Lingering Over a Love of Lavender

I'm in love with lavender. Surrounded by it's color, immersed in its fragrance, and exploring its culinary versatility all make me feel as though I've been transported to the French region of Provence. I've been sipping lavender lemonade and eating lavender blueberry ice cream to refresh me from the 105° temperatures we experienced last week, enjoying the lovely lavender preserves we purchased on our recent trip to some of Oregon's lavender farms, and experimented with making lavender scrambled tofu, which was surprisingly delicious. Now that our summer heat has settled down to the more tolerable 90° range, this morning I decided to bake some lavender tea cookies from a recipe in Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's The Vegan Table. These sweet little lemony-lavender dainties are perfect with tea or lemonade.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Earth Balance buttery spread, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
2-3 Tbs finely chopped fresh lavender or 2 Tbs dried culinary lavender
2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 1/2 cups all-purpose or whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

In a medium-size bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add lavender and lemon zest. Stir to combine.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, and salt. When thoroughly mixed, add to the wet batter, and stir until well blended. You should have a thick cookie batter.

Divide dough into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap, and flatten to about 1 inch thick. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

When ready to prepare the cookeis, preheat oven to 325°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4" thickness. Cut into shpaes with a dry measuring cup, biscuit or cookie cutters. Place on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the cookies begin to brown at the edges. Remove from oven, cool for a few minutes on baking sheets, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Makes 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on the size.