Lavender Cookies

Spring is here!

Although for me, who lived most of my life in the northern hemisphere, October is synonymous of Autumn ... Spring is here! Swallows are already making their nests on the roofs, the trees are blooming, the weather is mild and I'm trying to overcome my seasonal confusion, cooking.

What about baking some small cookies with flowers ... Lavender Flowers?

Lavender is a plant natural from the Mediterranean and its use by man in cosmetics and medicine is historic. In the kitchen you can add lavender to both meat and fish dishes as well  as to sweets. Cultivated largely in Provence, is, along with hyssop, oregano, basil, rosemary, sage, thyme and fennel, one of the herbs of Provence.

With spring as inspiration, I adapted a recipe from the book 200 Recipes for Cakes and Biscuits, to create these fragrant flowers and butterflies cookies.

Ingredients:

100 g butter

2 eggs

175 g of wheat flour

25 g of rice flour

100g of demerara sugar

1/2 tablespoon of baking powder

1 tablespoon of lavender flowers (for food purposes)

Mix the flour and baking powder. Add butter, it should be at room temperature, and crumble until is well incorporated with the flour. Add lightly beaten eggs and sugar, mixing well. Finally add the lavender flowers. Extend the dough in a floured surface with the help of a rolling pin. Cut the biscuits with a cutter of your choice (in this case I used small cutters in the shape of flowers and butterflies). Bring to bake in oven at 180 º C on trays lined with parchment paper. When the cookies edges are lightly browned remove from oven for. Leave to cool in the tray for a few minutes and then move to a rack to cool completely before storing.

Bon Apetit!

Coconut and Passion Fruit Cookies

Today I bring some cookies that combine the holiday season with the tropical spirit of Brazil: coconut and passion fruit flowers!

The combination of coconut and passion fruit is very pleasant  and the passion fruit icing was quite a nice surprise. In fact, usually I just make simple cookies, but in this post I wanted to make something special, where the sugar was the star and the acid tang of the passion fruit pulp cuts any excessive sweetness that the icing may bring!

Ingredients:

150 g sugar

1 egg

100 g butter

300 g flour

1 tbsp baking powder

60 g grated coconut (unsweetened)

4 tsp passion fruit pulp

175 g icing sugar

2 tbsp passion fruit pulp

About 20 minutes before starting the preparation of the recipe, put all ingredients at room temperature. Prepare the passion fruit pulp, removing the pulp inside the fruit and process it in the blender, after which it must be strained to separate the seeds. If using sour passion fruit (big and yellow) one fruit would be enough. If using the sweet passion fruit (small and purple), will be needed two or three fruits.

In a large bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder, sugar and grated coconut. Break the butter into cubes and crumble along with the solid ingredients until you have a homogeneous mixture. beat the egg and add it the passion fruit pulp. Add it to the mixture and mix well, until became a smooth dough. Cover the bowl with film and store in the fridge for one hour. Then extend and cut the biscuits with the cutter of your choosing. Bake them in the middle zone of the oven on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. remove when they are slightly gold and cool on a rack. prepare the icing by mixing the icing sugar with the passion fruit pulp, stirring vigorously until it forms a thick cream. Spread on the cookies and let dry.

These cookies are delicious to give as a present or just to have at home to your family or friends, or to ourselves whenever we need something sweet!

Just let me which you a happy 2012 full of sweet moments!