A match made in heaven- zesty lemon and luscious lavender! We can’t get enough of these creamy fragrant white chocolate bites and with Valentine’s day a few weeks away what better occasion to make these rich white chocolate treats for the one you love.
Ingredients:
Finely chopped pistachios for garnish, cake sparkles or powdered sugar
Instructions:
In the top portion of a double boiler, combine the whipping cream, butter, lavender, lemon zest and lemon juice. Over low heat bring the mixture to a simmer while stirring continually.
Remove the mixture from the stove and extract the lavender and lemon zest by passing the liquid through a fine sieve.
Add water to the bottom pot of the double boiler and heat. Add the chocolate into the warm mixture of whip cream . Stir until it is smooth and melted. Do not melt the chocolate over direct heat.
Once you have a smooth mixture with the chocolate, pour the ganache (cream & chocolate mixture) into a bowl and leave a room temperature for up to 5 hours. At this point, the ganache should be hard enough to hold whatever form you wish. Use a teaspoon or a small melon baller to place small heaps of the truffle mix onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in freezer for 15 minutes
Remove the ganache from the freezer, and quickly roll each heap between your hands to create small smooth balls, and place back onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Roll each ball in chopped pistachio nuts, cake sparkles or powdered sugar and finish with a bud of lavender atop each truffle. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Adapted from
Adventures in Cooking; photo from Photo from betsylife.com.
Here’s a nice easy recipe for Lavender Lemon tea cookies that we’ve adapted from Dietitians of Canada, COOK! A tea time favourite- oooh so pretty too! They are a perfect pairing with a cup of Serenity Lavender’s Lavender Earl Grey tea on a cold winter’s day or just a nice treat to chase away the winter blues.
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Serenity Lavender’s lavender sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/3 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
1 large egg beaten
1/2 cup 2% milk
2 tsp lemon extract
Frosting:
1 cup icing sugar
2 1/2 – 3 tbsp 2% milk
2 tsp non-hydrogenated margarine
1 tsp lemon extract
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C)
In a large bowl, combine flour, lavender sugar and baking powder. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in margarine until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
In a small bowl, whisk together egg, milk and lemon extract. Pour over flour mixture and stir just until a stiff dough forms (do not over mix).
Drop 1 tablespoonful (15 mL) about 2 inches (5 cm) apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until bottoms are golden. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
Frosting:
In small bowl, combine icing sugar, milk, margarine and lemon extract to form a smooth, thin frosting.
Drizzle frosting over cooled cookies and top with Serenity Lavender’s Culinary lavender buds.
Makes about 30 cookies
Excerpted from Dietitians of Canada, COOK! by Mary Sue Waisman, photos by Colin Erricson © 2011 Robert Rose Inc. 
We’ve started our holiday baking with a few of our favourites from mouth watering shortbread to chocolate fudge. At Serenity Lavender we’re always experimenting and adding lavender to different recipes to see how our favourite herb accents a recipe. Like anything in life, we’ve had some huge successes and then some less than stellar results. Over the next several weeks on Sundays we’ll be sharing some of our recipes that have been great hits and sure fire crowd pleasers. Today we thought we’d start with a classic – Lavender Shortbread! Buttery crisps with a hint of floral and citrus notes that turns this old family recipe into something spectacular!!
Servings: 5 dozen cookies
Ingredients
1 lb unsalted butter, softened
1 cup icing sugar
2 teaspoons Serenity Lavender culinary lavender (ground)
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup rice flour
½ teaspoon salt
Preparation
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Cover bottoms of two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, lavender with an electric mixer. Mix until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add all purpose flour, rice flour and salt and beat until incorporated. Divide dough in half. Flatten into squares and wrap in plastic. Chill until firm. On a floured board, roll each square to a thickness of 3/8 inch. Cut with cookie cutters and place onto baking sheets, spacing cookies about 1 inch apart. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until pale golden around the edges. Cool then transfer to a rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Store in an air tight container.
Photo from ilovemilkandcookies.blogspot.ca
