Lavender Shortbread

Remember that old Burl Ives' Disney song "Lavender's blue dilly dilly...?" Somehow whenever I think of lavender, that childhood memory comes to mind.

I made this shortbread for Shabbat to serve with sorbet. DO NOT MAKE THIS PARVE. There's just no point as shortbread is all about the butter. I found this recipe online from the Herbfarm cookbook.

Ingredients
2 sticks unsalted chilled butter
4 tsp. fresh lavender, or 2 tsp. dried
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour (spooned and leveled, not tamped down)

Preparation
Remove butter from fridge 15 minutes before starting.

Use a blender or clean coffee grinder to blend lavender and sugar until fine.

Transfer the lavender sugar to a mixing bowl and add butter. Beat on low until you can't feel any lumps of butter when you roll some of it between your fingers, but DON'T beat till fluffy. Add the flour all at once and beat on low just until it forms a cohesive dough.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface, press into rectangular shape, and dust top with flour. Roll into 12 x 9 inch rectangle. (You can roll it between sheets of plastic wrap or parchment paper.)

Cut into squares or other shapes. Put cookies on parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving 1/2" between them. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes to let dough rest.

Bake at 300 until cookies are lightly colored, but not browned, 22-25 minutes. Let cookies cool completely on pan before storing.

Cook's Notes: You can make this with other herbs such as rosemary or lemon thyme. And considering my absolute love of rosemary (and that there's lots growing in a pot by the front of the house), that's next on the to-try list.

Serve with sorbet and some fresh fruit and call it good.