One evening a couple of months ago when it was still cool here in Sydney, continuing on my quest to explore Leila Lindholm's A Piece Of Cake some more, I decided to make the first thing that jumped out of the pages of the cookbook. As I flipped the pages the lavender biscuits caught my eye. I felt like doing purple.

Lavender Dream Biscuits

It might seem odd, but sometimes I feel like doing a specific colour while cooking or baking. Maybe it reflects my own state of mind or mood at that time. Do you feel like that as well? For the most bit, I feel all brown and orange and rustic. Maybe that is why I like autumn so much. But that evening, I felt purple and the lavender cookies were a perfect match for my mood.

Lavender stalks and flowers from the garden.

The massive lavender bush with purple spikes and bees buzzing in my backyard was perfect for the task at hand. After carefully hand picking the best spikes out there, I proceeded to gently pluck the indigo petals off the tops. Lavender petals are as delicate and tiny as they are beautiful and fragrant. After I had a decent amount for the cookies and the rest of the ingredients laid out, I did some quick photography of the preparation.

Lavender flour heap.

The biscuits baked beautifully, the sweet crunch spiked by a delicate lavender aftertaste made these to the top of my favourite cookie list. If you can get your hands on some fresh lavender, these are a must try!

Lavender biscuits cooling | Lavender tsalks all plucked out.

 

Infusing the flour with lavender prior to baking the biscuits.

Lavenders are pretty unusual and rare in baking. Before I moved to Sydney, I had never even seen a stalk of lavender in my life. But it is always very gratifying and curiosity-satisfying to use unusual ingredients in your cooking, especially if they happen to be pure and fresh from your garden. Have you guys used anything unique and unusual in your cooking lately? Drop me a line, I would love to know!

 

 

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recipe

LAVENDER DREAM BISCUITS

Preparation Time - 20 minutes
Baking Time - 20 minutes
Makes - 20
 

Ingredients

100g unsalted butter, softened
90g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
150g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon fresh or dried lavender flowers
 

Method

Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas 2.

Beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Grease and line a cookie sheet with baking paper.

Mix the dry ingredients with the lavender flowers and stir into the butter mixture to make a crumbly dough.

Shape small balls and put them on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes in the pre-heated oven. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
 

My Notes

The author shares a great tip for making super easy lavender sugar. Blend a tablespoon of fresh lavender flowers with caster sugar in a small glass jar. Cover with an airtight seal and store in a cool place in your pantry. After about a week, the fragrance of lavender would have infused the sugar which can then be used for baking or to sprinkle on top of caramelized fruit and vanilla ice cream.

 

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