Lavender biscuits with lemon and yoghurt, for a refined afternoon tea

When I experimented with vegan cheesecake earlier this year, you may recall that lavender and lemon was one of the flavours that I settled on became obsessed with making. So much so that when I couldn't find culinary lavender, I picked some lavender from a neighbour's garden and used that instead (!).

This lavender focus came, in part, from seeing recipes around the web for raw lemon and lavender cheesecakes. However, there was another contributing factor too. Back in 2010, Mr Bite and I stopped at The Lavender and Berry Farm cafe near Pemberton, in the south-west of Western Australia. The cafe offers Devonshire teas and one of the scone flavours available is lavender.

When we visited, I am afraid that neither of us was adventurous enough to try the lavender scone. It did intrigue me though, and in the way that things sometimes do, lavender has been lingering in my imagination ever since.

Lavender garnish, but no lavender scone...

After my vegan cheesecake post, I was fortunate to receive an email from Lavender World in the UK, a company that ships culinary lavender worldwide. They offered to send me a complimentary packet so that I could enjoy lavender products without needing to raid neighbours' gardens. They also explained that culinary lavender is slightly more subtle in flavour than the freshly picked variety, and less likely to provide a bitter aftertaste.

As you might imagine, I was delighted by this offer and was grateful to receive a packet by mail shortly before we went to Exmouth.

Given my memory of the lavender scone that never was, I had intended to try out the culinary lavender in lavender scones. At the last minute, though, I changed my mind to biscuits. I like scones best when they are fresh, and with a house full of chocolate and leftover birthday cake, a product that didn't need to be eaten quickly seemed like a more sensible choice.

There is a recipe for lavender tea cookies in Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's The Vegan Table; effectively a shortbread recipe with the addition of lavender and some lemon. I'm not a big fan of shortbread biscuits, so I adapted Colleen's recipe to reduce the butter, add yoghurt, and also use lemon juice instead of lemon zest.

The result?

I was blown away by these biscuits. Absolutely smitten. For someone who doesn't even like biscuits very much, these drew me in and captured my tastes completely. The lavender flavour was detectable, but also subtle - I could tell the difference from when I used fresh flowers. The lemon provided contrasting undertones and the biscuits themselves were dense, but slightly less rich than shortbread.

Mr Bite enjoyed them too and these will definitely, definitely, be biscuits that I'll make again.

Lavender biscuits (cookies) with lemon and yoghurt

Subtle, delicately flavoured biscuits that are perfect for serving to guests...or for keeping to yourself

Makes about 24 small biscuits

Vegan if you use non-dairy yoghurt

Print recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup non-dairy spread or butter (I used Nuttelex)

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tbsp dried culinary lavender

1 tsp lemon juice

1 1/4 cups plain flour

2 tbsp cornstarch

Pinch salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp plain, thick yoghurt (I used non-fat, pot-set, dairy yoghurt)

Method

Cream the non-dairy spread / butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the lavender and lemon juice and stir to combine.

Add the flour, cornstarch, salt, vanilla and yoghurt to the creamed sugar mixture. Stir well to combine. The mixture should come together as a thick dough.

Wrap dough in cling wrap and place in the fridge for ~30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 170'C and prepare two baking trays. Distract yourself as you see fit (kitchen dancing is optional).

Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper, to approximately 6mm (1/4 inch) thickness. Cut into shapes using cookie cutters or a small glass. Place on baking trays lined with baking paper and bake for 18 - 20 minutes, until the biscuits are just turning golden at the edges.

Cool on the tray for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

I promise you, these biscuits will make your heart sing.

I can see lavender scones on my horizon soon too!

Thank you to Lavender World for providing the culinary lavender used in this recipe. Whilst they provided the lavender for free, the opinions are of course my own.

Have you baked with lavender? Or tried lavender scones?

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