Picture this: It’s a hot summer day in central Italy, the cicadas are singing, there’s a soft breeze wafting through the olive trees all around you, bumble bees and butterflies buzzing in the lavender bushes. That familiar scent of lavender makes its way into your kitchen. What do you do?

Hint: There’s only one right answer here. Make lavender biscuits, of course! What else??

David and I were literally MELTING under the Umbrian sun in the middle of July in our camper-van. Baking probably didn’t help either, but these cookies most definitely made us feel like we were floating in heaven.

You don’t necessarily need fresh lavender on hand. Dried also works just fine, you might just need to add extra depending on how fragrant the buds you’re using are. Give them a good squeeze to allow the oils to escape before mixing them with the rest of the ingredients.

I used a plant based butter for this recipe — but most important is that which ever butter you use, you choose a butter block, NOT spreadable butter. I actually have tried this same recipe combining solid butter and spreadable butter, it can work but they will require more time in the freezer prior to baking, and they will turn out more like soft cookies, rather than biscuits– still delicious but a different experience.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour 
• 1 cup butter (not melted, solid but room temperature)
• 1 cup white granulated sugar 
• 4 tsp lavender + more to taste
• 4 tsp lemon zest 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt 

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 165°C
2. Mix flour + salt in a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, cream together butter + sugar. 
4. Add vanilla, lavender + lemon to the butter mixture.
5. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.
6. Roll into a cylinder of approximately 5 cm wide.
7. Refrigerate the rolls for about 30 minutes to allow it to get firm.
8. Cut the cylinder into 1 cm thick slices.
9. Put the slices into the freezer for about 15 minutes.
10. Bake 12-14 mins until golden brown on the edges.

These biscuits will drift you right back to the heart of summer… And who couldn’t use a little extra sunshine and lavender in their life right now?