These lavender shortbread cookies have a crisp, melt in your mouth texture with beautiful notes of lemon and lavender. They have a tangy lemon purple glaze with lavender buds. There's real dried lavender and lemon zest in the cookie dough for a gorgeous floral and fragrant flavor that isn't soapy at all. I love how thick these cookies are and they're so tender and crisp! They're the perfect easy whimsical cookies.
I love the buttery flavor and texture of shortbread cookies so much. You should check out my lemon shortbread cookies if you also love shortbread!
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🌸 Why you'll LOVE this recipe
- Lavender lemon flavor: Floral lavender and zesty lemon complement each other so well in these cookies.
- Buttery and crumbly: The perfect crisp, crunchy shortbread texture.
- Quick & easy: Shortbread cookies are so quick and easy to make, and you only need a few ingredients!
- Lemon glaze: A tangy lemon glaze with lavender on top of the shortbread cookies is the perfect whimsical touch.
📝 Key ingredients
Read through for all the tips you will need for success!
Full steps and ingredients in recipe card below.
Dried lavender flowers: You can find food grade lavender flowers or buds online, in the tea section, or in any natural food store. lavender flowers have been so much easier to find recently! You can substitute real flowers with lavender extract, although I find that the extract is more likely to cause a "soapy" flavor. Substitute the flowers with half a teaspoon of lavender extract .
Lemon: A touch of lemon zest in the cookie dough, and lemon juice in the glaze, complement the lavender flavor so much! It also makes for a more flavorful, less overwhelmingly floral cookie. You can also use orange zest for an orange lavender flavored cookie! Or make my orange shortbread cookies, filled with chocolate.
Butter: A good quality butter is key to a good shortbread cookie. I love using salted butter because it gives the shortbread cookie that gorgeous, salty, flavorful flavor. If you use unsalted butter, make sure you don't forget to add the salt!
All purpose flour: Weigh the flour to get the most accurate results. If you don’t have a scale, measure properly by stirring the bag and spooning gently into a measuring cup. Scrape the excess off the top with the flat edge off a knife without packing it into the cup.
Food coloring: This is optional, but gives the lemon glaze a beautiful pale purple hue.
👩🍳 How to make lavender lemon shortbread cookies
Lavender cookie dough step by step
Step 1: Combine sugar and lavender flowers in a clean coffee grinder or a mortar and pestle, and blend until the flowers are in smaller pieces.
Step 2: Add the lavender sugar into a large bowl. Grate the lemon zest into the sugar. Rub the mixture with your fingers to break up the lemon zest and to release the fragrant lemon oils.
Step 3: Add the butter and salt into the sugar mixture. Beat together until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl frequently to ensure even mixing.
Step 4: Then, sift the flour into the butter mixture. Gently mix until it becomes a dough.
Step 5: Dump the shortbread dough out onto a piece of parchment paper. Press it together into a cohesive pile.
Step 6: Sprinkle a bit of flour on top. Gently roll the dough into ½" thickness.
Step 7: Cut out small flower shapes with a cookie cutter. Reroll the dough to cut out more cookies as needed.
Step 8: Place the cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving only a bit of space between the cookies because they don't spread much. Freeze for 15 minutes while the oven preheats to 340°F (170°C).
Bake the cookies for 15-17 minutes, until the bottoms are very lightly golden. Let them cool on the cookie sheet.
Lemon lavender glaze step by step
Step 1: Add the lemon juice, one tablespoon at a time, into the icing sugar in a bowl and whisk. Add enough lemon juice to make a glaze with a drizzling consistency. Optionally, add a touch of purple food coloring to tint it a lavender color. Then add dried lavender and stir.
Step 2: Dip the tops of the cookies into the bowl with icing and let the excess icing fall back into the bowl. Place the cookies onto a parchment lined cookie sheet underneath. Enjoy once the glaze has dried up - about 15 minutes.
✔️ Expert shortbread cookie tips
- Measure the flour properly: Measure with a scale or scoop flour into your measuring cup and scrape the excess off without packing it in.
- Don't overmix the cookie dough after adding the flour: Overmixing can create a tough and overly dense shortbread cookie.
