Lavender Sugar Cookies

For many years, I’ve had a deep love of lavender.  The flower and scent, not the color.  I discovered how much I enjoyed it in baked goods when I happened upon a lavender cookie during a social gathering.  Sweet, not too crunchy, and delicately perfumed with lavender, I fell in love.  Like a ding-dong, I neglected to get the name of the bakery that made this wondrous delicacy.

I was reminded of this cookie during my last trip to San Francisco, where I tasted the most sublime lavender crème brulée as well as a light-as-air strawberry-lavender macaron, and honey lavender ice cream.  (Which were all superb, by the way; I’ll be hitting those places again when I’m back in San Francisco next month!)

During a recent inventory of my spice rack, I discovered that I have dried lavender.  I took it as a sign from the heavens that I had to make a lavender sugar cookie.

Now you know from my post on chewy pumpkin spice sugar cookies that it’s super easy to put together.  The problem is, I can’t just add some lavender flowers to the dough and call it a day.  At least, I didn’t think I could.  I wanted to bring out the floral notes without causing the cookie to taste like someone’s grandma.

Cream the butter, sugar, and cream cheese together

Thinking it would be best to use it in each component, I crushed the lavender in a mortar and pestle, then added the ground flower to the melted butter as well as the dry ingredients and rolling sugar.  This seemed to work pretty well; the butter had a chance to absorb flavor from the crushed lavender, while its addition to the dry ingredients played a quiet supporting role in the cookie.  As a finishing touch, I tinted the rolling sugar purple, though the effect was rather subtle unless I sprinkled the purple sugar more heavily on the top of the balls of dough.  If you have purple sanding sugar, feel free to use that instead.

See the little bits of ground lavender?

For some reason, I kept leaving the sheet pans in the oven a minute or two too long, so the whole thing came out crunchy.  That’s what happens when I’m around shiny objects.

I took the cookies to work in this big ol’ cookie jar and left early.  A few hours later, I received an email from one faculty member that read, “OMG lavender cookies….mmmmmm…..mmmmm,” followed by a demand for the recipe.   Over the next couple of days, I received more compliments.  I think this is a winner!

So here they are, lavender sugar cookies that do not taste like a grandma!

Lavender Sugar Cookies
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

Makes 48 two-inch or 24 three-inch cookies

2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon table salt 1 teaspoon ground dried organic lavender 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 ounces cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and still warm 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 large egg 1 tablespoon milk 2 teaspoons vanilla extract For rolling: 2- 3 drops purple food coloring, or more if desired 1/3 cup sugar 1 tsp ground dried organic lavender

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and ground lavender together in medium bowl. Set aside.  Whisk ingredients for rolling in a plate and set aside.

2. Place 1½ cups sugar and cream cheese in large bowl.  Pour warm butter over sugar and cream cheese and whisk to combine. Whisk in oil until incorporated. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; continue to whisk until smooth. Add flour mixture and mix with rubber spatula until soft homogeneous dough forms.

3. Scoop dough using a tablespoon or a #20 ice cream scoop. Using hands, roll dough into balls. Working in batches, roll balls in lavender sugar mixture to coat and evenly space on prepared baking sheet, 12 dough balls per sheet.

4. Bake, 1 tray at a time, until edges are set and just beginning to brown, 11 to 13 minutes, rotating tray after 7 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature.