Lemon Zest and Lavender Drop Cookies

Flecks of yellow lemon zest pair with tiny purple lavender flowers in these distinctive drop cookies.

The lemon adds tartness to the sugary dough and a bit of chewiness to the texture of the finished cookies. The dried lavender adds peppery spice and crackle. The combination is fun and full of flavor, yet it's not overpowering.

Culinary lavender and lemon zest may not be everyday ingredients, but the process is simple: If you can make any other kind of homemade cookie, you can make these lavender cookies.

Ingredients

• 1 c butter
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  
• 2 1/2 cups of flour
• Zest of one Meyer lemon
• 1 tablespoon of culinary lavender
  
  

• Large mixing bowl
• Fork, spoon or whisk for mixing
  
• Measuring cups and measuring spoons
• Baking sheet
• Oven
• Lemon zester or fine grater
• Metal spatula for removing the cookies from the baking sheet
• Optional: cooling rack
• Optional: kitchen timer
  

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Zest the lemon and set the grated peel aside.
   
3. Cream the butter and the sugar together in the large mixing bowl.
   
4. Add the egg and the vanilla. Beat in these ingredients thoroughly.
5. Stir in the flour.
6. Add the lemon zest and the lavender.
7. Break off small balls of the cookie dough and drop them onto the baking sheet.
   
8. Slightly flatten the drop cookies with your fingers, then put them in the preheated oven.
9. Bake the cookies for about 8 minutes.
   
10. Gently remove the cookies from the baking sheet and allow them to cool.
    
    

Variations

• Skip the lemon: If you are merely looking to taste test the flavor of culinary lavender in a cookie, there's no need to include the lemon zest.
• Use a cookie press: If you would like something more elegant than a drop cookie, try putting this cookie dough in a cookie press. A flower-inspired cookie press shape would be very fitting.
• Top the drop cookies with lemon frosting: Use the juice from the zested to make homemade lemon frosting. Squeeze the juice into a small bowl and stir in powdered sugar until the mixture is thick like poster paint. Use a small brush or spoon to dab in the tops of the cooled drop cookies.