Tag: bridal shower cookies

Lavender Shortbread Sandwich Cookies with Honey Buttercream

Posted on by Mari Vasseur
Lavender Shortbread Sandwich Cookies with Honey Buttercream

Lavender and honey go so well together. Bees know it, fairies know it, princesses know it. The flavor combination is so delightful in these cookies, that I decided to share them with you. In addition to delicious, compatible flavors, these cookies have a divine texture combination. The shortbread cookies have a tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture. Together with the silky, smooth honey buttercream, they’ll make you feel fancy and regal. You’ll hold your head up higher, ring for your tea and declare that you do indeed deserve fine things!

Some people are nervous about baking with lavender because they don’t want their baked goods to taste like soap or perfume. That can be a concern if the lavender flavor is too pronounced. However, if you don’t use enough you won’t be able to taste it at all. There’s a fine balance. If you use the right amount, it will taste pleasant and have sweet undertones. I used two teaspoons of culinary lavender in these cookies, but you can adjust the amount to your tastes. You can start out with one teaspoon, bake a small sample of dough and taste it, to customize the flavor.

Speaking of tasting, my grandmother always said, “taste as you go.” This is also helpful when making the honey buttercream. Typically, when making other flavors of buttercream, you add more powdered sugar if your buttercream is too thin. In this case, adding more powdered sugar can make the buttercream too sweet. Once you have added the amount of honey that tastes good to you, you can add a little cornstarch if you need to stiffen it up a bit.

Lavender Shortbread Sandwich Cookies with Honey Buttercream

Tender lavender scented cookies with silky honey buttercream filling
Print Recipe
Servings 18

Ingredients
  

Lavender Shortbread Cookies

  • 2 cups (9 oz or 255g) all purpose flour
  • ½ cup (2 1/4 oz or 64g) powdered sugar
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 cup (8 oz or 227g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 teaspoons culinary lavender

Honey Buttercream

  • ¾ cup (6 oz or 170g) unsalted butter, softened
  • ½ cup (2 1/4 or 64g) powdered sugar, sifted
  • 2-3 tablespoons honey
  • pinch fine sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch optional

Instructions
 

Lavender Shortbread Cookie

  • In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar and salt.
  • In a separate large bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Mix in the lavender. Beat in the flour mixture on low speed, just until combined.
  • Divide the dough into two discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, but not more than 8 hours.
  • Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into 2-inch circles. Place two inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Refrigerate cut cookies for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
  • Preheat oven to 325ºF (165ºC). Bake cookies until the bottom edges are light golden brown, about 12-14 minutes.
  • Transfer cookies to a cooking rack to cool completely.
  • Pipe or spread about 1/2 tablespoon of buttercream on the bottom of half of the cookies. Top with remaining cookies.

Honey Buttercream

  • In a medium bowl, beat butter and sugar together until smooth. Add honey, one tablespoon at a time until desired sweetness and consistency is reached.
  • Mix in a pinch of salt to taste.
  • Mix in cornstarch, if necessary, to firm up buttercream. *See notes below.

Notes

*The addition of cornstarch helps to firm up buttercream without adding additional sweetness.
To find culinary lavender, click here.
Keyword cookies

Raspberry Rose Shortbread Cookies

Posted on by Mari Vasseur
Raspberry Rose Shortbread Cookies

I don’t think I’ve ever created a recipe that delighted all of my senses as much as these cookies. I used dried rosebuds in the cookie dough, but you can also use dried rose petals. Whether you purchase dried rose petals or make them yourself, they’re pleasantly fragrant with a subtle flavor. To find dried rose petals, click here. To find dried rosebuds, click here. I pinched the calyx and stem off of the rosebuds to avoid large crunchy bits in the cookies, then I crushed the roses with a mortar and pestle. You’ll hear the satisfying crunch of the delicate, dried rose petals. You can also place them in a plastic bag and roll over them gently with a rolling pin.

