- Aug 24, 2012 -
A Handefull of Pleasant Lavender Delites
Lavender
(Handefull of Pleasant Delites)
Lavender is for lovers true, Which evermore be faine;
Desiring always for to have Some pleasure for their paine:
And when that they obtained have The love that they require,
Then have they all their perfect joie, And quenched is the fire.
— Clement Robinson, 1584
I think by now, you know that I adore lavender..
Lavender
(Herball)
The floures of Lavender picked from the knaps, I meane the blew part and not the husk, mixed with Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Cloves, made into powder, and given to drinke in the distilled water thereof, doth helpe the panting and passion of the heart, previaleth against giddinesse, turning or swimming of the brain, and members subject to the palsie.
–John Gerard, 1597
♥
My daughter and I were on a quest for “Lavender (Herball)” to “previaleth against our swimming brains” and the tumult of lake life…
…we found our amethyst cure at the Okanagan Lavender Farm.
Silly me, I hadn’t realized it was late in the season.. no dreamy mounds of amethyst swept in view, yet still some varieties were in bloom.
and one could meander through the gardens to see quaint vintage cottages…
We finished with a wee bit of shopping.
Katie chose a Lavender spray for her pillowcase.
Of course, I went for a tin of culinary lavender…
Then we nibbled on a lavender scone and sipped “strawfulls” of lavender lemonade, while taking in the gorgeous views from the deck of their sweet little café…
“My dear, have some lavender, or you’d best have a thimble full of wine, your spirits are quite down, my sweeting.”
– - John O’Keeffe, circa 1798
♥
I think that’s good advice, don’t you?
I’ve made two Lavender Shortbread Cookies to share with you today.
This first recipe made a cookie with a lovely strong lavender and lemon flavor, almost an “oaty” Scottish texture, it was very light and fluffy…
Lavender Lemon Rolled Shortbread
2013-04-08 15:16:44
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp dried lavender flowers
2 tbsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice
zest from one lemon
coarse sugar
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
On medium speed, cream the butter until soft in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add 1/4 cup sugar and blend until the sugar is incorporated.
In a medium sized bowl, stir together the flour, cornstarch, and salt. Then add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Blend on a low speed, just until the ingredients are almost incorporated.
Crush the lavender with a mortar and pestle. Add the lavender to the dough, sprinkle over the lemon zest and juice then mix until the dough starts to come together. Stop the mixer and, in the mixing bowl, try to work the dough together into a ball with your hands.
Lightly dust your counter with flour, turn the dough onto it, and gently press the mixture together until the dough becomes pliant and workable.
Place a silpat sheet on a clean work surface.With a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a little less than 1/4-inch thick and about 8 x 10″ rectangle. You can use your hands at this point to “straighten” the ends and sides so a perfect rectangle is formed. At this point I used my special butter rolling pin to mark lines in the cookie dough for cutting later, of course scoring with any sharp knife and a straight edge will work. Sprinkle with regular or coarse sugar.
Then simply lift the dough onto a cookie sheet.
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes more, until golden all over and very lightly browned. When you remove the pan from the oven, sprinkle additional sugar as required. Using a sharp knife, gently cut through the cookie dough to make squares (being careful not to cut the silpat).
Allow cookies to cool then move then to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Adapted from Food Network
Adapted from Food Network
Just a Smidgen http://justasmidgen.com/
♥
This second tasted more like a typical shortbread.. my mouth recognized it from my Christmas (shhh.. the C word) Baking… you’ll want to select this one if you’d like a touch less lavender..
♥
Lavender Shortbread
2013-04-08 15:18:14
1/2 cup powdered icing sugar
2 tsp dried lavender
zest of one lemon
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
additional sugar, optional
In a food processor, blend the powdered sugar, dried lavender, and lemon zest until lavender flowers and lemon are well minced.
In a mixing bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, add butter and cream on medium speed. Add the powdered sugar mixture and blend. Then mix in the flour and salt just to combine.
Using your hands, press the dough inside the mixing bowl until a loose dough ball forms. Lay out two sheets of plastic wrap. Lift 1/2 of the mixture onto one sheet and shape into a log about 4-5 inches long. Wrap the plastic around, twist and ends and use the warmth from your hands to shape and smooth the log further. Then refrigerate for a minimum of 3 hours.
Preheat the oven to 375° F.
Slice chilled dough into 1/4-inch slices. If desired, roll or sprinkle in sugar. I rolled the edges to get a different look.
Bake for 13-15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. Add additional sugar as desired
Adapted from Mountain Mama Cooks
Adapted from Mountain Mama Cooks
Just a Smidgen http://justasmidgen.com/
♥
It’s high time we wandered back home…
to see what the boys have been up to..
