Shortbread lavender cookies

Christmas is coming, I hear. I'm not saying another word, but I truly hope you've been good this year.

I felt like baking something festive and since I have an impressive amount of dried lavender (I have nice neighbors, what can I say?) just waiting to be used, I thought what the heck, let's live dangerously! After countless hours (more like 10 minutes or so) of online research my mind was made: shortbread lavender it is.

Ingredients:

350 grams (1 1/2 cup) room temperature butter

130 grams (2/3 cups) fine sugar

25 grams (1/4 cup) powder sugar

20 (2 tbsp) grams dried lavender

5 grams (1 tsp) lemon zest

400 grams (3 1/4 cups) flour

pinch of salt

Directions:

Chop the lavender or use a coffee grinder to get it to a fine consistency. Sift the flour, set aside.

Cream the butter, caster sugar and salt in a mixer until light and fluffy. Add the lavender and mix to incorporate.

Slowly add the flour and mix well. Mixing is complete when there are no visible lumps of butter in the dough.

Form the dough into a disk (or two, if you want it to cool faster), wrap it in plastic, and chill it in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Preheat you oven to 180ºC (350ºF) and place rack in center.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to 3/4 cm (1/4-inch) thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut the dough into the desired shape and (using a spatula or a wide blade knife) transfer the cookies to a baking pan lined with parchment paper.

Roll the excess dough into a ball and repeat the process until you have used it all.

Bake for about 15 minutes until pale and barely golden, then remove from oven and cool completely before serving.

Peanut butter cookies

When I have first tasted peanut butter I was absolutely grossed out. I still don't like it as is, but when it comes to peanut butter cookies, well, things change. I believe that if you grow up accustomed to certain flavors, you are most likely to accept and like them as a grown up, but it takes tame to accept (or even like in the end) new flavors, new ingredients, new combinations. That's me and peanut butter. Peanut butter cookies – good. Peanut butter without cookies – not so good.

Ingredients:

200 g unsalted butter

200 g superfine sugar

1 large egg

200 g peanut butter. Creamy or crunchy, as you wish.

350 g flour

5 g baking powder

pinch of salt

Directions:

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, for about 3 minutes. Add the egg and peanut butter, beat until well blended. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

Place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes and in the meantime preheat you oven to 180 ºC (350 ºF).

Shape dough into 2,5 cm (1 inch) balls, place balls on a baking sheet about 5 cm apart (2 inches). Make a crisscross patter using a fork, or, even better, use the meat hammer (meat tenderizer). You may consider yourself especially lucky if the pounding surface is round and large, enabling you to get an even pattern and the job done much quicker. Who's the mother of all cookies now? You, of course.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Notes:

If you don't have superfine (caster) sugar, you can make your own. Place granulated sugar in a food processor or coffee grinder and pulse until it reaches a super-fine, but not powdery consistency.

When making the pattern on the cookies, try to use a meat hammer instead of a fork. It's quicker and the pattern will look better.