Beautifully rich, Lemon Lavender Shortbread that is full of zesty lemon flavour with delicious subtle bursts of floral lavender flavour in every bite. It literally melts in your mouth!
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These Lemon Lavender Shortbread Cookies are unbelievably delicious and their texture is just perfect.
They 'snap', they 'crumble', and most importably they taste amazing with their sweet, zesty lemon flavour and delicious subtle bursts of floral lavender.
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If you have never tried cooking with lavender you might be a little wary of using it here but please don't be. The combination of the lemon and lavender is just beautiful. They are two flavours that work extremely well together especially in shortbread cookies.
Ingredients
Here's what you will be needing to make Lemon Lavender Shortbread Cookies:
And some notes on a couple of those:
- Sugar - Using the powdered sugar gives these Lemon Lavender Shortbread Cookies their characteristic melt in the mouth shortbread texture. The coarse sugar is for sprinkling on the top to add to the great texture.
- Lavender - For this recipe you need dried lavender buds. All varieties of lavender are edible but some taste better than others due to lower camphor levels. Lavandula Angustifolia, otherwise known as English Lavender is the best variety to use for cooking and is also a very common plant. I harvest mine from my garden. However, you really don't want your shortbread to end up tasting like cough medicine so unless you are very sure about the variety of your lavender, be safe and buy some culinary lavender. It can be found with the herbs and spices in most good grocery stores. You can also buy it online from Amazon here.
- Lemon - Just the lemon zest is used in this recipe because for the best shortbread texture it's best not to use much, if any liquid to bring the dough together. You could use the juice to make a simple powdered sugar lemon juice lemon glaze though!
Success tip - With shortbread cookie recipes it is really important that ingredients quantities are accurate. If they are off even just a tiny bit it will affect the outcome of the recipe. Because of this I highly recommend using a digital scale rather than measuring with cups.
Love lavender? be sure to check out my Blueberry Lavender Sauce, an if it's more lemon you're after make sure you try my easy self-saucing lemon puddings!
How to make Lemon Lavender Shortbread Cookies
These are made in a similar way to any other kind of shortbread cookie. Here's how it's done:
- Cream the coconut oil or vegan butter with the powdered sugar and salt.
- Add the lemon zest, lavender and flour then combine everything together.
- Roll out the dough, cut the cookies and refrigerate for a short while before baking.
Success tip - For the best cookies the dough needs to stay cool. If at any point it starts getting too warm and melty (often an issue in the summer months), simply pop it in the fridge for 5 to 10 minutes then pick up where you left off.
Storing & freezing
Cool cookies completely on a wire rack before storing in an airtight container. They should keep well for a couple of weeks.
Cookies can also be frozen:
- Uncooked: Make the cookies as directed and lay them out on a lined baking tray. Place the entire tray uncovered into your freezer. As soon as the cookies are solid you can remove them from the tray and place in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Bake as directed but add on an extra 2 minutes cooking time.
- Cooked: Place the cookies on a baking sheet and freeze until solid (this will prevent them from sticking to each other in the freezer). Then place in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag with parchment paper between any layers. Freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw cookies, place on a wire rack and let stand at room temperature for about an hour.
Tip - Try making lemon lavender sandwich cookies with my vegan lemon curd!
Hungry for more cookies?
Recipe
Lemon Lavender Shortbread Cookies
Author:Ingredients
- 42 grams ( ⅓ cup) powdered sugar
- 100g (½ cup) vegan butter or coconut oil , should be solid and chilled
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon fine sea salt , I like these cookies with a very slight salty edge so use half a teaspoon of salt. If you are sensitive to salty flavours then just use 1/4 teaspoon. Do not use table salt in this recipe.
- ½ to 1 teaspoon culinary lavender buds , the more you use the stronger the lavender flavour will be (rosemary or thyme work well instead!)
- zest of 2 lemons
- 165g (1⅓ cup) all purpose flour , (plain flour in the UK)
- up to 3 tablespoons plant milk , try not to any. Only add it if you really cannot get the dough to come together without
- optional coarse granulated sugar for sprinkling
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- Combine the powdered sugar, vegan butter/coconut oil and salt in a bowl. You can do this by hand with a fork (mash then beat it really well until you can no longer see any powdered sugar and it's light and fluffy) or with an electric hand mixer. Mix together until fluffy.
- Add the lavender flowers and lemon zest and stir to combine.
- Sieve in the flour and mix by hand until everything is combined. I start by mashing in the flour with a fork then stir together with a spoon at the end a bit. Do not over mix or use electric beaters here.Too much mixing will affect the texture of the finished shortbread.
- Add the milk only if you need to to bring the dough together. The dough should be slightly crumbly but hold together if you squeeze it together in your hand. The drier you can get away with keeping the dough and the less you handle it, the better the texture of your shortbread.
- Lightly dust a surface with flour and shape your dough gently into a ball. Roll out to about 3 - 4 mm thick then use a cookie cutter or mason jar lid to cut into shapes. The amount of cookies you get will depend on the size of your cookie cutter
- Place the cut cookies gently on the prepared cookie sheet, sprinkle with a little granulated sugar then refrigerate for at least 15 minutes until firm.
- Remove from the fridge and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.They will start turning a little golden around the edges when done but will still feel soft in the middle. They will crisp up as they cool. Everyones oven is different so time will vary slightly for everyone.
- Leave the cookies on the baking tray for a couple of minutes then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Unlike some cookies these are best eaten when completely cooled so be patient!