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by Barbara Bamber | justasmidgen
Lavender dreams … I too love lavender .. The colour, the scent, the sturdy little plants. But the taste? Not so much, although it’s a taste I’d like to acquire. Time for another trip to my local lavender fa for some culinary lavender …
Oh man, these look beautiful!! I loooove lavender, we had it as our wedding flower and my only request to the florist was to have it *everywhere*, it looked amazing. And so do these shortbreads, thank you!
I love your post and the pictures are soo beautiful.
Everything looks wonderful. I love lavender, too!
my goodness! your photographs always leave me speechless… they are just so pretty.
and anything with lavender tastes and smells heavenly just like your shortbread
I love lavender but have never eaten it. I love the photos of it growing.
Your boys are sure having some summer fun!
I love how you coloured this post in lavender. What handsome boys! And sporty ones too. I love lavender too and it is so pretty. I would love to try lavender lemonade. And some edible lavender in my pantry would be good too so I can make your beautiful shortbread xx
Lavender thru’ the ages . . . long before and long after we grace this earth . . . how lovely: the white pebble treatment of a garden . . .I can smell it now!
I just “inherited” one of those butter/cookie rolling pins, and now I know exactly what to make with it
I made lavender scones the other day – such a lovely thing to bake with! Thanks for sharing your little adventure 
I love shortbread and make it quite often. My Scottish great-grandmother’s recipe uses rice flour for half of the required flour. I just pass that along, because I so rarely have anything to contribute in the area of baking. Ha! But it does make a nice crispness to the shortbread! I adore lavender, too, so I will certainly enjoy these recipes. Your photos are great…love the surfing, too! Sure you don’t live in Southern California? Debra
Mmmmmm that shortbread looks so delicious!
You can also use it to infuse vodka
That lavender farm must be a sight to see when the lavender is in peak blooming season. I bet their scent is carried for miles on soft Summer breezes. I’ve not cooked with lavender — mine is such a deprived existence, Barb — but your shortbread cookies look so very tasty. Do they ship well?
My brother brought me a tin of culinary lavender from France last month. I’m addicted to lavender sugar, and love sprinkling lavender on top of, or into, my favourite recipes. It’s the intoxicating scent that gets me every time… And now you’ve given me two more lavender treats to add to the repertoire!!
I love lavender and have some that I would love to use in your amazing lavender delights!
I think both sound amazing and I look forward to having them with some tea…maybe over the weekend
When I look at your photographs I always feel like a wave of calm come over me. I’m in a happy place. Quiet and serene. All the things that make me feel warm and comfortable. Ohhh and did I mention how I would love to eat a plate of your lovely lavender shortbread cookies. i am glad you had a great holiday. Welcome home. BAM
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!
Mandy
Every word and image in this post is gentle and comforting – that’s how I think of lavender, and the sparkly shortbread cookies just add to that!
Love the color lavender, hate the aroma and taste of the plant. I like your cut rolling pin though and the old poem. If lovers need lavender, my love life may always be unsettled — I throw roses at it, though.
I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy these, but something really wonderful happens when the lavender combines with other ingredients and is baked up in a cookie. The scent/taste becomes so much more subtle and they tasted delicious <3 I'll be making these again…
I would love to see photos of your wedding with lavender throughout.. it must have been so romantic! xx
Thanks so much!
It’s an acquired taste for some, I’m glad to find a fellow lavender lover:D
It’s been great weather in the Okanagan this year.. only one rainy day as I recall:)
It was so delicious.. I really enjoyed the lavender lemonade. The flavor was quite subtle, one day I will try to concoct my own version. I bet there are a few perfect lemonade recipes around WordPress that I could modify. xx
Weren’t those sweet poems.. I love the old ones, the spelling and different sentence structure brings a smile to my face! xx
I can’t wait to make butter.. that’s my next project. I’ve got all the tools I need and am looking forward to trying out the rolling pin. Mostly because when I baked, the prettiest part of the rolling didn’t stay flat enough to see the designs. There’s a little owl, cherries, butterflies… What’s on your rolling pin? Who did you inherit it from? xx
Rice flour would add such a cool texture.. I’m thinking the coarseness of the lavender (because it is ground, not done in a food processor) may have added a similar texture. I’ve never eaten a cookie that had this sort of “bite” to it, very Scottish I think. Nope, Debra.. I live in Canada *sigh, where we have lakes, but on really nice days the cold temperatures feel great! xx Barb
Hmmm.. keep throwing roses.. roses and rose petals should do the trick? They’re so tender… and sweet:D
It was yummy
Now that would be delicious.. have you done this and posted it? I’d like to see how it’s done!
