Cookies From the Herb Garden

It's Friday, It's Food, so it must be Foodie Friday hosted by Designs by Gollum. Click here to see more fabulous food on Friday at Michael's fabulous site, Designs by Gollum.

Last year, the lavender was splendid at Linderhof. A fairy is blowing lavender buds over the garden. I happened to catch her before she flitted away! Fairies do like lavender and having a bed of lavender only encourages their visits!

Most we use as aromatics. Wands to scent linens and unmentionables. Sachets for gifts. Small pillows to help the unweary go to sleep at night.

But some we save for culinary purposes. Dried and saved in a small jar bought at Williams Sonoma many years ago that says "French Lavender" -- I used those buds and the jar is perfect for the lavender that grows in Linderhof's garden!
Shortbread is my all time favorite cookie. I love ANY kind of shortbread. And I do like lavender to bake with. Two favorites, together in one cookie!
You can see the lavender in the cookies. Not much -- a tablespoon or so. But to gild the lily, I also sprinkled them with lavender sugar before I baked them. So lavender on the inside and the outside!

I had gotten my new cookie cutter, a shortbread cutter actually. Which I first saw on a Barefoot Contessa episode. If Ina bought it, so should I. An easy find at Amazon and I was so excited to get it -- for it IS the perfect cutter for shortbread.
And the first shortbreads, I put on a plate as I grabbed a glass of green iced tea to enjoy in the garden -- sweaty with dirty fingernails, I sat and enjoyed both shortbread and tea as I watched over my domain. Oliver, of course, was at my feet. A crumb he was not after but a real bite.

Yes, I obliged!

You can take any shortbread and add the lavender, but I found this recipe in a old cookbook I had found at a flea market, Tante Marie's Cooking School. It was a great find and I think these shortbreads are yummy. And they are pure shortbread -- butter andsugar and flour -- with the lavender added, of course!

Lavender Shortbread

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups flour
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1 T. dried lavender

Sift the flour. Beat the butter and sugar in a mixer until creamy. Add the flour and beat until combined. Add the lavender and beat just to distribute through the dough.

Form dough into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill until firm, at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 325. Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick and cut desired shapes. Place on parchment (or sillpat) lined baking sheets and bake until just golden, about 18 minutes.