NOTES
- Uncooked: Make the cookies as directed and lay them out on a lined baking tray. Place the entire tray uncovered into your freezer. As soon as the cookies are solid you can remove them from the tray and place in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Bake as directed but add on an extra 2 minutes cooking time.
- Cooked: Place the cookies on a baking sheet and freeze until solid (this will prevent them from sticking to each other in the freezer). Then place in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag with parchment paper between any layers. Freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw cookies, place on a wire rack and let stand at room temperature for about an hour.
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Adi says
Thank you so much for this recipe! I love it so much and can't wait to make it again.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Adi. I'm so pleased you enjoyed it!
Mei-Belle Sun says
Hi! Is there any way to make this without the lavender or lemon? I just need a good vegan shortbread recipe that does not use vegan butter and this one seems perfect!
A Virtual Vegan says
Yes just omit it and it will be fine!
AM says
I love lemon and shortbread cookies are my favorite so i wanted to try these out. I brought these to a cookie exchange where I have a vegan friend. These cookies amazed everyone there. Just saying “lemon lavender” makes these sound extraordinary, the smell is beyond amazing, and the cookie was perfectly crunchy, slightly salty (love hem that way), and delicious. Thank you so much for the recipe. I couldn’t get the dough to stick well without the liquid but instead of adding the vegan milk, I personally added about two tablespoons or so lemon juice, one squeeze at a time, and this might have given them an extra lemony flavor. Thank you again! These will be my go to cookie recipe for tea time, Christmas, and beyond! Love!
A Virtual Vegan says
Yay! So glad you enjoyed them. Thank you!
Ginny says
fantastic shortbread, vegan or not!
Gin says
Anyone tried this using real butter?
Ginx says
I am newly vegan (one month) and have always baked. I am known for my lavender cookies. So, I looked with interest at your recipe.
I actually put the dough into a shortbread pan and cooked it about 14 minutes. I cooled it 10 minutes and turned it out onto a board to gently score for easier cutting when completely cool. This was tasty.
It would be great if you could come up with a recipe that does not require coconut oil. That stuff is as bad for you as butter or lard! See https://nutritionfacts.org/video/what-about-coconuts-coconut-milk-and-coconut-oil-mcts/
Thanks for the recipe!
REBECCA PLATT says
This cannot be a shortbread cookie without butter. Is the coconut oil supposed to substitute for the butter.? One of the comments mentioned the "butter" flavor which is why I am asking. I am very skeptical of this recipe because of its very few ingredients so wanted to double check that this recipe is correct.
Have you made them more than once?
Thanks.
Tasha Rapkin says
I just made these. They're incredible. Crunchy, buttery, delicious. Thank you for making my night extra nice!
A Virtual Vegan says
That's awesome! I am thrilled you enjoyed them so much. Enjoy the rest of your evening!
Kaylyn Van As says
Just baked these lemon lavender shortbread cookies. They really did bake well, and I am so happy to know that I can bake vegan shortbread cookies now! Here in South Africa we don't have the same brand of powdered sugar (that I know of), so I had to use a different one which resulted in these lacking sweetness. Perhaps I should double the amount of sugar next time.
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm glad they baked up well. If you have a blender you could make your own powdered sugar just by blending up regular granulated sugar until it is a fine powder. You might get away with doubling the sugar but it could affect the texture, especially as the dough would end up drier so you would more than likely need more liquid to bring it together. They would probably also brown a lot more quickly so if you do, keep a careful eye on them.
Kaylyn Van As says
Thank you for the tips! I'll definitely give it a go again. My mother loves them :D
Allie says
I made these last night, and they turned out pretty tasty! I used (relatively) fresh lavender, which made the lavender profile a little too intense for my taste; if I were to do it again, I'd cut the amount I used down by about 1/2. That was my bad though, I didn't read the recipe notes at the end. The hint of lemon was very nice and the texture came out just right. When the dough was too dry, I cut it with a little lemon juice instead of milk to punch up the citrusy flavor. My only qualm is that my recipe made exactly half of the 20 suggested servings. I wish I could have made more!
Steff Dembo says
Thank you for this lovely recipe! I am enjoying your site and although a newcomer here, have already found many recipes to share on Pinterest and Facebook.. just love the clean recipes and with quite a few vegetarians in my family, they are so helpful and fresh! I am all the way down in South Africa, but as we have a very colonial history, I identify with a lot of your recipes.. as we too have an Indian influence here and curry and spice are part of our everyday life! Keep up the good work Mel.. and thank you once again.
Jami says
These look wonderful! I can't wait to try them.
Do you know if coconut flour would work in place of regular flour? My husband has a wheat allergy.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Jami. Coconut flour definitely will not work for this recipe.
Leah says
When you use the coconut oil. Is it in liquid form?
A Virtual Vegan says
No it needs to be solid in this recipe :)
Brianna says
The lemon/lavender flavour was really nice. But I found the cookie itself to be a little bland. I quite like desserts that aren't sweet, but I feel like these wouldn't be popular for entertaining for that reason.
Diem says
So glad I pinned this recipe. Made it tonight and it was a hit! Only downside is, it doesn't make a big batch. Will be making more :P I also added more lavender because it didn't seem enough when I rolled it out. Very easy to make! Thank you for the recipe. Oh, I also kind of melted the coconut oil while mixing by mixing it on the warm stove.
Sally Phillipson says
I have just made these, a very easy recipe and with practice I can only improve. Most delicious and delightful!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thanks so much for the feedback Sally. I am so glad you enjoyed them!