Sweet treats

Easy shortbread recipe with lavender

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Edible flowers bring colour, flavour and nutrients to the table and adorn almost every dish we currently see on our TV screens or at eateries, from fancy restaurants to simple cafés. However, they’re by no means new as a culinary trend. Flowers were regularly decorating plates of food well over 2000 years ago – it’s only since Victorian times that floral cuisine fell out of favour as a tad too decadent.

When lavender is in full bloom, here’s one of our current favourite flowery treats, perfect for enjoying on a sunny Sunday afternoon – lavender shortbread. The option of added semolina or polenta adds a delicious crunch.

Ingredients

  • 3 or 4 lavender stems, plus extra for decoration
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 100g softened butter
  • 150g plain flour or 100g plain flour mixed with 50g semolina or polenta

Method

  1. Strip the flowers off the lavender stems and blitz in a food blender with the sugar for a few seconds. In a large bowl, rub together the butter and flour, then add in your lavender sugar, mixing well. Knead gently to form a dough, then roll into a ball, cover with clingfilm and chill for 30 mins.
  2. Preheat the oven to 160°C, then roll out the chilled dough onto a floured surface until approximately 0.5cm thick and cut into rounds.
  3. Cook on a greased baking tray in the middle of the oven for 10 to 15 minutes until golden at the edges and sprinkle with extra caster sugar and lavender before serving.