I just assisted in throwing my first baby shower… the theme was lavender/ purple. A friend suggested these lavender cookies made with real lavender flowers. The end result was pure deliciousness! (thanks Lynne)

Fun Fact: Lavender: There is nothing like the fresh clean fragrance of old English lavender. The Romans added it to their bath water and placed the flowers among their clothes giving them a fresh scent. Lavender has a sweet taste and can be used to make herbal tea.
Inhaling its fragrance has been said to calm nerves and lift depression. Lavender tea is used for heart palpitations, headaches and insomnia. Lavender oil can treat wounds, ulcers and sores.

LAVENDER TEA COOKIES
1 tablespoon dried culinary lavender flowers (I got mine at Henry’s in Costa Mesa in the dried herb section)
1 cup butter, room temp
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

In a mortar, grind lavender leaves with the pestle. (we used a food processor)
In a medium bowl, cream together ground lavender flowers, butter, sugar, vanilla extract and lemon extract. (The smell is amazing!)

Add flour and salt; mix until combined (dough should be soft but not sticky.)
Refrigerate 1-2 hours or until dough is firm.

Prepare Lavender frosting and set aside.
LAVENDER FROSTING
1 cup powdered confectioner’s sugar
2 tablespoons dried culinary lavender flowers
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
food coloring if you choose; red + blue

In a small plastic bag, combine powdered sugar and dried lavender flowers. Let stand at least 1 day before using. (we let it stand for a few hours) When ready to use, sift the mixture into a medium size bowl; discard lavender flowers OR save to top off cookies as decoration.
Add milk and corn syrup, mixing well. NOTE: additional sugar or milk may need to be added to make frosting easy to spread, spread on cooled cookies.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Remove dough from fridge.
On a lightly-floured surface, roll dough apprx 1/4″ thick with your rolling pin.

Cut into desired shapes with your favorite cookie cutters and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 12-15 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned around the edges. Remove from oven and cool on wire cooling racks.

these were the vanilla bean, egg white, with buttercream cupcakes we made to match- with lavender frosting of course!