I had the same thought, John, I wanted to purchase the little home next door just to sit outside and enjoy the fragrant breezes! I always wondered how they ship cookies.. wouldn’t they break??
Yay.. a small tin goes a long way, doesn’t it. Yours from France must have a wonderful scent!! xx
I was wondering what tea would pair well with these? Maybe something simple? Enjoy!
Thanks, BAM, it’s actually great to be home.. I love life at the lake, but also enjoy the excitement of Fall and everything starting up again. xx Smidge
Thanks Mandy!
I’ll happily test the shipping condition of the cookies for the both of you!
btw – I don’t think I’ve ever eaten anything with lavender in it but these look wonderful.
I love the bottles
I have always wanted to see a lavender farm. I actually have a generic stock photo of one on my computer at work. It makes me happy.
Looks and sounds like a great afternoon with your daughter.
I adore lavender too and my two shrubs have been doing great! These shortbread cookies sound great Smidge, I love the coarse sugar sprinkled over the top, so pretty. Beautiful old rolling pin.
I am so in love with lavender in cooking! Once a year there is a lavender festival about an hour from my house that is just amazing. My mom goes and brings back amazing stuff!! This year she snagged a lavender oil that can be used in foods, and beverages. I lovee my lavender water! These treats look delicious!
Heavenly, Smidge. I can smell them from here.
I relax just looking at and reading this. I can almost smell the lavender! What a beautiful post Smidge. I love lavender. Lavender any and/or everything. Especially in shortbread cookies
I’ve never tried the rolled lavender lemon version though. I like that it has a bit more lavender.
I wish we had a beautiful place like that to get our lavender….I’ll have to get mine at the health food store. No matter, I’m looking forward to that flavor again, it’s been a while. Thank you for this Smidge! xoxo
BUt all my lavender is gone and i desperately want to make that shortbread! I would love to have been with you on your lavender farm tour.. lovely.. c
The lavender farm you visited is absolutely gorgeous! Looks like a wonderful time
My favourite post all day, on any blog. So much character in every shot and a couple of easy, elegant and tasty lookin’ recipes to boot (the shortbread is on my new shortlist of new ones to try). What a pleasure to read…thank you
I think I will start using my lavender in the garden
This means so much coming from you.. I love your blog and enjoy the stunning photography there!! xx
I went on holidays.. it’s a good thing I brought some back because when I got home my own lavender had gone to seed:( Lucky you to have some and it’s so easy to dry!
These cookies are just remarkable…would be perfect for a wedding or shower!
What a lovely place to visit – nibbling lavender scones on the deck sound especially nice. I love lavender too – there is just something about the scent of it that nothing else quite matches.
Oh, Barbara! Complete and utter heaven. I smiled through your whole post and marveled at your gorgeous photos. I have had a jar of culinary lavender in my cupboard awaiting the perfect recipe. Now I have it thanks to you! While we’re discussing lavender recipes, I had vanilla ice cream flavored with lavender and honey at a restaurant once, and it was divine. Also I keep lavender and chamomile tea fro a local gourmet shop in our house. It’s lovely; the scent and flavors calm me right down, especially with a bit of honey.
Have a small pillow with lavender to make me sleep better inside pillowcase, and it works magic – I love the smell and the beauty of lavender … but I don’t like lavender any food. Like the surfer duds … very stylish. Love your beautiful world.
This post is so dreamy
Thanks for sharing. Those cookies are screaming for a hot cup of teas to go along with them!!!
What I wouldn’t give for a day there! I must try to find some culinary lavender around here because I’d love to have a play in the kitchen with it..
What a fragrant and refreshing journey — how positively lovely.
So pretty!
I adore lavender in baking and these look beautifully tempting!
In fact, I’ve just put some lavender hand cream on 
Your photos are beautiful. Am going to try the lavender shortbread cookies and I love the special rolling pin for the first cookie – just became a follower.
Hi Smidge. Oooo! love lavender. Wonderful post and fab photos TFS. Going to give the shortbread a go. Have a great week.
Regards Florence x
absolutely lovely! Thanks for visiting…
I love lavender but your post is more than this, how beautiful, I fall in love with them… Thank you dear Barbara, you are amazing and so creative. Have a nice week, love, nia
I am obsessed with lavender – I have at least 3 different lavender scented lotions (one for the bedside, one for the bathroom, and one for the coffee table – I don’t have a problem), several lavender candles, and keep culinary lavender in the kitchen at ALL times (I’ve made my own version of lavender shortbread and a lemon cupcake with lavender frosting).
