Lavender and Chocolate Cookies

You can use a mixer for these, but I like to do it all by hand with a big glass bowl and well used wooden spoon. Stir with love and eat with glee and maybe put the soundtrack to Chocolat on in the background.

Lavender Chocolate Cookies

¼ cup plus 1 T of unsalted butter, softened (85 g)

¼ cup plus 1 T raw sugar (93 g)

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 cup of all-purpose flour

1 ½ T of coco powder (non-akaline) (23 ml)

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/4 teaspoon of salt

¼ cup of dark chocolate, chopped (25 g)

To start preheat the oven to 400F/200C/180CFan. Then put the golden butter and sugar into a large bowl and cream together with joy. Add the eggs and vanilla until all the wisps are mixed. Stir in the flour, coco, baking powder, and salt until blended then gently fold in the bits of chocolate. With a dessert spoon, scoop out a small spoonful of dough and roll in between your hands to form a ball.  Lay the ball on a baking sheet with baking paper and press the ball lightly to flatten it around ½ inch in height.  Put on your favourite music and repeat the rolling process until all the dough is used.  Bake for 8 minutes then let cool on a tray for one minute.  Last remove from tray to cool completely before frosting. Sneak a bite of at least one..

Glaze

½ T culinary lavender buds to sprinkle

1 cup icing sugar (125 g)

a few drops of red and blue natural food colouring

1 T  milk (15-30 ml)

Mix everything together except for the lavender buds and watch the white icing sugar turn to a lovely shade of purple.  Put the cookies on a wire rack with a plate underneath (or baking paper)  and with a little spoon drizzle the icing on the centre of a cooled cookie and with the back of the spoon swirl the glaze to cover - watch the rest drip down the sides. Then don't waste any time! Grab the lavender and sprinkle the buds so that they stick to the glaze before it dries. 

Rose Petal Sugar Cookies

Yesterday I had a list of things to do and one thing was to bake something that would be a good accompaniment for a movie, which ended up being Midnight in Paris. Matt and I do loads together, but sometimes we do things purposely apart, which left me to my own devices.  Last night I dreamt of eating a cookie that was really girly, but also really comforting. I love sugar cookies, and didn't want to take the time to let the dough chill for an hour, and then cut out shapes, ect. so alas came this recipe. Making dough balls does take time, but I put on some vintage jazz as the world was coming home from work all tired and worn out, I was having fun in the kitchen.  

You can sub the rose petals for any other kind of flower or just use sprinkles. The taste of rose is very subtle - to intensify it add a hint of rose water at the last stage of making the glaze. Here's the recipe that developed from my rosy kitchen last night:

Sugar Cookies

¾ cup of unsalted butter, softened (170 g)

a generous ¾ cup *demerara sugar (187 g)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Makes approximately 44 cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 400F/200C/180CFan and cream the butter and sugar together. 2. Add the eggs and vanilla until mixed. 3. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt until well blended.  4.  With a dessert spoon, scoop out a small spoonful of dough and roll it between your hands to form a ball.  5. Lay the ball on a baking sheet with baking paper and press the ball lightly to flatten it around ½ inch in height.  6.  Repeat until all the dough is used.  7. Bake for 8 minutes until cookies reach a nice light golden brown.  9. Remove from tray to cool.

*You can use raw sugar as well or a mixture of ¼ cup (50 g) brown sugar and ½ cup (125 g) raw sugar.

Rose Petal Glaze

¼ cup edible rose petals to sprinkle (handful)

1 cup icing sugar (125 g)

2 T milk

1 drop pink food colouring

1.  In a bowl combine the icing sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk. Stir until a thick paste forms.  2. Add the second tablespoon of milk and stir until well mixed.  3. Add the drop of food colouring.  4. With a small spoon pour a gentle glaze over the cooled cookies.  Followed by a sprinkle of rose petals. 5. Leave to set before serving or storing.