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Arlene’s Favorite Lavender Recipes
This is part I of a two part series consisting of Lavender recipes I used at our b & b in TN for 6 years.
Lavender Key Lime Sorbet
Serves: 8
Skill level: Appropriate for all
you will need:
6 cups water
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons dried culinary lavender
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
½ cup Key Lime Juice
Combine water, sugar, and lavender in heavy saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain liquid in a bowl and discard lavender. Return liquid to the saucepan. Add lemon peel and boil 2 minutes. Pour into a glass dish and stir in limejuice. Chill until cold. Freeze for 4 hours. Then transfer to a food processor and puree quickly. Return to glass dish and re-freeze for 2 hours and re-process and freeze again for 2 or more hours.
Lavender Focaccia
Focaccia with Lavender Garlic Topping
Makes: 8 Servings
Skill Level: Appropriate for all
You will need:
Dough:
1(1/4 oz.) envelope active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar or honey
1 2/3 cups warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
5 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for kneading
2 teaspoons salt
¼ cup olive oil
Topping:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon culinary lavender
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon coarse salt (sea or kosher)
¼ teaspoon black pepper
In a small bowl, combine sugar or honey in about half of the tepid water (110-115 degrees Fahrenheit). Sprinkle the yeast over the mixture and let the stand until foamy, 5 to 8 minutes.
You can combine the flour and the yeast mixture by hand or with a mixer fitted with a dough hook. To do it by hand: On a large clean area or a very large bowl. Pour the flour and salt into a mound in the center. Make a well in the center. Pour the oil into the yeast mixture. Pour the half of the mixture into the well. With your hand make circular movements to mix the flour in with the yeast. Once half the flour has been incorporated then pour in the remaining water. Continue until all the flour has been incorporated into the mixture.
Lightly flour work surface. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until it is smooth. If the dough is really sticking to your hands then put a little flour on your hands. Form the dough into a round shape and place dough in a bowl. Score the top with a knife a few times. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Place the bowl in a draft free room for an hour or until it rises to double in size. Knead the dough for 3 minutes and then let it rest for another hour to relax the dough. At this point you can refrigerate the dough overnight. But be sure to allow the dough to return to room temperature before putting it in the oven.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Oil a large baking sheet. Lightly flour work surface and roll out dough into a large rectangle.
Transfer dough to the baking sheet, cover with towel and let proof for 30-45 minutes or until it doubles in size. Meanwhile, make the lavender garlic topping. Mince the garlic. Finely chop the lavender. Mix garlic and lavender with olive oil.
Make dimples in the dough with your fingers by pushing into the dough several times. Brush the lavender garlic all over and into the dimples. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. You can drizzle more olive oil on top if you want. Transfer to wire rack to cool slightly before serving.
Lavender Lemonade
Lavender lemonade can be made by steeping for 5 minutes ½ cup dried lavender flowers in water that has been brought to the boil. Strain and use as part of the water in making frozen lemonade.
Lavender Sugar
To make lavender sugar for tea or baking, blend in a food processor 2 tablespoons dried lavender flowers (always making sure they have not been sprayed) with 1cup sugar. Store in airtight container.
Lavender Jelly
2 ¼ C apple juice
1 C fresh lavender flowers (1/2 C dried)
3 ½ C sugar
1/2 t butter
3 oz. liquid pectin
Combine apple juice and lavender flowers. Bring to boiling, turn off heat, steep 15 mins., strain. Add butter to 2 C juice infusion and make jelly, following directions on pectin package. Makes 7 4-oz. Jars
Arlene’s Lavender Shortbread
8 oz. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled
4 Tsp. fresh lavender, or 2 Tsp. dried
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour (spoon and level; 9 ounces)
Lavender sugar:
Fifteen minutes before you begin the dough, remove the butter from the refrigerator. Place the lavender buds in a clean spice mill with ¼ cup of the sugar and grind until fine. If you don’t have a spice mill, grind the lavender with all the sugar in a blender or small food processor. Or you can buy your Lavender sugar from Home Farm Herbery.
Mixing the dough:
Transfer the lavender sugar to the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with a paddle and add the remaining ¼ cup sugar if you used a spice mill and the butter. Beat on low speed until the mixture is s smooth and there are no detectable lumps of butter when you roll a teaspoon of it between your fingers; do not beat it until it is fluffy. Add all the flour at once and continue to mix on low speed just until it forms cohesive dough.
Rolling and cutting:
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, press it firmly into a smooth rectangular block with no cracks, and dust it lightly with more flour. Using a rolling pin, roll it into a 12 x 9-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick, rotating the dough a quarter turn each time you roll to make sure it is not sticking to the work surface. You an also roll the dough out between sheets of plastic wrap or parchment paper. Using a straight edge and a pastry wheel or chef’s knife, cut the dough into 3 x 1-1/2 inch bars, or cut out other shapes with cookie cutters. Using a spatula, transfer the cookies to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving ½-inch space between them. Refrigerate the cookies for at least 30 minutes before baking to allow the dough to rest.
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the cookies until they are colored lightly like sand, not browned, 22 to 25 minutes. Lift one with a small spatula to check the color of the underside; it should be just a shade darker on the top. Let the cookies cool completely on the pan (they are soft while they are hot). Stack the cooled cookies in an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to a week.
Mixing variation:
If you don’t have a heavy-duty electric mixer, you can mix the dough in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon, but you’ll need to start with butter that is at room temperature. Mix the butter with the lavender sugar until completely smooth, and then stir in the flour. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour before rolling.
Herb substitutions:
In place of the lavender, add 4 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary, thyme or lemon thyme to the butter and sugar.
Yield 24 cookies
LAVENDER COOKIES
These cookies are probably better classified as shortbread.
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp. dried lavender flowers
1 cup self-rising flour
Cream butter and sugar; add egg. Mix in lavender and flour. Place small heaps on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes or till golden brown in color.
More Lavender Cookies
2 eggs
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lavender leaves
1 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
confectioner’s sugar
rosewater
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Put eggs, margarine, sugar and lavender into blender and run on low until well mixed. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl. Add other ingredients and stir until well blended. Drop dough a teaspoon at a time onto un-greased cookie sheets. Bake until lightly browned. Blend enough rosewater into the confectioner’s sugar to make a smooth frosting. Ice the cookies and let them set until frosting is firm.
Lavender Mint Tea Punch
6 teaspoons dried mint
6 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon dried lavender blossoms
1 liter ginger ale
1 cup purple grape juice
ice cubes with fresh mint leaf frozen in each
Brew the mint in the water in a teapot for ten minutes. Add the lavender blossoms to the pot. Allow tea to cool. Strain the tea and add the ginger ale, grape juice and ice cubes. If serving in a punch bowl, float lavender buds and mint sprigs on top.
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 Resources: Excerpted from “Food For Thought Series” by Arlene Wright-Correll
For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/ and click on Arlene’s Books you can download or buy my gardening & cook books. All my royalties from the sale of my books go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and we thank you for your attention to this site.
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