- Bake shortbread cookies until the bottoms are lightly golden: This ensures that the cookies are crisp and tender. Under baked shortbread cookies tend to be soft and flour-ey; not the texture you're going for.
🥄 Make ahead and storage
The cookies store well in an airtight bag or container at room temperature for up to 4 days. You can store them glazed or unglazed.
To store them for longer, freeze the cookies in an airtight bag or container for up to 2 months.
❔ Why dried lavender?
I find that dried lavender gives the best flavor and a beautiful speckled texture to the shortbread cookies. Plus, dried lavender gives a subtler, beautiful fragrant floral flavor that is less likely to be soapy than lavender extract.
You can also use lavender extract if that's the only form of lavender that you have! It will work well too, I just prefer dried lavender.
If you have leftover dried lavender, I'd recommend making my easy, no churn lavender ice cream.
📖 Recipe FAQs
Use a culinary grade lavender for the best flavor. Also, don't use too much lavender because too much of a floral flavor can cause it to then taste soapy.
Originally, I purchased lavender from a bulk food store to make this recipe but it barely smelled like anything and was brown in color. I then repurchased it online and it came a beautiful purple color and had a gorgeous floral scent. Make sure your dried lavender is fresh (not expired) so that it tastes and looks beautiful!
The cookies in this recipe shouldn't spread. If they spread, that's most likely because your oven was at too low of a temperature or you didn't add enough flour. Make sure that you measure the flour properly by scooping it into your cup and scraping the excess off the top without packing it in. Or even better - use a kitchen scale!
🍋 More related recipes
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📖 Recipe
Lavender Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
Shortbread cookie dough
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 teaspoons dried lavender flowers use 2 teaspoons for a subtler flavor
- 2 lemons zested, save the juice for the glaze
- 1 cup salted butter softened
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt if your butter is very salty, you can omit this extra salt
- 2 ¾ cup all purpose flour 330g
Lavender lemon glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice freshly squeezed
- purple food coloring as needed
- 1 teaspoon dried lavender flowers
Instructions
Shortbread cookie dough
- Combine sugar and lavender flowers in a clean coffee grinder or a mortar and pestle, and blend until the flowers are in smaller pieces.½ cup granulated sugar, 3 teaspoons dried lavender flowers
- Add the lavender sugar into a large bowl. Grate the lemon zest into the sugar. Rub the mixture with your fingers to break up the lemon zest and to release the fragrant lemon oils.2 lemons
- Add the butter and salt into the sugar mixture. Beat together until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl frequently to ensure even mixing.1 cup salted butter, ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- Then, sift the flour into the butter mixture. Gently mix until it becomes a dough.2 ¾ cup all purpose flour
- Dump the shortbread dough out onto a piece of parchment paper. Press it together into a cohesive ball. Sprinkle a bit of flour on top. Gently roll the dough into ½" thickness.
- Cut out small 2" diameter flower shapes using a cookie cutter. Alternatively, use a knife to cut out square shaped cookies. Reroll the dough to cut out more cookies as needed.
- Place the cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving only a bit of space between the cookies because they don't spread much. Freeze for 15 minutes while the oven preheats to 340°F (170°C).
- Bake the cookies for 15-17 minutes, until the bottoms are very lightly golden. Let them cool on the cookie sheet.
Lavender lemon glaze
- Add the lemon juice, one tablespoon at a time, into the icing sugar in a bowl and whisk. Add enough lemon juice to make a glaze with a drizzling consistency. Optionally, add a touch of purple food coloring to tint it a lavender color. Then add dried lavender and stir.1 cup powdered sugar, 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice, purple food coloring, 1 teaspoon dried lavender flowers
- Dip the tops of the cookies into the bowl with icing and let the excess icing fall back into the bowl. Place the cookies onto a parchment lined cookie sheet underneath. Enjoy once the glaze has dried up - about 15 minutes.
Notes
- Measure the flour properly with a scale or by scooping it into a measuring cup and scraping the excess off without packing it in.
- Don't overmix the cookie dough after adding the flour
- Bake shortbread cookies until the bottoms are lightly golden
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