Lavender is the star ingredient in these melt-in-the-mouth biscuits. If you've never tried lavender, It’s a bit of a cross between rose petals and rosemary with elements of citrus and fresh mint. It has a fresh and light taste, which goes beautifully with the zesty lemon curd. Perfect with tea or weekend brunch, these deliciously aromatic and delicate biscuits can be made in less than 30 minutes.
These biscuits are made with a few simple ingredients and are delicately flavoured with dried lavender and filled with lemon curd. I’m sure many of you have used lavender fragranced cosmetics, but have you ever tried adding it your baking? If you haven’t, you’re missing out! When used in cakes and biscuits, dried lavender adds a lovely floral aroma and subtle earthy flavour like mint. If you’ve haven’t tried lavender before, then this recipe is a good place to start. I’ve used enough lavender to give the biscuits a subtle lavender aroma and flavour which is beautifully balanced out by the zesty lemon curd.
Why you'll Love these Lemon and Lavender Biscuits
They’re crisp outside and buttery soft inside
They're bursting with delicious citrusy and floral flavour
They're completely vegan
You won’t need any fancy baking equipment
They’re ready in around 30 minutes!
Where can I find Lavender?
Lavender is a species of plants in the mint family and can found throughout the UK from late June until mid August. Dried culinary lavender can be purchased from most health food stores, or you can purchase potted lavender from garden centres. There are also beautiful lavender fields throughout the UK where you can harvest fresh lavender.
Ingredients for Lavender and Lemon Biscuits
Flour - you'll need all-purpose flour to make these biscuits.
Caster Sugar - Caster sugar dissolves quicker in the dough so this is what I use for most of my baking recipes, but you could use granulated white sugar instead. I wouldn’t suggest using any type of brown sugar as it’ll darken the colour of the biscuits.
Vegan block butter - I used the Flora vegan butter block, but any plant-based butter will do. using a block butter will give the biscuits a light and crumbly texture. I wouldn’t recommend margarine as it won’t create the same outcome.
Oil - You'll need 2 tsp of vegetable oil or any other neutral tasting oil will do.
Lavender - You'll need some dried, food grade lavender for this recipe. Lavender can found throughout the UK from late June until mid August. Dried culinary lavender can be purchased from most health food stores, or you can purchase potted lavender from garden centres. If you're using fresh lavender, you will need to dry it for 3-4 days.
Lemon curd - You'll need 2-3 tbsp of homemade of shop-bought vegan lemon curd.
How To Make Lemon and Lavender Biscuits
STEP 1:
Preheat the oven 180C. Put the flour, lavender, butter, and sugar into a mixing bowl. Use your hands to combine the ingredients until it resembles breadcrumbs, then add the oil and water and knead until it comes together as a dough.
STEP 2:
Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to ½ cm thickness. Cut out your biscuits using a 6cm flower-shaped cookie cutter. You will need 12 base biscuits and 12 top biscuits, with small holes or flowers of around 3cm cut out of them. Re-roll the off-cuts of dough and continue cutting until all the dough used. Arrange on 2 baking sheets lined with baking parchment and leave to cool in the fridge for 5 minutes.
STEP 3:
Place in the oven to bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove the biscuits from the oven and leave them to cool on the tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool down completely.
STEP 4:
When cooled, spread about 1/2 tsp lemon curd on the bottom biscuit and top with another biscuit, sandwiching them together.
What you'll need
5cm cookie cutter - this will create around 10 -12 biscuits; you could use a larger cookie cutter but you’ll get less biscuits out of the dough.
A rolling pin to roll the dough out
How to store Lemon and Lavender Biscuits
Store the biscuits in an airtight container and they’ll stay good for up to 3 days at room temperature. These biscuits are not suitable for freezing once they’ve been baked, however, you can freeze the dough for up to a month, and then once you’re ready to use it, simply defrost it, shape the biscuits and bake.
Tips for making these Biscuits
Make sure to use chilled butter when making the dough. I used the unsalted Flora plant butter block, which is one of my favourite vegan butters. The Naturli vegan butter block also works well in vegan baking.
Alternatives: This shortbread recipe is a great base for any flavour shortbread biscuit. If you’re unable to find lavender or you prefer not to use it, you can try adding some vanilla, lemon zest or rose water instead.
Don’t lift the biscuits off the baking tray when you take them out of the oven - these biscuits will feel very soft even after baking, so don’t let that fool you into thinking they’re undercooked. They’ll harden as they cool down, but if you try to move them when they’re fresh out the oven, I can guarantee they’ll break, so make sure you let them cool down on the baking tray for 5 minutes or so before transferring them to a wire rack.