Lemon Lavender Cookies are delicate and delicious. These beautiful treats pair perfectly with a cup of hot tea by yourself or while sharing a pot of tea with friends.
Made with edible lavender petals and lemon zest, this is one special cookie. They are just as delicious as these Lemon White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies.
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Why you will love this recipe
Lemon Lavender Cookies are great for special occasions because they’re so beautiful. Your friends will love them and be impressed when you serve a plate of these delicate lavender shortbread cookies. They are one of my favorite lemon recipes on the blog.
The best part is that they’re easier to make than you think! They are basic shortbread cookies with culinary-grade dried lavender buds folded in at the end.
Edible lavender can easily be purchased from Amazon and some grocery stores have it as well. You can also use lavender straight from your garden if you have a plant in your yard as long as it’s organic or a culinary plant.
The rest of the ingredients are most likely already in your pantry. The key to great cookies is to refrigerate them after mixing and before baking. This really helps keep their structure, prevent spreading, and cook evenly.
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour: gives structure and helps your cookie rise, making them light and chewy without being too heavy.
- Salt: enhances the flavors of other ingredients, helps control the dough’s rise, and improves the texture of your cookie.
- Sugar: adds sweetness to cookies, helps with browning, and contributes to a soft, tender texture.
- Edible culinary lavender: adds a unique floral flavor to your cookies, creating a fragrant and subtly aromatic taste that enhances the overall flavor profile.
- Lemon zest: Lemon zest adds a fresh, bright citrus flavor, giving them a vibrant, tangy kick without the sourness of the juice.
- Unsalted butter: provides a rich, creamy flavor and smooth texture, helping them stay moist and giving them a delicious melt-in-your-mouth quality, also allowing you to control the amount of salt in your recipe.
- Vanilla extract: adds a warm, sweet aroma and rich flavor, enhancing the overall taste and balancing other ingredients. Try my homemade vanilla extract.
- Cane sugar for sprinkling Optional
Lemon Lavender Cookie Instructions
Step 1: In a bowl, sift flour and salt. Set aside.
Step 2: Place 1 Tbsp. of the granulated sugar, lavender, and lemon zest in a mortar and grind lightly with the pestle.
Step 3: Place lavender mixture in a large bowl with remaining sugar and room temperature butter. Cream together until smooth. Add vanilla. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture until it forms a dough.
Step 4: Shape into a disk and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Step 5: Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into shapes 1 1/2 to 2-inch circle or flower cookie cutter and place on prepared sheet. Sprinkle with some pure cane sugar, then place in the freezer for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 325 degrees while freezing cookies.
Step 6: Bake cookies for about 12-14 minutes until lightly browned around the edges. Cool on sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.
Variations on these lavender cookies
This recipe sprinkles raw sugar on top of the cookies before baking. Instead, you could lightly sift powdered sugar or drizzle a lemon glaze on top of these butter cookies after baking. You can also add some Lavender Sugar if you have some on hand.
You can use a food processor to combine the sugar, lavender, and lemon zest instead of using a mortar and pestle.
Lemon lavender shortbread recipes sometimes call for one cup of powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar, however, we’ve found that regular sugars work just as well.
Using Lavender in Baking
Lavender is a fragrant herb that adds a unique floral, slightly sweet, and herbal flavor to baked goods, making it a special ingredient in recipes like cookies, cakes, and scones. Its distinct aroma enhances both the taste and experience, providing a subtle but memorable twist to desserts like these Earl Grey Lavender Cupcakes.
Culinary lavender is preferred for baking, as it has a milder flavor than decorative varieties. A small amount goes a long way, as too much can create an overpowering taste. Often paired with citrus, vanilla, or honey, lavender brings an aromatic complexity to baked goods, evoking a sense of calm and elegance.
Pairing Lavender and Lemon Zest
Lavender and lemon zest create a beautiful pairing in baked goods, especially in cookies, where their flavors can truly shine. The bright, tangy zest of lemon balances the floral, slightly herbal notes of lavender, resulting in a refreshing and aromatic combination.
Together, they add a complexity that transforms simple cookies into an elevated treat with a delicate, memorable flavor. Using just a hint of culinary lavender with fresh lemon zest brings a touch of sophistication to each bite, perfect for anyone who enjoys a unique twist on traditional sweets.
How to store
You can keep the cookies in a sealed zip-top bag on the counter for up to 3 days after baking them.
Another option is to freeze the dough so you have some on hand when you only want a few and don’t have time to bake or when you know you won’t be able to eat the whole batch in 3 days.
FAQs
These are crumbly butter cookies with the tangy zest of lemon and flowery, peppery aroma of lavender. They are light and wonderful paired with black tea.
Make sure you buy culinary-grade lavender so that it has not been combined with any additives or sprayed with chemicals. If you have a lavender plant in your yard, you can always dry out a few flowers to use as well.
Lemon goes great with lavender, as well as rosemary, peaches, thyme, and oregano. You can also make lavender sugar and it pairs great with pork chops. Generally, you can use it like you would rosemary.
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Lemon Lavender Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
- 1/3 Cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 1/2 Teaspoon Edible Lavender Culinary Grade
- 1 Tablespoon grated lemon zest
- 1/2 Cup butter unsalted softened (1 stick)
- 1/2 Teaspoon vanilla extract
- Sanding Sugar Optional
Instructions
- In a bowl, sift flour and salt. Set aside.
- Place 1 Tbsp. (of the 1/3 cup) granulated sugar, lavender, and lemon zest in a mortar and grind lightly with the pestle or in a spice grinder.
- Place lavender mixture in a large bowl with remaining 1/3 cup of sugar and 1 stick of butter. Cream together until smooth. Add vanilla. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture until it forms a dough. Shape into a disk and wrap tightly in plastic wrap
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees when you add the tray of cookies to the Freezer for 15 minutes.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into shapes 1 1/2 to 2-inch circle or flower cookie cutter and place on prepared sheet. Sprinkle with some pure cane sugar, then place in the freezer for 15 minutes
- Bake cookies for 12-14 minutes until lightly browned around the edges. Cool on sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.
