It’s time to reveal who I was assigned to bake from this month for our Secret Recipe Club Group. This month I was given Rachel Cotterill’s blog, named blog.rachelcotterill.com. I knew that I wanted to post a cookie recipe for the month of December, so I started there. When I saw that Rachel had made Lavender Shortbread, I knew that I wanted to try it! Rachel lives with her husband in the English Cotswolds, and has so far has published two novels. Rachel says she collects skills the way others may collect stamps, ranging from taekwondo to knitting, from cooking to archery. She loves learning new languages and traveling. She was inspired to make this Lavender Shortbread while visiting the Old Course Hotel in the UK.
I picked up some Lavender at my local Penzey’s to use for the shortbread recipe. I adore all of their spices, and the Lavender I purchased was no different. I used a diamond shaped cookie cutter to shape my shortbread. As Rachel suggested, I served it with fresh strawberries in a lavender syrup with a big dollop of whipped cream. I was wishing I had my girlfriends over for a tea party! How fun would it be to serve this up with some nice tea and girl chatter?
Before I share the recipe, I have to show you this cool little gadget a friend of mine gave me a while back. It’s called a Quick Cream Whipper, and she bought it for me at Williams-Sonoma. It’s PERFECT for serving up desserts you need no more than a cup or so of whipped cream, and it whips it up in no time!
Plunge and ta-da! Whipped cream!
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- For the shortbread
- 1 ½ cups flour
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup + 1T butter
- 2 teaspoons dried lavender
- For the lavender strawberries:
- 7 ounces fresh strawberries (washed and halved)
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- 2 Tablespoons hot water
- 1 teaspoons dried lavender
- To serve
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream + 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar, whipped to form stiff peaks
- Preheat the oven to 285 degrees.
- Cream the butter and sugar in a mixer, until fluffy.
- Fold in the flour and lavender.
- Knead together to form a uniform dough with no loose flour (it will still be slightly crumbly)
- Roll flat and using a cutter in your desired shape, cut shapes, place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the tops are just starting to brown.
- Make the lavender syrup by dissolving the sugar in the hot water and adding lavender. Set aside. The longer the lavender sits, the stronger the flavor.
- Once the shortbread is finished, remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
- Strain the lavender syrup to remove the flowers, and toss the strawberries in the syrup.
- Serve the biscuits with a scoop of whipped cream and a few strawberries.
Because I love ginger, the next two cookies I will be trying are Rachel’s Dark Chocolate Ginger and her Mango Pineapple and Ginger Cookies! Thanks for so many good recipes, Rachel! I can’t wait to do some cooking from your blog, too!
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If you make this recipe, I’d love to know! Snap a picture, share the photo on social media with the hashtag #AnAffairFromTheHeart – I’d love to see what you made! – Michaela
LOVE lavender. I’ll put these on my short list! Thanks for sharing with the SRC.
Camilla, the shortbread was wonderful and the syrup was, too!! So fragrant! Fun post!
I have always wanted to add lavender to shortbread but have yet to give it a try….I am thinking that I really must get with it. Great post.
Thanks for mentioning that Penzeys xarries lavender. I’ve never known where to look for it!
Those cookies sound delicious!
Thank you. I now know what I can do with the Lavender I picked up a few months ago. It’s time for a tea party.
The first thing I thought was, where do I get lavender? I had no idea it would be as simple as a quick trip to Penzey’s (my favorite!). Great SRC choice!
I’ve always wanted to try lavender in baked goods. Must pin this! Beautiful photos too!
Oh these look really good! I think I need that little whipper! So much easier than breaking out a mixer.
Absolutely beautiful!
Beautiful! Love your photos! Visiting from SRC B! Happy Holidays!
What a fun idea this is! And I am familiar with Rachel’s blog, but I haven’t been there in a long while. I will stop in for a visit! This looks delicious, Michaela, I can see why you picked it. Pinning!
Lavender Shortbread {with strawberries & cream} looks fantastic! What a serious show stopper this winter.
Lavender shortbread sounds absolutely heavenly!
Wonderful! I’ve been looking for a way to use lavender in food!!!
I love the little diamonds, so cute! Really pleased that it worked out for you, and you’ve got much prettier pictures than me — I hadn’t chance to do a proper shoot as we were visiting friends at the time! 🙂
I’ve never baked with lavender before, but these shortbread cookies sound tasty!
I’ve never tried anythind baked with lavender. I think it’s in Herbes de Provence, but that’s about it. These, however, look elegent and fabulous! #onthemenu Thank you for linking up with #FoodieFridays this week.
This looks so yummy!
I gotta start using lavender in my baking…Thank you so much for linking this with us this week at FoodieFridays! I am SOOOO in love with it!!!! I chose this as one of my features this week!!!