Lavender and Almond Biscuits

Lavender is one of those herbs that we adore but that does give us challenges to grow in Queensland summers. The French and Tasmanians on the other handlavender grow it profusely with chill winters and hot, dry summers. Add a little lime or dolomite to your soil annually to help grow your own bush.

If you do have a supply of freshly grown organic lavender flowers, whip up a batch of these delicate lavender biscuits for a special treat. Choose Lavender intermedia or L. dentata species that are less bitter and safer to eat. We only use a tiny quantity in this recipe, just en
ough to lightly flavour the biscuit. They were a popular morning tea bikkie at the Herb Gardens Galore workshops.

Each spike of flowers is made up of hundreds of tiny flowers. We crumble these off the spike for these biscuits. Dried or fresh flowers are fine to use. I like the flavour of the L . dentata best but you can use most types. Avoid L. allardii and L. stoechas as they tend to be bitter because of higher Linool and camphor levels.

Ingredients:

175grams butter
75grams caster sugar
175 grams plain flour
25 almond meal
Pinch salt
3 teaspoons organically grown lavender flowers, rubbed off the spike

Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add sifted flour, salt, almond meal and lavender flowers. Mix through with beaters on very slow speed until it all clumps together.

Pinch up teaspoonfuls and roll into small balls. Sit on a tray lined with baking paper and then flatten them with a fork or your fingers. Sprinkle the top of each biscuit with a few tiny lavender flowers. Bake at 160C for 20 minutes until lightly golden