Fragrant, crunchy, sweet Lavender Shortbread Cookies are elegant and tasty! Perfect afternoon snack with coffee and tea, and great for gifting to friends and family.
Fresh lavender is heavenly. The scent is so classic, elegant, and conjures up serene scenes of meadows filled with lavender fields.
We're pretty lucky to have several lavender U-pick farms nearby. And summer is prime lavender season around here. It's hard to resist the gorgeous bouquets of lavender that we see everywhere this time of year!
At our current house, we have a few different lavender bushes. So we can do our own U-pick at home, too.
[feast_advanced_jump_to]What type of lavender is best for cooking?
You can use most lavender in cooking and baking. The most common type of culinary lavender you will find will be labeled as English lavender. This broad term is used to describe several lavender species including Hidcote, Munstead, and Lady.
One of the recipes we've been making for decades with our fresh lavender is this simple recipe for Lavender Shortbread Cookies.
🌟 Why you'll love this recipe
These cookies are an aromatic twist on classic shortbread cookies.
These are delicate shortbread cookies that are simple to make.
They're tasty with a cup of tea or coffee. And stack them up and wrap them up to make beautiful, yummy gifts for friends!
💜 Ingredient notes
To make these sweet shortbread cookies, you will need:
- butter
- granulated sugar
- all-purpose flour
- cornstarch
- salt
- fresh lavender or dried lavender
The following ingredients are optional. However, We do recommend them!
- powdered sugar for rolling dough
- additional lavender leaves for garnish
- sprinkle sugar
Exact measurements of ingredients and instructions are in the printable recipe card toward the bottom of this post. Here are some helpful tips to guide you as you make this recipe.
✅ Step-by-step instructions
Cream the butter in a stand mixer.
Add the sugar and mix.
In a separate bowl, mix together flour, cornstarch and sugar.
The next step is the perfect chance to enlist the help of your kiddos!
Gently pick the lavender off the stems until you have almost a tablespoon full. The daughter loves how lavender smells, and she had fun picking the lavender off the stems into the tablespoon.
Add lavender into the mixer and mix the dough until it starts to come together and pull away from the sides.
Sprinkle a little powdered sugar onto a rolling mat or cutting board and knead the dough gently but thoroughly, about 5-7 times.
Roll out the dough into a circle until the circle is about 1/4″ thick.
Using a cookie cutter, cut out 2″ shapes.
Place cut cookies onto a baking sheet with either parchment paper or a Silpat. Sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar.
This next step is not optional, as it helps the cookies bake evenly and not puff up. Take a toothpick or a fork and gently poke small holes into the cookie. We made a circle pattern using a toothpick to go with the round shape of the cookies.
Now, the next step is optional: We place 3-5 individual lavender leaves in the center of each cookie. These will bake enough to stay on the cookies, and give them a gorgeous, polished, professional bakery look.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until cookies have quite light golden edges.
Voila! Delicate, tasty, sweet lavender shortbread cookies perfect for picnics, any home gathering you may have, and for homemade gifts.
Also simply wonderful to snack on all afternoon long!
👩🏻🍳 Baking tips
Dried vs. fresh lavender: you can use dried lavender instead of fresh. Simply reduce the amount of dried lavender by about 1/3, since the dried herbs tend to be a bit more potent in flavor and aroma than fresh.
To ensure even baking: about halfway through baking, rotate the racks (place the top cookie sheet on the bottom, and the bottom on the top). Also turn each cookie sheet 180 degrees so the front is now facing the back.
Don't overbake! Watch the cookies carefully starting at the 15 minute mark. Shortbread can burn quickly toward the end, so make sure they simply start to turn a beautiful golden color and aren't too dark around the edges. The batches took around 17 minutes.
Tried and true, expert-tested cookies
We've been making these recipes for almost 20 years! In fact, the daughter was in one of the photos in the original post for this recipe.
That's a picture of her at age five helping me make this recipe. In true teenager fashion, she has refused to allow me to take photos of her making this recipe with me recently.
More cookie recipes
- Sugar Cookie Confetti Cake
- Samoa Cookies (Copycat Girl Scout Cookie Recipe)
- Chocolate Rugelach
- Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Did you make this recipe? Don't forget to leave a 5-Star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card, and if you truly loved it, please leave a comment further down on the page. Thank you!
Lavender Shortbread Cookies
By Marlynn Schotland Prep Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 20 mins Total Time: 50 mins Servings: 24 cookies
Lavender short bread cookies are tasty and fragrant – and are perfect for gifting.
Ingredients
- 1 stick of butter, cubed
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lavender, or use 1/2 Tablespoon dried lavender
optional:
- powdered sugar for rolling dough
- additional lavender leaves for garnish
- sprinkle sugar
Instructions
- Cream the butter in a stand mixer until smooth and a quite pale yellow color (no longer bright yellow), about 2 minutes. We take a spatula and scrape down the sides halfway through to ensure even, full mixing.
- Add the sugar and mix until well blended, about 1-2 full minutes. We scrape down the sides of the mixer twice during this time to ensure even mixing.
- In a separate bowl, mix together flour, cornstarch and salt. Slowly add to the mixer and mix on low until all dry and wet ingredients are combined.
- Gently pick the lavender off the stems until you have almost a Tablespoon full.
- Add lavender into the mixer and mix the dough until it starts to come together and pull away from the sides. It should not be crumbly.
- Sprinkle a little powdered sugar onto a rolling mat or cutting board and knead the dough gently but thoroughly, about 5-7 times.
- Roll out the dough into a circle until the circle is about 1/4″ thick.
- Using a cookie cutter, cut out 2″ shapes.
- Place cut cookies onto a baking sheet with either parchment paper or a Silpat. Sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar.
- Take a toothpick or a fork and gently poke small holes into the cookie. This helps the cookies bake evenly and not puff up.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until cookies have quite light golden edges. Make sure they are not too dark, and watch them carefully: shortbread can burn quickly toward the end! The batches took around 17 minutes.
Notes
Makes: 23-26 cookies Dried vs. Fresh Lavender: you can use dried lavender instead of fresh. Simply reduce the amount of dried lavender by about 1/3, since the dried herbs tend to be a bit more potent in flavor and aroma than fresh. Decorative idea: place 3-5 individual lavender leaves in the center of each cookie. These will bake enough to stay on the cookies, and give them a finished look. Baking tip: About halfway through the baking time, take the baking sheets out and swap the top baking sheet onto the bottom, and vice versa. You can also turn each sheet around 180 degrees so the front is now facing the back. This helps ensure even baking for each cookie. Don't overbake! Watch the cookies carefully starting at the 15 minute mark. Shortbread can burn quickly toward the end, so make sure they simply start to turn a beautiful golden color and aren't too dark around the edges. The batches took around 17 minutes.Nutrition
Calories: 33 kcal, Carbohydrates: 7 g, Protein: 1 g, Fat: 0.1 g, Saturated Fat: 0.03 g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.02 g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0.01 g, Trans Fat: 0.001 g, Cholesterol: 0.1 mg, Sodium: 25 mg, Potassium: 6 mg, Fiber: 0.2 g, Sugar: 2 g, Vitamin A: 3 IU, Vitamin C: 0.1 mg, Calcium: 2 mg, Iron: 0.3 mgNutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe adapted from Gale Gand/Food Network
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This lavender shortbread cookies recipe was originally published on UrbanBlissLife.com on July 12, 2012. It was updated July 12, 2020 with new photos and updated content, including more baking tips.
