Lavender Love

I have lately become a little obsessed with lavender.  Lavender in food, specifically.

My interest was sparked when I stumbled across a recipe for lavender lemonade on Pinterest, and fully ignited when I discovered that this fabulous new grocery store, Fresh Thyme Farmer's Market, had dried lavender flowers available for purchase.  I had looked briefly online, but anything was in too great of quantity for my experimental interest, and none of my other local grocery stores had it among their seasonings or spices.

Finding myself with some free time the other day, I decided to try out Lavender Lemonade.  I used this recipe to make the lavender syrup, and was delighted with the results.  It is naturally a golden color, due to the half cup of honey, but I added in a (wee bit too much) purple dye for fun.

Having prepared a nice pint sized jar of lavender syrup, I decided to try out the Lavender-Honey Iced Latte  (the same recipe where I found the lavender syrup).  I quickly brewed up a concentrated coffee in my French Press, and while that was cooling off to an Iced Latte temperature, there was this recipe for Lavender Shortbread Cookies that I knew I had to try.

The cookies took just a little bit of time, with the thirty minutes of refrigeration, but were very simple and easy to make. Lavender can be somewhat overpowering in large quantities, but in small amounts for baking the scent is full of summer and cheerfulness.  I did get a few raised eyebrows from my family at the "putting flowers in cookies", but I think we've all agreed that the end result has a subtle enough flavor to be unique and quite tasty.

Next on my lavender list... Lavender Cupcakes with Honey Frosting, and Chocolate Lavender Cake with Earl Grey Frosting!