lemon lavender shortbread

I have a mild obsession with lavender, probably brought on my mother's incessant use of it all over our house. She has lavender soaps, shampoo, hand cream, essential oil, body butter, fresh, dried, everywhere.
But it was only recently that I discovered the amazingness of lavender in food! I had a delicious and lightly perfumed lavender crème brulée while in France last summer. Since then, I feel like I've been seeing herbs pop up in desserts all over the place.
I had an lovely rosemary chocolate ganache at Czehoski in Toronto, and my famous favourite vanilla cardamom ice cream. And finally lemon lavender cookies. The photos are courtesy of Jules Food and I love their simplicity. I'm making these for the weekend!


1 1/2 cups butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons very finely chopped lavender florets (fresh or dried)
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 1/3 cups flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Cover bottoms of two baking sheets with parchment or brown paper. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, lavender, and mint with an electric mixer. Mix until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add flour, cornstarch, and salt and beat until incorporated. Divide dough in half. Flatten into squares and wrap in plastic. Chill until firm.
On a floured board, roll or pat out each square to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Cut the dough into 1 1/2 -inch squares or rounds. Transfer to baking sheets, spacing cookies about 1 inch apart. Prick each cookie several times with a fork. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until pale golden (do not brown). Cool slightly, then transfer to a rack. Sprinkle with lavender powdered sugar.
Garnish:
lavender powdered sugar: Put a 4 or 5 sprigs of lavender flowers in a sealed jar with powdered sugar for a day before using the sugar.