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
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.