So ~delicate~ and romantic.
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This is a variation of the chocolate chunk shortbread from Alison Roman (of Marie Kondo Beef fame). I think it’s just a great crumbly melt-in-your-mouth shortbread base to start with, and the demerara(rararara) sugar that coats each cookie is a great touch to add some extra crunch.
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I added some lavender because I was in a bit of a floral mood, and to add some nice aroma to the cookies.
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The base of this recipe is from Alison Roman’s viral cookbook Dining In, although it can be found on Bon Appetit’s website (RIP). I just changed up the flavour a bit.
Ingredients (makes about 24 cookies)
- 2 1/4 sticks/255g cold salted butter, cut into cubes (alternatively you could replace with unsalted butter and add 3/4 tsp of salt but Alison Roman swears you get a deeper salt flavour with the salted butter so that’s what I stuck with)
- 1/2 cup/100g granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup/50g light brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 1/4 cups/281g all purpose flour
- 1.5 tbsp dried lavender flowers (use 1 tbsp if you just want a hint, or if you have particularly pungent flowers). plus about 2 tsp extra for garnish at the end
- 1 large egg, beaten, to coat the cookies at the end
- Demerara sugar, to coat the cookies at the end
Method
- In a food processor, process the dried lavender flowers with the granulated sugar until the flowers are ground up.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugars (including the ground up lavender flowers), and vanilla on medium-high speed until light and super fluffy and it looks like frosting, about 3-5 mins (see notes if you don’t have a powerful enough mixer).
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula and fold in the flour, just enough to blend.
- Divide the dough into half, and place each piece onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Roll the dough into a log about 2″ in diameter, squeezing the dough tightly together, and wrap completely in plastic wrap. Chill until firm, at least 2 hours (I just leave mine in the fridge overnight – I always feel that cookies taste better after a long rest).
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Line 2 sheet pans with baking paper.
- Brush the outside of the logs with the beaten egg, and roll in demerara sugar.
- Slice each log into 1/2 inch thick rounds (this might be easier if you use a sharp serrated knife), and place on the prepared sheet pans about 1 inch apart (they won’t spread much). Sprinkle each cookie with a bit of lavender flower to decorate.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the edges are beginning to brown, about 12-15 mins. The cookies themselves will not take on much colour.
- Let cool slightly before eating (the recipe claims that it tastes best at room temperature but I think the cookie tastes great both warm and at room temperature, just in different ways).
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature once the cookies have completely cooled.
Notes
- If you don’t have a strong enough mixer to cream together sugar with cold butter (like me), just cream the sugar together with room temperature butter (but not too warm or it won’t cream lol). I don’t really buy her thing about creaming cold butter honestly.
- The cookie dough can be kept up to a week in the fridge, and up to a month in the freezer. Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 5 days.
- When slicing the cookies, your cookie will probably crumble apart. Just squeeze any pieces that crumbled off back together. Thicker cookies will be more likely to retain their shape – the key is to just remain consistent so all the cookies bake at the same rate.