Iced Lemon Lavender Shortbread Cookies
These lemon lavender shortbread cookies have a buttery, crumbly texture and delicious lemon flavor with a subtle hint of lavender.
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Equipment
- Food Processor or Pastry Cutter
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- zest of 1 small lemon
- ½ tsp dried edible lavender
- ¾ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp fresh or bottled lemon juice
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tsp meringue powder
- 2 ½ - 3 tbsp fresh or bottled lemon juice
- dried edible lavender, or lemon zest, for decorating
Instructions
Make, Cut and Chill the Dough
- In your food processor, measure the flour, powdered sugar, salt, lemon zest and lavender. Pulse several times until well combined.
- With the processor running, drop the butter down the chute, a tablespoon at a time, and process the mixture until moist and crumbly.
- Add the vanilla extract and lemon juice, and process just until the dough comes together into a dough ball.
- Dump the dough out onto a clean counter and gather any dry floury bits together, shaping the dough into a disk, and lightly dusting it with a little extra flour.
- Line an 8 or 9 inch square baking pan with parchment paper. So that the paper doesn't slide around when you press in the dough, it helps to lightly grease the inside of the pan with butter, to get the paper to stick to the pan. Press the dough into an even layer into the pan.
- Now cut the dough into squares, using a sharp knife or bench scraper, dipping it in flour in between cuts. I used a bench scraper, which I find easiest for cutting dough inside the pan. Cutting the dough before baking makes it much easier to cut without breaking it after it comes out of the oven. For an 8-inch pan, cut the dough into 5x5 sections, for 25 cookies. For a 9-inch pan, you can cut the dough a bit smaller, into 6x6 sections, for 36 cookies.
- Use a toothpick, skewer or cake tester to prick the dough all over - this is called "docking the dough", and helps prevent it from puffing up as it bakes.
- Refrigerate the shortbread for 30 minutes.
Bake
- Preheat the oven to 300 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake the chilled shortbread for about 45 minutes, until the top looks golden brown and baked through.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack, and immediately cut the shortbread again. Cool completely in the pan before lifting the shortbread out of the pan by pulling it out by the paper.
Icing
- In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar and meringue powder. Stir in the lemon juice, until smooth and drizzly.
- Dip the tops of the cookies into the icing, lightly shake off the excess, then set the cookies down so the icing can dry and set. Before it sets (which happens quickly) you can sprinkle the top with some more dried lavender or lemon zest.
- Let the icing set and dry completely, at least 4-6 hours.
- Store the baked shortbread in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 weeks, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.
Video
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