The hardest thing for me right now is not pilfering from the dozens of lavender and rosemary plants I walk by every day as I wander through the neighborhood. I’m wondering if I can convince my landlord to let me plant my own rosemary and lavender plants next spring…
~Emilie
The lavender farm looks delightful, I particularly loved the photo of the lavender planted with the white pebbles around. I may just have to borrow that idea, somehow or somewhere!
And you know you are talking my kind of language, I have a soft spot for shortbread ! I made my first with lavender a while ago, but now I see what I was missing – lemon. Thank you Smidge
Your pictures are lovely! The food is also beautifully decorated
Lavender is one of those universal ingredients you can do so much with. And that shortbread is calling me. And you know I’m not a huger bread eater
Oh Smidge, we have a lavender farm nearby us too, with shelves filled with lavender honeys & soaps & sprays, sachets, candles, living plants, photos & art. Me thinks it’s a purpley piece of paradise! So do you have a favorite between the 2 shortbreads? They both sound wonderful! Serendipitous… I was just about to make some lavender mini scones for a little one’s birthday!
I think I’m in lavender heaven… would you believe that I have a lavender candle glowing right beside me in the kitchen and just came from visiting a lavender farm at the other end of our country? In the Eastern Townships: http://www.bleulavande.ca/.
Barb, your shortbread is stunning – I love how you’ve combined the coarse grain salt with the lavender and your presentation is exquisite – (as is your website!). What a beautiful post. I’m enveloped in calm and serene thoughts
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What a lovely stroll that would be among the lavendar. I think I could stay and shop and sip for hours! Your shortbread is absolutely lovely. Both versions would be fine for me, I adore lavender. As always, your writing and site calm me into happy bliss
I wish there was a “Love” button for this post. If only I lived a little closer to that lovely Okanagan Lavender Farm — especially given the fact that my attempt to grow lavender has failed miserably!
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful…and yummy, too! I have culinary lavender and have been dying to make shortbread with it. Am bookmarking this post.
Just went to a ladies’ lunch where the hostess tucked a sprig of lavender in each cloth napkin. It was a nice touch. My daughter loves shortbread — trying your recipe right … now.
Just beautiful! I love lavender and i like to use it in my baking a lot! love that rolling pin that you got! wish I could visit a lavender farm soon!
gosh what a beautiful life you have! what region is that? looks beautiful! and your pictures… wow. here it already feels like fall. so nice to see the summer is still there. I bought a plant of lavender last spring and there was a warning on it: not edible. ended up throwing it. how come some lavender is edible and some is not? your cookies look amazing of course. just like the photographic rendition of them.
Thanks so much, Barbara, this was taken in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada.. a long way from your home:) I’m not sure.. but I would think edible is whether or not a plant has had pesticide sprayed on it. So it’s probably a good thing you didn’t cook with it.. it would have made your home smell nice though:)
Depending on where you live.. you may find one where you least expect it;)
That’s such a nice touch for a luncheon! I hope you love it:)
I hope you like it Betsy!
I’m thinking you might have a farm near you, Barb? I grew some and left for the lake just as it bloomed, lol!
Why didn’t I think about that? I’ll have to do a little research to find out. That would be a fun excersion with the girls.
It’s one of my fav collections:D
I am in heaven!
ah..I live in Singapore and we don’t have lavender farms here unfortunately. blame it on the weather!
Beautiful!! So glad to have found your blog, I know I will enjoy it!
I absolutely adore lavender! One of my favorite herbs. These recipes look so delicious. Love the pictures of the beautiful lavender farm.
Thanks so much.. I love finding new blogging friends:D
It’s one of my favorite flavors now.. and so easy to add to any baking:) Thanks, Karista!
Having a scottish wife, I am a shortbread fanatic. With this recipe, I am even more of a fanatic.
I am waiting to visit the South of France just so I can see miles and miles of lavender fields….
I have a lavender obsession as well! Cant wait to try your Shortbread recipe!
Have you ever had the PLEASURE of tasting lavender ice cream?! Oh my is it good!
I love infusing vodkas with all sorts of deliciousness and plan to try a Lavender Infused Vodka soon! What a ladylike cocktail that would make!
Looks like a delicious shortbread. Awesome!
Subhan Zein
Barbara, I love your blog and your interpretation of our farm – THANK YOU for such a lovely portrayal and I am so pleased you and your daughter enjoyed sharing your day with others.
You’re so welcome! I can’t wait to visit again this summer! xx