LAVENDER TEA COOKIES

I don't know about you, but I love the scent of lavender. I spray my home with it, burn candles scented with it, and set bowls of it around my house as a fresh potpourri. But I've NEVER put it in cookies. That is until I saw a food channel chef use it as the main flavor in a butter cookie. Now that intrigued me.

Of course you know I just had to try this recipe. The only changes I made were to use Earth Balance vegan margarine in place of the butter and dried lavender in place of the fresh. This cookie turned out to be a delicate, crunchy, buttery, shatter on the tongue bit of heaven. In fact I suggest that anyone not familiar with the flavor of lavender would be hard pressed to say what was in these cookies that made them so addictive. What they will say is that they want another one. And another one. And yet another one.

Since I had a difficult time finding cooking or culinary grade dried lavender, I ordered mine from www.myspicesage.com.  It's one of my favorite places to buy those spices I can't find anywhere else. I also like them because their spices are inexpensive, they always send a freebie sample, and the company ships so quickly.

To put the cookies together with little effort, I made the dough in my food processor and had them in the oven in less than ten minutes. I think it's the fastest cookie I've ever made. They went perfect with the pot of tea and the vegan Turtle Bay brand ice cream I served them with. One of my guests said the cookies tasted like perfume. I was waiting for her to say she didn't care for them when she smiled, rubbed her tummy and said, "They are delicious."

LAVENDER TEA COOKIES

1 stick of unsalted Earth Balance margarine, cold and cut into pieces

1/4 cup + 2 Tbs. of sugar

1 cup flour

1/4 cup corn starch

1/4 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. dried lavender, food grade

Heat the oven to 350 degrees

Put all the ingredients (minus the 2 extra Tbs. of sugar) into a food processor bowl and pulse to break the margarine into small pieces. When the dough starts to come together, remove it from the bowl and press it together on a floured surface. Smooth the dough and roll into small balls. Place the dough on an ungreased cookie sheet and press the balls into disks. Sprinkle the cookies with the remaining 2 Tbs. of sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet. Removing them while they are still warm causes them to break apart.

These cookies will last about a week in an air tight container, though I doubt you'll have them around that long.

We wish to remind you that Once A Week Vegan does NOT allow advertising on our blog. Any products or sites we recommend are mentioned because we have found them to be both helpful and of good quality. By not accepting advertising, we fell we can be unbiased in evaluating the vegan products you'll find on your own grocery shelves.