Lavender Shortbread Cookies

Lavender Shortbread Cookies

As promised to all of my friends I will post the recipe for the lovely lavender shortbread cookies.  The recipe is very simple!  All you need are a few items which you can usually find in every household.  In addition you need culinary lavender.  

 Lavender Shortbread Recipe:

1 cup softened butter
2/3 cup confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
3 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons culinary lavender

Roll the dough between two layers of plastic wrap to a desirable thickness.  Place the prepared dough then into the freezer for 10-15 minutes.  The dough is more manageable when hardened and it seems to be by far easier then to use your cookie cutters. 

Bake at 375 F for 13-15 minutes.

Place cookies onto racks for them to cool down.

Recipe yields approximately 60 cookies.

The cookies are very delicious with a good cup of Earl Grey tea.  The bergamot essential oil in the tea balances the lavender in the cookies very nicely.

Happy baking!

On Holidays!

                                    We are enjoying the Summer time at the lake.

                                                        New recipes coming soon!

Lavender Lemonade

Lavender Lemonade

It's Summer finally! The temperatures are soaring and we start enjoying our backyard even more. There is nothing better than a good BBQ with neighbors and friends, while kids and pets are playing in the yard and adults are having conversations over some cool and refreshing drinks.

This Lavender Lemonade is without any additional coloring. Our culinary lavender gives it the rich and deep color and a flavor which will remind you of Summer.

Since the culinary lavender in our lavender field is already harvested, dried, stripped, and screened I am more than excited to use this lovely purple plant material for a fresh lavender lemonade.
This lemonade is great for kids on a hot summer day! The lavender and honey are calming while the lemon and lime are refreshing. Served over ice with a slice of lemon and a lavender sprig it can make a designer drink blush.
For the 'adult' variation add a shot of gin or vodka to it. You've got to try it, it tastes great! Cheers!

The recipe is simple and does not take long at all.

This is what you need:

4-5 lemons
1 lime
5 1/2 cups of water
1/2 cup of dried culinary lavender
3/4 cup of honey (you can substitute with sugar)

• Take the zest of two limes and put it aside.
• Squeeze 4-5 lemons and the lime and put aside (this should be approx. 3/4 of a cup of lime/lemon juice).
• Bring the 5 1/2 cups of water to a boil and stir in 1/2 cup of the culinary lavender. Also, add the lemon zest. 
• Boil for 1 minute on high heat, than reduce heat, cover pot and simmer for 10 minutes on low heat. 
• Use a sieve lined with a folded cheesecloth to separate the liquid from the lemon zest and lavender buds. 
• Add 3/4 cups of honey to the hot liquid, the juice of 4-5 lemons, and the juice of 1 lime.    

This is probably the most impressive part. As soon as the lemon juice is added the color of the lemonade turns into a very vibrant pink.         

• Let the lemonade cool down.
• Serve over ice cubes.
• Garnish with lemon slices and lavender sprigs.

For adults only:
Don't forget to try the 'spirited' variation with a shot of gin or vodka.

CHEERS!                                                    

PROST!
NASTROVJE!
Skal!

Lavender Madeleines

Lavender Madeleines

It has been officially summer for the last four days, but the sun is struggling peeking through the clouds here on Vancouver Island. On this note I would like to mention our neighbours in Alberta who have to keep their chins up and heads held up high because of the flooding they are faced with. My best wishes for a speedy recovery are with them! On the east coast of Canada then the other extreme, a heatwave. I guess we cannot complain after all about the weather here in British Columbia. 

Coming back to my todays' baking and recipe sharing. Since the clouds are hiding the sun all day I feel like having a nice cup of tea, and what would go better than some lavender madeleines with it, eh?!

Madeleines are small sponge cakes with a delicate shell-like shape acquired from being baked in a pan with shell shaped depressions. The madeleine pan is the only special equipment you need for this recipe and commonly found in specialised kitchen and cookware stores. Besides the madeleine pan no other special equipment is needed. 

Here is what you need for the dough:

(yields 10 medium madeleines)

3/4 cup of all-purpose flour

a pinch of salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp culinary lavender flower buds

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

powdered sugar and additional lavender flower buds to serve

Here is what to do:

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in one bowl. Set aside. 

In a separate bowl, beat eggs and sugar for at least 2 minutes until light in color and creamy in consistency. Add the culinary lavender flower buds and mix.

Fold the dry ingredients into the egg/sugar mass. A spatula works well for the folding.

Once the dry ingredients are folded in, mix in the melted butter. 

Cover, and refrigerate for 2 - 3 hours.

Butter the madeleine pan, sprinkle flour into the molds and tap out any excess flour. 

Preheat the oven to 375 F. 

Use a spoon or a piping bag (spoon usually works fine and is less clean up) and fill the shell-like depressions in the mold.

Bake for 12 minutes, or until madeleines are golden and spring back.

Invert the mold and cool the madeleines on a cookie rack. Once cool, sprinkle powdered sugar and lavender buds for garnish onto the madeleines. 

Madeleines are very delicious for tea time. 

                   

Bon appetite!

PS: The weather forecast promises summer-like conditions for next week. I will put up more refreshing recipes, suitable for backyard entertainment and barbecue parties. So...stay tuned! 

Please also feel free to sign in to this biog and leave comments. It is always nice to see that there is someone out there interested in my posts. You can also sign up for RSS feeds to receive updates from my blog. 

Thank you!

Katja

Lavender Almond Pound Cake

Lavender Almond Pound Cake 

There is something heart warming to me about the summertime and pound cakes. Every year during my childhood my Family and I spent the entire summer in Austria and the birthdays of my brother and my dad fell into this amazing vacation time. Every year Anni, our host, backed a pound cake for their birthdays. Those days were very special to me and every time I bake a pound cake I recall those happy days from my childhood.

