#lavender shortbread

Mentioned in Chapter 56 today’s recipe is for Fiona Pitch’s lavender shortbread. It seems Baz isn’t the only Pitch family member who has a thing for lavender. 

“He sits at my grotty little table and starts drinking my tea, dunking the last of my lavender shortbread in it.” Fiona Pitch, Chapter 56, Carry On. 

Lavender Shortbread:

Ingredients: 

3/4 pound salted butter (three sticks)

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. lavender extract (I prefer this to dried lavender--I have no patience for grinding lavender with a mortar and pestle and then having bits of it in my biscuits. It’s a personal thing. If you prefer dried lavender go right ahead--you may need more like 1 1/2 to 2 tsp of it.) 

Method:

I used a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. You can use a hand mixer.

I mixed the butter with the sugar until it was well combined. 

Then I added the vanilla and the lavender extract. I used 1/4 tsp of the extract and it had a faint lavender flavour. If you want a stronger flavour use the 1/2 tsp. 

Add the flour to the bowl and mix together until the dough starts to form a ball

place the dough ball on a nonstick baking mat

Roll out the dough on a baking mat until approximately 1/2 inch thick, then cut desired shapes. I have a square cutter so that’s what I used.

Cut the dough into shapes

I then cut these shapes in half because they seemed too large and my kids like the Walkers rectangular shortbread so I decided to try to match them. 

Refrigerate the cut dough for one hour, until cold and firm to touch. (I often forget this step, fyi). It’s good to think about preheating the oven while the dough is chilling. 

Preheat oven to 350F.

Bake the shortbread for 20-25 minutes, until they are lightly golden brown at the edges.

let them cool to room temperature before serving.

Baked biscuits:

Plated biscuits: 

Store in an airtight container. 

Lavender shortbread recipe:

Two o’clock cake time.

Lavender shortbread.

How to Make Lavender Simple Syrup

Lavender Simple Syrup is true to its name; it is quite simple to make. Basically all simple syrups are flavored sugar-water. Equal parts raw or organic sugar to water, heated to dissolve the sugar. Add a natural flavor, in this case lavender, but you can add any kind of citrus rinds, such as lemon, lime or orange. Pomegranate seeds, berries or herbs, like fresh mint, make wonderful simple syrups…