Jim Coleman Recipes

Sweet Wine Lavender Cookies

For this recipe you will need:

• 1 cup plus 1-1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup lavender sugar (recipe below)
• Pinch of salt
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 2-1/2 Tbsp sweet white wine
• 12 leaves of fresh lavender, chopped finely

Sift the flour, all but 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and the salt into a bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Mix a well in the center and add the wine and the lavender leaves and stir in gently. Leave the mixture for 10 minutes, stirring now and again, by which time it will have bonded together, then gather together to make a soft dough.

Roll out the dough on a floured board about 1/8 inch thick and use a serated pasta wheel to cut out small strips, about 2 inches by 1 inch. Place on a buttered baking tray, giving one half of each strip a twist, as you do so to make the cookies look just like little bows. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are just turning brown. Cool on a wire rack and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.

Lavender Sugar:
Mix 2 tablespoons of spikes of fresh lavender flowers or 1 tablespoon of dried lavender flowers with 1 cup of superfine sugar. Select a glass jar and make alternate layers of sugar and lavender flowers until the jar is full. Cover tightly and leave in a warm, dry room for 1 to 2 weeks. Shake the jar through a sieve before use. This method is similar to the conventional method you use to make vanilla sugar.