Salted White Chocolate Lavender Cookies
Cookies might just be my favorite thing to make.
I’ve said many times that baking is my de-stressor, but that is especially true for baking cookies. There’s just something so therapeutic about measuring out ingredients and scooping cookie dough. It’s almost a mindless task. Once you understand the way the ingredients in a cookie react with one another, and what different ratios do, it’s super easy to come up with recipes.
For instance, I wanted these cookies to be nice and chewy, so I used half butter and half shortening, added in a bit of cornstarch, and threw in an extra egg yolk—all things that contribute soft chewiness. I also wanted them to be nice and round, so I popped them in the freezer while the oven preheated (this reduces spread in the oven). If you wanted thinner, crisper cookies, you could skip the chilling, use all butter, replace the cornstarch with flour, and cook them longer. It all seems sorta complicated at first, but it starts making sense pretty quickly 🙂
I’m in love with these cookies. I had been envisioning them in my head for a while, and I think they turned out even better than I had hoped! I love the texture of the chewy cookie with the randomly-sized chunks of white chocolate, and the subtle flavoring of lavender throughout. I used a giant hunk of white chocolate that I bought at Whole Foods and chopped by hand, but you could also use the chunks that are sold in bags, or even the chips if you really wanted to.
The key to dispersing the lavender throughout the cookies is to pulverize it with the sugar in a food processor. It chops the little buds so you don’t get any chunks in your bites, and it perfumes the sugar beautifully. It’s the same technique I use for my Salted Honey Lavender Shortbread.
I know I just gave you guys a lavender recipe last week, but lavender is like my Spring pumpkin. I just can’t get enough of it. Actually, you’re lucky there hasn’t been more of it around, but I was seriously considering adding it to my Strawberry Shortcakes. In the end I kept that classic, but I can’t pretend I’m not still thinking about some sort of lavender-y shortcake (maybe with blueberries?).
But, bottom line, these cookies are freakin’ tasty. You will love them (I think! I did!). Eat them with tea or coffee. Make an ice cream sandwich with them (might I suggest my Honey Poppyseed Frozen Yogurt). Dip them in milk. Do whatever! They’re salty-sweet perfection—the best kind 😉
PrintSalted White Chocolate Lavender Cookies
Yield: 20-22 cookies
Ingredients:
- 2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 tsp lavender
- 8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 6 tbsp vegetable shortening
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- 6 oz. white chocolate chunks (about 1 and 1/2 cups)
- sea salt, for sprinkling
Directions:
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- In a food processor, process the sugar and lavender for about 10-20 seconds until the lavender is chopped into pretty tiny pieces, and sugar starts billowing like smoke up pout of the top of the processor.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, shortening, and lavender sugar at medium-high speed for 3 minutes. Add in the egg and egg yolk and beat for 3 more minutes until fluffy. Add in the flour mixture and the chocolate and beat on low until combined.
- Using a large (3 tablespoon-sized) cookie scoop, scoop the dough onto silicone baking mat (or parchment paper)-lined baking sheets an inch or two apart. Place the tray in the freezer.
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. When the oven has finished preheating, take the dough out of the freezer and bake for 12 minutes. It should look a little underdone when you take it out. Immediately sprinkle each cookie with a small pinch of sea salt (and extra lavender, if you want).
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheets before moving to a wire baking rack to cool completely.
