lavender...

just like my obsession with blueberries... i am also very fond of lavender... i used to think it's an old-women's thing but that impression never really stuck for long... i love lavender for it's scent, for it's soothing properties and for the fact that it looks so pretty, as a herb plant and flower... i once remarked to a friend i refer to as 'happy claire' (because she's so bubbly and makes everyone smile) that i'd love to lie in a field of lavender in provence and she looked concerned. she responded that maybe i won't really want to do that because there will be lots of wasps and bees when lavender blossoms.... sigh...

i guess if i can't fall asleep in fields of lavender, i could bathe myself in its essence... thus, shower gel/bath salts/body-creams/soaps that have lavendula oils and/or dried lavender flower petals have a special place in my wee bathroom... i also have a little pillow filled with dried lavender flowers which i could heat up to help ease sore muscles or simply aid sleeping... i also once kept this recipe for lavender ice-cream in hope that i might someday have an ice-cream maker to try it... i still have it in my silly recipe collection!

and when DSD blogged about lavender cookies the other day... i thought "i want some too!"... and hunted for a recipe which i unwittingly modified so slightly as i tried to follow it last week...

i used dried lavender buds i purchased from a very hippie-tea-house in glasgow many months ago for tea-brewing and shipped it over here... and i also found this lovely lavender infused syrup which i substituted for the light corn syrup in the recipe and very casually added some to the cookie-dough mix too!... i didn't know what i'll do with corn syrup apart from using it in this recipe so i decided to splurg on something i know i will use regularly (e.g. for my tea-consumption) instead...

here is my modified version of Linda's lovely recipe for lavender tea cookies:

for the cookie dough:

- 1 tablespoon dried culinary lavender flowers -- grind with pestle in motar, or crush with a wooden spoon in a bowl.
- approximately 225g unsalted butter -- leave it to cool to room temperature
- approximately 125g brown raw cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 tablesppon Sonoma Syrup Co.'s Lavender Infused Simple Syrup
- 450g all purpose / plain flour
- a tiny pinch of salt

cream butter, sugar, vanilla extract, lemon juice and then the bruised lavender together in a bowl before adding flour and salt to form a soft dough. gently roll the cookie dough into a long sausage form with your hands and wrap it in plastic (cling film etc.) and compress it as tightly as you can in its sausage shape and tie a knot on both ends of the 'sausage'. then lay it on a flat plate or tray and refrigerate until firm. i left it over a day hibernating in the cold.

when ready, preheat the oven to 165degC (or 325degF). on a flat board, unroll the plastic film from cookie dough sausage and slice ~1/2-cm thick discs and place them on a cookie baking sheet(s). bake until they are lightly browned on their edges and remove them to cool on a wire rack before applying the lavender frosting, if desired.

for the lavender frosting:

- 225g icing sugar
- 2 tablespoons of dried culinary lavender flowers
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon Lavender Infused syrup (Sonoma Syrup Co.)

combine and toss the icing sugar and lavender flowers in a ziploc bag and leave them to get acquainted with each other for at least a day, preferrably longer...

then sift out the lavender flowers with a fine seive and leave the lavender aside in a container for use to brew a cuppa lavender tea instead of discarding them so soon. to the scented icing sugar, add the rest of the ingredients to form a frosty white spreadable mixture and spread it over the cooled cookies...

i didn't frost all my cookies since i quite like them less sweet but the frosting actually enhances the lavender-taste.... however, i found that the cookies looked boring with the white covering so i tried to give them some identity by carving out patterns on the frosting... (just so i can spend more time in the warmth of the kitchen!)

so there... it's not too difficult really... and they smell and taste lovely... lavender-ly!

posted by ~overacuppa~ on Saturday, 8 October, 2005 at 12:47 hrs