The Little Red Tractor by Nancy Marshall
"...if I can’t get to the lavender fields of Provence, in France...." I must find a way to bring the joy home!
It has been a few months past that I received a wonderful little sample of dried lavender flowers from Justin at Marxfoods. And these little lovelies I have used sparingly with love and care.
"too much of a good thing..." holds very true for lavender buds - use too much and you end up with an overpowering soapy feel & flavor. What is wonderful is just a teeny bit goes a long way in infusing desserts and custards and short breads with that lovely ephemeral lavender scent.
As far as I am concerned lemon and lavender are like two peas in a pod. How can you not? And so I decided to take my signature short bread recipe - you know that one I fixed for the pre-school kids way back when, here and tweaked it. The results are delicate and wonderful. The kids and hubby have gobbled several, warm out of the oven with ne'er a peep.
And I have been saved from ranting and raving about it's medicinal benefits as has been treasured though the ages in Ayurveda -insomnia, anxiety, depression, fights colds & cough.....So I guess, Mary Poppin's knew what she was all about, when she said "just a spoon full of sugar, helps the medicine go down"!
As for me - with one stroke I have appeased both glutton & gourmet!
- Gather the ingredients : all-purpose flour, 2 sticks unsalted butter - cold, dried lavender buds, 1 large lemon, white sugar, baking powder and chilled water.
- Also needed is a food processor, a kitchen scale, cookie cutter and a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Lemon - Using a zester, zest the lemon and set aside.
- Lavender - Crush the lavender buds with a mortar & pestle.
- Butter - Cut into 1/2 inch chunks and set aside
- Preheat the oven to 400 deg F.
- In a food processor, place all the ingredients except for the water and pulse until the mixture resembles soft bread crumbs. Now add 2 tbs cold water and pulse a minute or so till large dough balls have formed.
- Empty the dough into a large mixing bowl. Use clean hands and mold into a ball. Do not over work. Just enough to form into a smooth ball.
- Using a kitchen scale, divide into 2 balls and wrap each in plastic cling wrap. Chill in the freeze for 10 minutes. Meanwhile line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Remove 1 ball from the freezer and begin working quickly - discard cling wrap and on a clean surface, roll out to a 1/4" thick.
- Using a 2" cookie cutter, cut into cookie shapes as many as you can, as close as you can.
- Gentle pull away the scrap dough and life each cookie shape onto the sheet.
- Cook's Note - The dough will be soft just pat back into place if it gets a bit out of shape on the cookie sheet.
- Remove the 2nd dough ball from the freezer and continue till all the cookies have lined the cookie sheet.
Discard scraps? Oh no!
Roll the scraps into 1" dough balls. Slightly flatten, place them in muffin pan liners and place on the cookie sheet along with the regular cookies.
Bake all the cookies for 15 minutes till a pale golden blush - do not over brown.
Allow to cool on a baking rack.
Delicately flavored with a hint of lavender and lemon, not too sweet, these buttery melt-in-the-mouth cookies will make you wish you right here with me, doing this....
Recipe for
Lemon Lavender Short bread Cookies
Preparation time - 15 minutes
Chilling time - 30 minutes
Baking time - 15 minutes
Shopping list
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 sticks unsalted butter, chilled
1-1/4 tsp dried lavender buds
1 large lemon
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
Preparation -
- Preheat the oven to 400 deg F
- Also needed is a food processor, a kitchen scale, cookie cutter and a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Lemon - Using a zester, zest the lemon and set aside.
- Lavender - Crush the lavender buds with a mortar & pestle.
- Butter - Cut into 1/2 inch chunks and set aside
- Method -
- In a food processor, place all the ingredients except for the water and pulse until the mixture resembles soft bread crumbs.
- Now add 2 tbs cold water and pulse a minute or so till large dough balls have formed.
- Empty the dough into a large mixing bowl. Use clean hands and mold into a ball. Do not over work. Just enough to form into a smooth ball.
- Using a kitchen scale, divide into 2 balls and wrap each in plastic cling wrap. Chill in the freeze for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Remove 1 ball from the freezer and begin working quickly - discard cling wrap and on a clean surface, roll out to a 1/4" thick.
- Using a 2" cookie cutter, cut into cookie shapes as many as you can, as close as you can.
- Gentle pull away the scrap dough and life each cookie shape onto the sheet.
- Cook's Note - The dough will be soft just pat back into place if it gets a bit out of shape on the cookie sheet. Remove the 2nd dough ball from the freezer and continue till all the cookies have lined the cookie sheet.
Enjoy!
Discard scraps? Oh no!
Roll the scraps into 1" dough balls. Slightly flatten, place them in muffin pan liners and place on the cookie sheet along with the regular cookies.
Bake all the cookies for 15 minutes till a pale golden blush - do not over brown.
Allow to cool on a baking rack.
