A great winter holiday drink take the chill away!
2 quarts apple cider
1 cup of brandy or rum
1/2 cup dried cranberries
12 cinnamon sticks
1/2 teaspoon crushed whole cloves
2 Tablespoons whole allspice
1 Tablespoon Serenity’s Culinary Lavender
Instructions
Combine the ciders and spices in a large saucepan. Simmer for about 10 minutes but do not boil.
Strain the spices and discard, preserving the liquid in a pitcher.
Add the brandy/rum. Mix well
Pour the mixture into
cups or mugs garnished with apple, cinnamon sticks or sprigs of dried lavender and a serve.
Makes 12 servings
As the evenings cool down I start thinking about simple fall time recipes and here is one that takes no time at all and is great to feed a family of 4
Ingredients
- 2 tsp. sea salt
- 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
- 1 chicken, 3 to 4 lb.
- 1-2 Tablespoons Serenity Lavender’s herbes de provence
- 4 washed mid sized new
potatoes
- 4 peeled carrots
- 4 peeled parsnips
Mix the salt, pepper and herbes de provence together. Rub the mixture underneath the skin and the rest on the outside of the chicken. Place the chicken in a roasting pan. Place vegetables around the outside of the pan. Roast at 380°F about 1hr 20 minutes. Serves 4.
Enjoy this refreshing drink with a twist of local seasonal flavours of blueberries and lavender!
Ingredients
10 mint leaves
1 oz. lavender syrup (recipe to follow below)
juice of 1/2 pressed lime or a 1/8 of a cup
20 Blueberries
1 & 1/2 ounces white rum club
soda
In tall glass crush mint leaves, lavender syrup, lime juice, 15 blueberries and rum. Mix just enough to combine flavors and the blueberries are slightly open. Fill shaker with crushed ice pour the syrup mixture overtop and top with Club Soda. Shake until well blended. Garnish with blueberries on a cocktail pick and fresh lavender.
Lavender Syrup
1/4 cup of Serenity Lavender Culinary Lavender
1 Cup of Water
1/2 Cup Sugar
In a small saucepan bring water to a boil add lavender, cover and let steep for 20 minutes. Using a sieve strain the lavender. Return to stove and over medium heat add sugar stirring until it is all dissolved. Place in a container and refrigerate.
This syrup is handy to have around to make other drinks inlcuding lavender lemonade thru the summer! Courtesy of Wine Enthusiast Magazine.
Strawberries with ginger lavender
With Strawberry season in full swing, I’m getting ready to make some strawberry lavender jam. Lavender is a great compliment to any type of berry but those beautiful luscious local red strawberries are accented perfectly with tiny little purple buds of lavender. There are so many lovely ways to serve lavender and strawberries together from soup to sorbet to tarts but today I’ve decided to experiment with a simple lavender syrup recipe with a twist.
Ingredients
1 lb. of Strawberries (quartered)
1/3 cup of sugar
2/3 cup of water
2 Tablespoons of Serenity Culinary Lavender
2 Tablespoons of Limoncello (Lemon Flavoured liqueur)
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/2 tsp culinary lavender
Instructions
Rinse and drain Strawberries. Hull and cut into quarters in a large bowl and set aside.
In a small saucepan over low heat combine water, sugar and lavender and simmer stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Place lid over top for about 15 minutes to allow the syrup mixture to steep and the lavender infuse the mixture.
Strain the syrup and discard the blossoms.
Add ginger and lemoncello into the syrup mixture.
Pour the syrup mixture over the straberries. Add 1/2 teaspoon of dried culinary lavender and toss gently. Serve the berries in glass bowls or stemmed glasses. Garnish with Whipped cream and fresh lavender stems.
Makes 4 servings
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6 oz /175g bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
4 oz/ 125 g milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup / 175 ml whipping cream
2 teaspoons culinary lavender
Place chocolate in fondue pot. Heat cream add lavender and steep 20 minutes. Return to stove and heat until boiling. Quickly strain lavender from the creamand pour over chocolate. Whisk until melted. Set over warmer.
Serve with seasonal fresh fruit.
This recipe is from Bon Apetit. I combines the tannic and acidic flavours of the blackberries with the sweetness of the pears and creaminess of the ricotta for a tantalizing taste experience.
6 servings
• PREP TIME: 20 minutes
• TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 15 minutes
Recipe by Marlena Spieler
Photograph by Marcus Nilsson
Ingredients
•1/3cup + 2 teaspoons lavender sugar(available at Serenity Lavender online or in store or make your own using our culinary lavender)
•6 unpeeled pears (such as Bosc or Bartlett), quartered, cored
•2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
•1 pint blackberries
•1 cup fresh ricotta cheese, crème fraîche, or vanilla ice cream
Preparation
Preheat oven to 425°F. Generously butter large rimmed baking sheet. Toss pears, lemon juice, and 3 tablespoons lavender sugar in large bowl. Transfer pears, 1 cut side down, to baking sheet. Roast 20 minutes. Turn pears, placing other cut side down. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon lavender sugar; roast 20 minutes. Turn pears, skin side down. Preheat broiler. Sprinkle pears with 1 tablespoon lavender sugar. Broil until pears begin to caramelize, about 8 minutes. Arrange berries around pears; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon lavender sugar. Broil until berries begin to release juice, about 5 minutes.
Divide pears, berries, and juice among bowls. Top with dollop of ricotta and serve.
Great with fresh greens and our local greenhouse tomatoes
1 cup of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon honey – We love our friend’s at Sunparlour
1 teaspoon dried culinary lavender
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
pinch of sea salt
Dash of Pepper
In a small saucepan combine the honey, balsamic vinegar and dried lavender. Over moderately low heat reduce the mixture to half. Add oil. Mix to blend. Add salt and pepper.
These lavender spiced baked apples are the perfect ending to any meal.
Yield: 6 servings
6 medium baking apples (about 2 pounds),
such as Gala or MacIntosh
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon lavender
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Core apples; peel a strip from the top of each. If necessary cut thin
slice from bottom of each apple so apple will stand upright. Place
apples upright in greased 11 x 7-inch baking dish.
In medium-size bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and
lavender pour into and around apples.
Set dish in a 13 x 9-inch pan. Set on oven rack. Carefully pour boiling
water into pan to 1-inch depth. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until apples
are tender, occasionally spooning sweetened condensed milk mixture in
bottom of dish over apples.
Serve warm
TIP If you don’t have sweetened condensed milk substitute a 1/4 cup of Lavender sugar or Lavender Vanilla Bean sugar in your regular baked apple recipe!
Last minute preparations for Super Bowl Sunday and of course I had to include lavender in something. So here’s my a quick creation:
2 ripe firm avocados mashed
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp Serenity culinary lavender crushed with a mortar and pestle
1 small Leamington greenhouse tomato chopped
1/8 cup black bean and corn salsa
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 small onion
pinch of ground pepper
dash of hot sauce ( I used our homemade habenaro paste made from our garden grown peppers but use whatever you like)
Mix together and serve with nachos.
Photo by Steven Depolo
Chewy, chocolately with just the right amount of lavender. My family just loves these. When I make a batch they’re gone before the next day. Truly yummyliscious!
Ingredients:
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup of flour
1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon dried culinary lavender
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup walnuts (optional)
Cream the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and mix until smooth. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder. Add salt and lavender. Blend dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Mix in chocolate chips and walnuts. Pour into a greased 8×8 inch pan. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees or until a toothpick comes out clean. Top with your favourite chocolate frosting for an even more decadent experience!
cups or mugs garnished with apple, cinnamon sticks or sprigs of dried lavender and a serve.
