scant tablespoon of crushed lavender buds
Beat together butter and sugar until smooth. Stir in egg, creme fraiche, and vanilla. Gradually stir in flour until well combined. Stir in crushed lavender buds.
Roll dough into a 10” long log (I rolled until I decided I didn’t want to roll it anymore), wrap in wax paper, and refrigerate for an hour.
Preheat oven to 350. Slice dough into 1/4 inch thick slices and place on baking sheet – about 1 to 2 inches apart. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly brown (watch after about 10 minutes, as they can go from light brown to very brown in a short amount of time).
Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool.
