Thursday, May 19, 2011

Lavender Cookies - Arusuvai Friendship Chain

Lavender1

As I have said in my previous post, I have made a lot of friends through this little space of mine. What just started as commenting on each others post went on to sending emails, exchanging phone numbers, visiting each other etc.. Now I proudly call a lot of them as my good friends for life time :)

One other interesting way to keep in touch and know more food bloggers was through what is called as "Arusuvai Friendship chain". The large gang of Indian food bloggers have formed this chain in which one would receive a secret ingredient from another :) Isn't that sounding super exciting!!!

Sayantani restarted the Arusuvai chain in November I guess and it has reached me now. Its quite a long time since I received my package from the super blogger Bombay Foodie. Simran was too sweet to send me a very rarely found ingredient in India - the Lavender. She also sent me a very touching letter and few tartlet molds as a gift :) Thanks you so much dear and hugs to you :)

Lavender

Though I could identify the ingredient, I found it hard to get a perfect fool proof recipe to make. I really wanted it to come out perfectly since the ingredient was close to impossible to get additional or again just in case something goes wrong. :(

Extensive googling and suggestions from friends did help me to know more about the ingredient but somehow I managed to incorporate it in a totally different recipe. The cookies were so good and linzer cookies were so attractive to all. The flavor and smell of the lavender were so so so damn good :)

Lavender2

Lavender Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:

All purpose flour(Maida) - 1 1/2 cups (300 gms)
Powdered sugar - 1 cup (200 gms)
Unsalted Butter - 1/2 cup (100 gms)
Almond powder - 100 gms
Dried Lavender - 1 tblsp
Salt - a pinch
Milk - 2 tblsp

Lavender8

Method:

In a bowl mix the lavender petals with the sugar thoroughly. If you are powdering sugar, just drop in the lavender and pulse it along with the sugar.

Chop the butter into chunks and beat it with the sugar lavender mixture.

Now add the all purpose flour, salt and almond powder to it and mix well until everything comes together.

If you find the dough dry and crumbly, add 2 tsp of milk and mix well until it forms a soft dough.

Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for half an hour.

Flour the work surface and roll the dough into a 1/4 inch thick sheet. Use cutters of your choice to cut out shapes. Place the cut cookies on the lined baking tray.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the tray with cookies in and bake for 12-15 minutes, watching closely so that they don’t get too brown. 12 minutes did is perfectly in my convection oven.

Enjoy the strong lavender aroma while baking :)

This quantity would make around 30 round shaped cookies.

Happy eating :)

Lavender5

To make Linzer cookies:

You will need one large cookie cutter and one small cutter of same shape and some jam.

Roll the dough and using a 2 to 3 inch cookie cutter (round, square, heart, etc.) cut out the dough. Place the cookies about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. Use a smaller cookie cutter (1 inch) to cut out the centers of half of the cookies on the baking sheet.

You will be sandwiching two cookies together and there will be a small window in the top cookie so you can see the jam underneath.

Bake the cookies as said above.

Meanwhile take the jam(I used black current) in a sauce pan and heat in low flame until it becomes slightly thick.

To assemble - place the cookies with holes on a plate and dust some powdered sugar over it.

Apply 1/2 tsp of the jam on top the base cookies and sandwich it with the sugar coated cookies.

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Tips:

The cookies are crisp and apt for tea time.

While making linzer cookies, its best to assemble them just on the day of serving so that it doesn't lose its crispness.

Lavender4

I'm happy to send this post as an entry to Food Palette purple event :)



Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

39 comments:

shriannalakshmi said...

Irresistable cookies Nithya!Presentation is excellent.Thanks for the recipe.

Sanctified Spaces said...

Oh my perfect cute cookies.Simran must be so happy how this turned out.

Kurinji said...

Wow so inviting and yummy cookies. Can't take eyes from the clicks.
Kurinjikathambam

Rumana Rawat said...

Simply superb and very very beautiful:)

My Kitchen Antics said...

ooh that last pic is beautiful..i once went 2 a lavender field and it was soo pretty, not to mention the glorious fragrance..
i also ahve a plant at home, so when its in season il keep these cookies in mind and make them

Raks said...

