December has got to be the best month for a food blogger, with the season being perfect for rich breads, lots of cookies and elaborate meals. And that makes me feel really bad because I haven’t done justice to the month.
While the weather in Bombay has been nothing but charming, and perfectly conducive for indulging in all sorts of winter-y pleasures (I even had to shut the windows one night!), I haven’t quite got the chance to sit back and enjoy the season and join in the merriment. With the bake sale, assignment deadlines and some very fun things in the works, baking new things took a back seat. A pity, I know.
My recipe file with ideas for blog posts to share with you is bursting at the seams, and I cannot wait to share all those things with you. Today, I’m sharing with you the recipe of the lavender shortbread I made for the bake sale. While the recipe is based on the lavender shortbread I made a long time ago, I tweaked it just a bit to showcase the buttery-ness of the cookie, as well as added a tad more lavender (yes, because it’s Christmas!). It’s my current favoruite snack and I’ve made it twice since the bake sale already because it’s not overtly sweet and I have tonnes of lavender in my pantry.
Buttery Lavender Shortbread
Yeild: 24 cookies
Note: It’s imperative that you rub the sugar and lavender together for the fragrance of the lavender to shine through. Also, if you’re using unsalted butter, I’d encourage you to add ½ tsp of salt (stir it in with the flour)– it gives it such a well rounded flavour.
100g vanilla sugar (ground till fine)
2 tsp lavender
200g butter
300g flour
More butter for brushing the top of the cookie
Equipment: A rectangular tart pan (12 x 8 inches)
- Preheat oven to 325F/170C.
- Rub the vanilla sugar with the lavender until it’s fragrant. To give it a citrus-y flavour you could even add in some lime zest at this point.
- In a bowl mix the butter and sugar until light and slightly fluffy.
- Fold in the flour until evenly mixed.
- Transfer to the tart pan and press the dough down to an even layer.
- Brush the top with melted butter.
- With a knife, cut the dough into 24 pieces, and then pierce the pieces with a fork (so the cookie doesn’t fluff up).
- Bake for 25 minutes or until slightly golden.
- Cut pieces when it’s still warm along the lines that were made earlier.
- Transfer to a rack to cool. Eat up.