Blueberry cookies remind me of a time when I was little. Every year my family would take a road trip up to Northern California. My parents loved stopping at roadside stands to buy fresh produce on the way back. One year my dad bought an enormous box of blueberries. When we got home, for the next couple of weeks, we ate far too many blueberry pancakes. My dad also used the blueberries in his famous cobbler, which was delightful. Then he made biscuits which turned out like rocks and we all laughed. My favorite blueberry creations that year were the blueberry shortcake and blueberry cookies. I’m sharing my version of the blueberry cookies, with the addition of lavender to make them a little more special.
My Blueberry Lavender Cookies start with butter and homemade lavender sugar. The original cookies had fresh blueberries plopped into the dough, which is perfectly fine if you’re making muffins. To reduce the soggy spots that form as the fruit releases its juices while baking, I typically macerate or cook fruit before it’s added to many of my recipes. The extra step makes a big difference. A quick, cooked blueberry compote is folded into the batter of these cookies, making pretty blueberry swirls. I finished these cookies with a sprinkle of sparkly sanding sugar in a lilac shade. This is optional, but very pretty. You can also make extra lavender sugar to use for sprinkling on your cookies. Sprinkle the sugar on before baking or after the cookies bake, while they’re still warm.
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cookies
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- 1/2 teaspoon corn starch
- 2 tablespoons water
- 3/4 cup (4 oz or 113g) blueberries, fresh or frozen
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (7 7/8 oz or 223g) sugar
- 1 1/4 teaspoons dried culinary lavender*
Ingredients
Blueberry Compote
Lavender Sugar
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- In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of water.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the blueberries, lemon juice and remaining 1 tablespoon of water, stirring until the blueberries soften and start to release their juices. Smash the blueberries slightly with the back of the spoon. Stir in cornstarch mixture. Turn the heat down to low. Simmer until thickened to a jam consistency, about 1-2 minutes.
- Transfer the blueberry compote to a small bowl and set aside to cool to room temperature.
- In a small food processor or a clean spice grinder, combine 1/4 cup of the sugar with the lavender. Pulse a few times to chop the lavender into smaller bits. Add the remaining sugar and pulse a few more times to combine.
*To find culinary lavender, click here.
**To find the decorative sanding sugar I used, click here.
***To find the scoop I used, click here.
Your cookies look absolutely delicious 🤗😋
Thank you for sharing. I can’t wait to make them…
Hi Regina! Thank you and enjoy!
Do you recommend chilling the cookie dough ?
Hi Anna, chilling the dough is not necessary if you follow the recipe exactly and weigh your ingredients for accuracy. If, however, you find that your cookies spread too much while baking, you can certainly chill your dough, which helps prevent spreading. Chilling your dough is also helpful if you live in a warm climate or if your dough becomes too warm at any point.
Hi Mari, I just tried making these and the cookies turned out a little crumbly/powdery. I like how soft they are but any tips on how to make them less crumbly?
Hi Davina! If baked as directed, the texture of these cookies will be slightly crunchy on the outside with soft and chewy interiors. They shouldn’t be crumbly or powdery at all. Your cookies sound dry and may have had too much flour or baked for too long. For best results, weigh your ingredients.
These look amazing! I’m planning to make these for a friend but might not have time to do it all in one night. Could I make the dough and chill it overnight? Then bake the following day?
Hi Anna, if you want to make the dough in advance, don’t mix in the blueberry compote until right before baking. When you’re ready to bake the cookies, let the dough soften a bit at room temperature, then gently fold in the blueberry compote
I’m pretty sure I didn’t add the right amount of sugar…
I did something wrong 🙁 they weren’t sweet and came out crumbly 🙁
Hi Christina, if baked correctly, these cookies are very sweet and not crumbly. It sounds like you didn’t add all of the sugar. The total amount of sugar that goes into the dough is 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons or 223g.
Like some of these other comments say my dough came out crumbly instead of with a dough like texture, I measured everything correctly and it just seemed too dry.
Hi Fia,
If baked correctly, the texture of these cookies shouldn’t be crumbly. This recipe was tested thoroughly and many people have reported success with it on social media. The first thing I would ask you is if you weighed your ingredients. Some people end up adding too much flour when using measuring cups. If you measured everything correctly, then perhaps the cookies were over baked. Baking times on recipes are a guide. Everyone’s ovens are different, so you have to keep an eye on your cookies to make sure you don’t over bake them, which can affect the texture. Another possibility is forgetting to add the rest of the sugar when making the lavender sugar. Sugar adds moisture to the cookies and helps to make them chewy.
Loved these cookies when i tried them! They were so soft and chewy with a crispy exterior, its my favorite kind of cookie texture. Love!!
Hi Christine, I’m glad you enjoyed the cookies. Thanks for stopping by to let me know.
I don’t have a blender or food processor… am i able to just mix the lavender in somehow or do I need these things?
Hi Isabella, if you just mix the lavender into the cookie dough, you will bite into strongly flavored chunks of lavender that will be tough to chew. Processing the lavender with the sugar serves two purposes. It breaks up the lavender buds into smaller bits and it infuses the flavor into the sugar. You can try chopping the lavender finely with a knife or crushing it with a mortar and pestle, but the most effective way is to pulverize it using a small food processor or a clean spice grinder.
Hi! I really want to try this recipe, and I already have some premade lavender sugar, but it also has cinnamon (previous bake of lavender snickerdoodles). Do you think this recipe would work well with cinnamon added?
Hi Nyx, I haven’t tried that specific combination so I can’t really comment an opinion, but if you liked the flavor of the lavender with cinnamon in your snickerdoodles, then it’s likely you’ll also like it in the blueberry cookies.