The finished cookies have a rustic, almost shabby chic look with their cracks, rose-speckled dough and beautifully imperfect dried roses. And of course, you’ll want to sample a warm cookie. The cookies will taste tender and slightly sweet with a hint of rose. I like a more subtle rose flavor in my baked goods. But if you prefer a stronger rose flavor, feel free to add a small amount of rose water to your dough. Start with 1/4 teaspoon, because a little goes a long way.

If you’re like me, you’ll taste a spoonful of the raspberry ganache because you can and should. For the raspberry ganache, please use a good quality white chocolate! In some recipes, it’s fine to use white chocolate chips or candy melts if you prefer, but NOT this one. In my humble, yet educated opinion, you should never use chocolate chips to make ganache. I studied chocolate in culinary school with a master chocolatier. I never use chocolate chips for ganache because they contain stabilizers that keep them from melting completely, which prevents you from having the smoothest ganache possible. They also contain less cocoa butter and tend to have a waxy mouth feel.

For this recipe, when it comes to butter, you should also be a little bit picky for successful baking. Low quality butter tends to contain more water and your cookies may spread too much. So make sure to use good butter. Your butter should be room temperature, but not warm. If the butter is shiny, it’s too warm. Don’t try to speed up the softening of butter with your microwave. That’s not a hack, in spite of what you may hear on the internet. Microwaves heat unevenly and will potentially melt your butter. The best way to speed up the softening of your butter is to simply cut it into cubes. By the time you get the rest of your ingredients ready, the butter should be soft enough to use. My last, but most important success tip, is to weigh your ingredients.

You’ll find this recipe and more delightful bakes, in my cookbook “Enchanted Baking.” Click here for more info.

 

Raspberry Rose Shortbread Cookies

Mari Vasseur
Rose petal shortbread cookies filled with white chocolate raspberry ganache
Print Recipe
Course Dessert
Servings 30 cookies

Ingredients
  

Cookies

  • 1 cup (227g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 3 tablespoons (2g) crushed dried rose petals
  • 1 cup (113g) powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 ¼ cups (284g) all purpose flour, sifted

Filling

  • â…“ cup (59ml) raspberry purée, strained
  • ¼ cup (59ml) heavy cream
  • 3 ounces (or 85g) white chocolate, finely chopped Do not use white chocolate chips
  • 30 dried rosebuds for decoration optional

Instructions
 

Cookies

  • Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper
  • In a large bowl, beat the butter, with an electric mixer on medium speed, until smooth. Add the rose petals and beat on low speed until combined.
  • Add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Beat until well combined.
  • On low speed, mix in the flour in two additions. Beat just until combined.
  • Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls, about 1/2 ounce (14g) each. Place the dough balls about 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets.
  • Bake for 7 minutes, then remove from the oven. Press indentations into each cookie with a 1-inch diameter pastry tamper or with the flat top of a 1-inch diameter bottle cap.
  • Return the cookies to the oven and continue baking until the edges are light golden brown, about 5-6 more minutes.
  • If the indentations in your cookies lose definition, press again with the tamper or bottle cap while the cookies are still hot on the baking sheet.
  • Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Filling

  • In a small saucepan, bring the pureéd raspberries to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer until the purée is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Transfer the raspberry reduction to a small bowl and set aside.
  • Place the white chocolate in a medium heat safe bowl and set aside.
  • In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the heavy cream to a simmer, just until bubbles form around the edges. Do not boil. Stir in the raspberry reduction and heat just to a simmer again. Do not boil.
  • Pour the hot cream mixture over the white chocolate, making sure all of the white chocolate is submerged. Let it sit for 3 minutes, then stir with a spatula until smooth. Let the ganache cool until slightly thickened. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon into the indentation of each cookie. The ganache will continue to firm up as it sits.
  • When the ganache in the cookies has firmed up, decorate with dried rosebud or rose petals, if desired.

Notes

*To find dried rose petals, click here.
**To find dried rosebuds, click here.