SHF30: Lavender Shortbread

shortbread

This month’s Sugar High Friday is hosted by Coconut Chutney and the theme is edible flowers. Hey — it’s a great time to break into my stash of dried lavender! In case anyone has trouble finding dried lavender, I usually buy it at Cost Plus, where it comes in nicely sized bags in the spices section. You can also use fresh lavender flowers, of course.

This recipe by Gale Gand, another person I wish still had a show on the Food Network.

Be warned — these are very addictive. The only problem I had is that the dough was way too dry and I had to add a little milk. So, I guess the lesson here is just have a little milk on hand in case your dough needs a bit more moisture.

Lavender Shortbread
8 tbsp (1 stick) cool unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp dried lavender flowers
Optional (if needed) 2-3 tbsp milk

lav

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter until soft in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add 1/4 cup sugar and mix until incorporated.

butter

Stir together the flour, cornstarch, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix at low speed just until the ingredients are almost incorporated, then add the lavender, and mix until the dough starts to come together.

dough

This is where my dough did not come together. Just way too crumbly and floury. I added about 2 tablespoons of milk and it came together just fine.

preoven

Flour a work surface, turn the dough onto it, and knead it 5 to 10 times, to bring the dough together and smooth it out. I opted to press the dough into a 8 X 8 inch baking pan (lined with parchment), rather than rolling the dough out and then placing it on the pan. I think I made the right decision. I used my fingers to press it down and then smoothed it out with the bottom of a metal measuring cup.

post

Prick the shortbread all over with a fork to prevent any buckling or shrinking. Sprinkle the surface evenly with 1 tablespoon of the remaining sugar. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, deflate the dough if needed, by knocking the pan once against the oven rack then rotate the pan to ensure even cooking and a flat surface. You know, my finished surface was not entirely flat (probably because I pressed) but I am fine with that — it just looks homemade and rustic!

pov2

Bake 10 to 15 minutes more, until golden all over and very lightly browned. As soon as it comes out of the oven, sprinkle the surface evenly with the remaining tablespoon of sugar.

sliced

Let cool about 5 minutes. Using a very sharp knife, cut into 3 rows by 5 rows making about 1 1/2-inch by 3-inch bars. Let cool completely in the pan. Now, since the shortbread was on parchment, I actually lifted it out to cut the bars, then I replaced them back in the pan and let the shortbread finish cooling that way. After it is colled, it’ll store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

plated

Thanks again to Coconut Chutney for hosting this month’s event!

10 Replies to “SHF30: Lavender Shortbread”

  1. Thanks for participating! The lavender shortbread looks delicious with tiny specks of lavender throughout, a lovely variation on the traditional shortbread!

  2. Candy: Yep. I have been on this total lavender kick lately…I’m sure there’ll be more!
    Rosa: Thank you 🙂
    Monisha: Thanks! And thanks for hosting a great SHF!

  3. I was on the lookout for such a recipe, gorgeous! I love the smell and taste of lavender in butter cake so this must be out of this world!

  4. I love shortbread and I love lavender! Your shortbread looks so perfect; your pictures really show off the great texture! I could practically eat that shortbread off of my computer screen

  5. The Lavender Shortbread looks just wonderful! Thanks for posting the pictures of the baking steps along the way – that is really useful so that I can be sure I am on-track as I make this. I can smell it already!

  6. Just made this but I totally skipped the step about kneading with more flour. Arrghhh! Guess I’ll have to whip up a 2nd batch to see if I totally screwed up? 🙂
    Thanks for giving me a reason to break open my lavender blossoms!!

  7. Linda:
    Huh, I’d wait and see, it might still turn out. You are only supposed to knead this a few times…
    good luck!! 🙂

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