The heart shaped cookies is looking great and sure the lavender cookies would taste out of the world! Lovely clicks Nits :)

Divya Kudua said...

Love the heart shaped cookies!

Hari Chandana P said...

Wowwwwwww.. looks so cute and perfect.. thanks for sharing !!
Indian Cuisine

Sanjana said...

Stunning photos and recipe, Nithya. They remind me of the Jammy Dodger biscuits I used to eat when I was little.

Jeyashris Kitchen said...

fantastically made and neatly presented cookies..gorgeous cookies and i could imagine the smell of the lavender seeds inthe cookies

Unknown said...

I havent tasted the flavour of lavendar...but the look of ur cookies make me crave for some now :) The heart shape has come out soo good....very tempting clicks

Suja Manoj said...

Delicious and beautiful cookies..superb

KrithisKitchen said...

Fabulous! lovely lovely... so very beautiful...
http://krithiskitchen.blogspot.com

Anuradha said...

Oh my god!!! Amazing cookies! I double, triple like the crystal clear pics! It looks like its already inside my mouth. Super duper lady!!!

Kalyani said...

wow lovely presentation ...... looks so tempting cookies ......

Radhika said...

superb Nithi. You have excelled with the heart shapes I must say.

Sunanda said...

Your heart shaped cookies anr truely delectable. Awesome presentation..
Sunanda's Kitchen

Saranya said...

A big wooooooooooow and an excellent ,extraordinary talented girl u are: -) keep rocking Nithi...:)

Unknown said...

wow, a great job with lavender cookies. I absolutely adore your lavender setup for pics :)

Plateful said...

It's so cool to have a blogger friendship chain! I've seen lavender in some specialist stores here but didn't know what to do with them...next time I know better :) The pictures are a beauty, especially loved the linzer cookies!

Hamaree Rasoi said...

The heart shaped cookies look wonderfully delicious and mouthwatering. Great clicks as well. If Chennai Super Kings win the IPL, would you parcel me these cookies? :)

Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi

Nisa Homey said...

Great job!!! and cant takes my eyes off from the heart shaped cookies....lovely clicks as usual...

Bombay Foodie said...

These are some seriously gorgeous cookies. Glad to know you enjoyed baking with my chosen ingredient!

Vimitha Durai said...

Gorgeous and yummy looking cookies... Nice clicks...

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

gorgeous pictures...lovely recipe. so glad that you got this new ingredient to cook with. great post Nithya

Priya Suresh said...

Prefect,cute,adorable and irresistible cookies, love lavander flavoured bakes...stunning clicks..

Panchpakwan said...

Wow so addictive cookies..beatiful presentation.

Vaishali Sharma said...

Beautiful Lavender Cookies! They look amazingly delicious and stunning.

Swathi said...

Lavender cookies looks awesome. Nice clicks as usual.

Nitha said...

wow.. great job.. lovely clicks...

Shylaja said...

Awesome clicks. Love all the props you used. Irresistible cookies
South Indian Recipes

Gauri Trivedi said...

Your presentation takes the cake ( i mean cookie !)

VineelaSiva said...

Wow the cookies are very lovely dear.U r great in clicks.I really love ur clicks.

Sravs said...

wow very tempting and cute cookies !! Awesome clicks !! very well presented !!

Taste Melanger said...

Hi been following your blog for a while now, but somehow always forgot to "follow" it. Doing it now...do check out my space as well www.tastejunction.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

Lavender is my new love! gosh they are so pretty and vibrant post!!

Aarthi said...

you have a lovely blog...I am having a giveaway in my blog..Y dont you check and join that
http://yummytummy-aarthi.blogspot.com/2011/05/chocolate-recipe-and-chocolate.html

Torviewtoronto said...

thank you for linking this delicious looking cookies lovely pictures wasn't sure which one to pick :)
they look fabulous
http://torviewtoronto.blogspot.com/2011/05/food-palette-series-purple.html

Janani said...

Heart shape cookies looks sooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute.

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