Treat yourself to a cookie that’s as calming as it is delicious! These lavender shortbread cookies bring a gentle floral aroma to classic buttery shortbread, while the honey glaze adds just an extra touch of sweetness. The dough needs extra time to chill, but the recipe is wonderfully simple, with about 30 minutes of hands-on time for 24 cookies.
Honey-lavender flavor profile will always remind me of the movie It’s Complicated – one of my absolute favorite movies that I watch over and over again, because the bakery and the food 🤤. It inspired me to make my honey lavender ice cream! And now these shortbread cookies. 🪻🍯
Trang’s Recipe Highlights
- FLAVOR: Buttery, sweet and floral.
- TEXTURE: Crispy at the edges, soft and slightly chewy in the center.
- EASE: This lavender shortbread recipe is a tiny bit more involved than classic shortbread due to the addition of the honey glaze but it is still fairly easy.
Ingredient notes and helpful tips
You’ll need 10 ingredients to make these lavender shortbread cookies. As always, for the full list of ingredients with quantities and step-by-step instructions, skip straight to the recipe card.
- I used dried lavender flowers that I bought in bulk spice at Sprouts. If you can’t find dried lavender you may be able to use lavender extract instead. If you like the flavor more subtle, I would recommend reducing the amount of dried lavender by half.
- Cornstarch gives shortbread cookies a melt-in-your-mouth texture. You can skip it if you don’t have any without needing to make adjustments to the other ingredients, but I really think it makes a subtle yet big difference in the texture.
- Honey gives these shortbread a slight chew along with additional floral note that goes well with lavender. It also enhances browning so keep an eye on your oven temperature, if it runs a bit high, shorten the bake time so it doesn’t brown too much.
Temperature of butter
Butter should be at room temperature but not too soft. One frequently asked question from readers on my other shortbread recipes is why their shortbread dough comes out sandy and doesn’t come together. I suspect this is due to butter temperature being too cold or too much flour was added.
So make sure you leave your butter out to warm up well ahead of time, the stick of butter should give when pressed on but not greasy and melted. Also be mindful that if it is too soft, the final dough can be a little bit sticky and difficult to handle when you go to roll it up in a log.
And measure your flour correctly, use a scale if you can or fluff it up in your container before scooping and don’t pack your measuring cup.
If you love herbal flavor in your desserts, you’re in for a treat with these cookies. Also, try my rosemary madeleines and these basil peach shortcakes to see how you can play with other herbs to create unique and delicious treats!
Hungry for more?
Lavender Shortbread Cookies Recipe
Equipment
- Pestle and Mortar
- Tweezer
Ingredients
For the cookie dough
- 8 oz (227 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ⅔ cup (135 g) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoon (40 g) honey
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoon dried lavender flower
- 2 ¼ cup (300 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoon (18 g) cornstarch
For honey glaze
- 2 tablespoon (40 g) honey
- 2 tablespoon (30 g) milk
- 1 cup (100 g) powdered sugar
- A few pinches of kosher salt
Instructions
- Cream the butter – Add softened butter, vanilla, honey, sugar and salt to a stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until the mixture is thoroughly incorporated and creamy.8 oz unsalted butter, ⅔ cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoon honey, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- Grind dried lavender – Add dried lavender flower to a mortar and grind against the bottom and side by twisting the pestle firmly on top of the dried flowers until you get a fine powder. Don’t have a pestle and mortar? Try crushing the flowers in a ziploc bag with a rolling pin.2 teaspoon dried lavender flower
- Incorporate dry ingredients – Sift the flour, cornstarch and lavender powder directly into the creamed butter using a fine mesh sieve, stir to combine. Increase the mixer speed and beat until no trace of flour remains and the dough is formed.2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoon cornstarch
- Form the logs – Place a long piece of plastic wrap flat on the countertop. Divide cookie dough into 2 equal portions. Roll each portion on top of the plastic wrap into a log about 6” in length. Wrap it up with the plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. You don’t need additional flour for rolling but you can use some flour if necessary. I usually refrigerate shortbread dough overnight to prep ahead.
- Slice the cookies – Use a sharp knife to slice each cookie dough log into 12 cookies about ½” thick. Rewrap in the same plastic and place them into the freezer while the oven preheats. Or you can freeze for longer storage at this point.
- Preheat the oven – Set the oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F.
- Bake – Place 12 cookies on a large lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake 1 batch at a time for 20 minutes, until the outer edges of the cookies are golden.
- Cool – Remove the baking sheet from the oven, but allow the cookies to sit on the baking sheet to finish baking from the residual heat for 5-10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the glaze – When the cookies are completely cool and you’re ready to decorate, make the glaze by adding honey, milk, powdered sugar and salt to a small mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.2 tablespoon honey, 2 tablespoon milk, 1 cup powdered sugar, A few pinches of kosher salt
- Glaze the cookies – Dip cooled cookies, top side down, into honey glaze and place them on a baking sheet. If there are bubbles or imperfections, you can use a toothpick to pop the bubbles or move the glaze around to fix the imperfections.
- Decorate – Add a few dried lavender flowers on top of the glazed cookies before the glaze dry to decorate them if you wish. I recommend using a tweezer for exact placement. Then let the glaze dry completely on the baking sheet before storing or stacking the cookies.
Notes
- Storing baked cookies: store your lavender shortbread cookies in an airtight container at room temp for up to a week.
- Storing cookie dough: cookie dough can be kept refrigerated for 3-4 days before baking to prep ahead. Or slice and freeze for 3-6 months.
- Baking frozen dough: no need to thaw frozen cookie dough, you can bake directly from the freezer.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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