Today, I would like to share the happiness a little with this ‘Almond Lavender Pound Cake’. This cake is heavy and moist and the combination with lavender is super delicious.

Happy baking!                          


This is what you need for the cake:

2 ½ cups all –purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
4 eggs
1cup butter (softened)
½ cup slivered almonds
2 cups sugar, divided
2 tsp culinary lavender flower buds, plus 1 additional tsp of culinary lavender flower buds - divided
2 tsp vanilla extract
1cup sour cream
¼ cup half-and half cream


This is what you need for the glaze:

4 tsp water
¾ cups powdered sugar
Additional dried culinary lavender buds (optional)
Additional almond slivers for decoration (optional, looks nice though!)
Additional lemon squeeze for the glaze (optional too, but the combination with the lavender is tasty!)

Grease a pound cake pan and sprinkle sugar inside to cover the walls of the pan. Turn upside down to discard the lose sugar which does not stick to the pan.Combine ½ cup of sugar, almonds, and 2 tsp of lavender buds in a food processor and finely grind.
Cream the butter in a large bowl, then add sugar and continue mixing until light and fluffy.
Add the almond and mix until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Add vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, combine sour cream and half-and half cream.
Mix the flour, baking soda and salt and add to the large bowl with the butter, sugar, and almond-lavender mixture alternating with the sour cream and half-and half cream.
(This is as complicated as it gets)
Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 F for 1 hour.
Do the toothpick test: If inserted near the center and it comes out clean – the pound cake is completely baked.

Cool the cake for 10 minutes before turning the cake pan upside down to release the cake. Cool the cake then on a cookie rack completely.

After the cake is completely cooled down prepare for the drizzle.
Combine the remaining lavender flower buds with the water and steep for 10 minutes. Strain and discard the lavender. Our culinary lavender is very deep in color and produces a deeper color liquid. However, if your lavender liquid is not as colorful you can add a little bit of food coloring (just use a toothpick to get a tiny amount out of the bottle).
In a different bowl combine the powdered sugar and enough of the infused lavender water to achieve the consistency of a glaze. The addition of a little lemon juice is optional too.
Drizzle the glaze over the completely cooled pound cake and garnish with additional lavender flower buds.

Bon appétit!

Summer

Happy First Day of Summer!

Lavender Cinnamon Rolls

Welcome to my kitchen!

The weather forecast promised me two days of rain, which would have been great for my garden. Somehow they got it all wrong, but I am in my baking mood now, rain or shine. 

I would like to share some absolutely finger licking good cinnamon rolls with you...and who would have guessed....I make it a lavender variation. 

It is a bit time consuming, so pick a rainy day if you can. 

Here is what you need for the dough:
(yields a 9" x 13" pan)

Bread Flour: 700 g 
Salt: 2 tsp
Sugar: 55 g 
Butter: 75 g (melted and cooled down)
Egg (medium): 1
Milk (homo, or 2%): 500 ml 
Dry Yeast: 2 tsp 

Weigh all the ingredients put them aside and have them warm up to room temperatures.

I usually mix the yeast and a little bit of the milk in a cup to get the yeast started. Feed the yeast with a teaspoon of sugar and set the cup aside. The yeast will start bubbling after a few minutes in the milk with the sugar. The time frame for this to happen depends mainly on the temperature of the milk. The cooler the milk the longer it will take. You can cheat a little bit here and slightly warm the milk up, but not too hot, otherwise the yeast does not do anything anymore. The rise of the yeast in the milk/sugar mix is what you are waiting for. 

 

Take your flour bowl and make a hole in the middle. This hole is to put your yeast mixture, sugar, salt, egg, butter, and milk into. To begin mixing, slowly mix in circles around the liquids and incorporate the flour into the center. You are more than welcome to do this with your hands, but a wooden spoon works well too. (I preferred a wooden spoon today, since I had to take the photographs and dough and my camera do not mix very well) When the ingredients are all combined take the ball of dough and continue mixing it on the counter top. Yes, I know, it is a bit of a mess! Try not to add any additional flour, either to the dough, to your hands, nor to the counter top. It is the right thing to do, trust me on that, you can clean up later with a kitchen scraper (spatula). What you are looking for is a nice, soft and shiny (sticky too) ball of dough. 

Now it is time to rest! ...the dough, of course... 

Cover the bowl with cling wrap, and/or a clean kitchen towel and place the bowl with the dough in a nice warm and draft free place. Let the dough almost double in size. 


 In the meantime start preparing the filling.

You need:
Melted Butter: approx. 50 g
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons culinary lavender
2 tablespoons cinnamon powder

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Melt the butter.

Now back to the dough. Place the dough on the now floured counter top and roll with a rolling pin into a rectangular shape. 

Use a brush and brush the melted butter onto the dough. Sprinkle the sugar, cinnamon, lavender mixture evenly onto the dough.

Use a knife or pizza wheel and cut the dough length wise into strips. The width of the strips will determine the height of the finished roll, whereas the length of the strip determines the diameter. Roll the strips lose because the dough will continue rising. Place the rolls into a slightly buttered backing pan with space between the rolls. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
While the oven is preheating allow the rolls to rise in a warm spot.
Bake the rolls for 30 min.

What to do within the next 30 minutes?
Prepare the frosting!

You need:
1 lb cream cheese (full fat)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup whipping cream, or even better, table cream (..why not..)

After half an hour pull out the lavender cinnamon rolls an top with the cream cheese frosting.

 

Mmmmhh!

                                          Bon appetit!    
       

Welcome to my blog!

Hello and welcome to my first blog entry! The intention of this blog is to be a source of creative ideas with and about lavender.