Shortbread, I praise thee! Lavender shortbread slices

Thankfully, the heat wave broke on National Shortbread Day, allowing bakers to re-ignite their ovens and honor this special day. I realize that National Shortbread Day is most likely not celebrated in Montreal, nor Canada... but let's just pretend! Besides, I'll celebrate any holiday if it's a reason to bake and revere a cookie!



Shortbread are rich and buttery. And it's funny to think that the shorter the shortbread is, the higher the butter content! Seems contradictory to me. However, according to Merriam-Webster, short actually refers to the flakiness of a cookie or crust. The shorter the cookie, the more crumbly it is, and the more crumbly it is, the more butter it contains. The amount of butter in a recipe is therefore crucial: a little "too much" and you may end up with cookies that, although sublimely buttery, just fall apart in your hands (if this happens, don't panic! Crumbly shortbread may not be serve-able, but they are still eat-able!) .





Shortbread are traditionally made of butter, sugar and flour. Recent variations include adding an egg or two to the recipe, leading to a sturdier cookie. On National Shortbread Day, I decided to praise traditional shortbread, lacing them with romantic lavender blossoms. Dried lavender is often added to baked goods, such as cupcakes and icings. However, dried lavender is also hard to find. In the past, I had looked at various grocery stores and spice shops without any luck. I finally came across some in Montreal, at La Vieille Europe on St-Laurent street. La Vieille Europe is a small, European store, packed full of interesting products that can be hard to find in North America. The store sells a wide variety of teas, spices and oils, all brands that are often not carried in local stores. Since lavender is actually one of the herbs of "herbes de Provence," it is not surprising that La Vieille Europe would carry dried lavender. The lavender I purchased is actually sold as blossoms, basically as loose tea. The blossoms are tiny, their color, a vibrant blueish-purple. They have a very floral aroma, which carries through when you bite into a blossom.



I decided that the best method to get lavender into the shortbread would be to first cream the lavender and the butter together, hopefully lightly infusing the butter with some of the lavender essence, before adding the dry ingredients. My recipe is inspired from the Joy of Baking. I love this site because, so far, I have found the recipes are very reliable. The recipe I used yields a very crumbly-textured dough, much like the texture that many pie crust doughs have. I basically divided the crumbs between two removable-bottomed tart pans (one 9-inch and one 10-inch since that is what I had on hand), and pressed the crumbs down with a glass (photo on the left is before pressing down the crumbs, photo on the right is after pressing with a flat-bottomed glass).



I scored them (or rather I sliced through to the bottom since I wasn't being very careful), pricked them with a fork and popped them into my preheated oven. I chose to bake them at a low temperature (300°F) to slowly bake them, without allowing them to get too dark too fast. Shortbread should be white, if not just barely golden around the edges. As the cookies baked, the therapeutic aroma of lavender filled the air. Blissfully relaxing. When the cookie edges were just barely beginning to bronze, I promptly retrieved them from the oven. After 5 minutes of cooling on a rack,  I re-cut the shortbread along the lines and let them cool completely. I then painted the tip of each slice with some melted white chocolate and sprinkled a few dried lavender blossoms on each.



The taste: Divine. The lavender truly comes through. Floral. Buttery. The shortbread are a little crumbly, just the way a traditional shortbread should be. Shortbread, I praise thee!



Lavender shortbread slices

Makes 16-20 slices, depending on how you cut them

1 cup butter, room temperature
3 tsp dried lavender
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
pinch or two of salt
Optional ingredients

2 ounces melted white chocolate
Dried lavender for garnishing
Preheat oven to 300°F.
Butter or lightly spray two removable-bottom tart pans (either two 9-, or 10-inch, or one 9-inch and one 10-inch).
  In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and lavender for 1 minute.
Add sugar and mix on low, scraping down sides of mixer as needed, until mixture is creamy.
Add flour and salt, and mix on low until the dough is crumbly.
Divide dough crumbs between prepared pans. Score and prick with a fork.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, rotating at least once to ensure that they bake evenly (keep an eye on them as of 30 minutes to make sure that they do not brown).
Remove from oven and let cool slightly before re-cutting along the scored lines.
Let cool completely before removing the slices from the pans.
Dip or brush each slice with melted chocolate. Sprinkle with a few lavender blossoms.
Adore the shortbread by consuming every last crumb.