Lemon Lavender Sugar Cookies

During my daily blog reading, I spotted a recipe for lavender sugar cookies and thought those would be just the thing for the shower I held yesterday. But then I read the recipe and learned that it was vegan. It is very possible that it is still delicious, but it required me to pick up all these ingredients with which I was unfamiliar. I suppose I could have just substituted the non-vegan varieties but that didn't even occur to me at the time.

I searched the web for another lemon sugar cookie recipe and used that for the cookie base and then also made lavender sugar for the topping. Also unfamiliar with the properties of lavender, I made the sugar topping two ways. First, I contacted my sister about getting some lavender direct from her garden so that I could bake with it. Nobody knew if this was the right kind of lavender for baking but I thought I'd give it a try anyway, I didn't know where else to get it.

Next I took 3-4 lavender flowers and put them in a container with about 1 cup of white sugar. I sealed the container and let it sit for about 4 days. When I removed the flowers the sugar was clumpy but a good shake and some fork raking took care of that. This sugar lasted in the container a couple of weeks until I needed it.

The other lavender sugar I made the day of baking. I took 4 lavender flowers and ground them with 1/2 cup of sugar in the mini chopper. This made the sugar superfine and also gave the cookies a nice design with the little pieces of flowers inside. I think this looks best but both cookies have the same light lavender flavors on top of the tangy lemon. This is a perfect spring into summer dessert!

Ingredients:
Lavender sugar of your choice
1 1/2 C sugar
Zest of 2 lemons
1 C. butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 t. vanilla
1 T. lemon juice
2 3/4 C flour
1/4 t. salt
2 t. cream of tartar
1 t. baking soda

Directions
1. Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla, eggs, lemon juice and zest
2. In a separate bowl mix the salt, cream of tartar, baking soda and flour
3. Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture slowly, mixing in between
4. Refrigerate the dough covered for at least an hour
5. Preheat the oven to 350
6. Roll dough between your palms (I was going for small cookies, you choose your size). Then roll dough balls into the lavender sugar
7. Place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet and bake 7-10 minutes or until lightly browned and puffy. The cookies will flatten when they are cooled, cool fully on wire racks.