These glazed Lemon Lavender Cookies are made for any lavender lover's dream! Made with freshly squeezed lemon juice and zest for the ultimate floral spring cookie.
These cookies are perfect to have with a cup of tea. I highly recommend a cup of earl grey. The bergamot compliments the zesty lemon and earthy lavender so well!
If you've always wanted to cook with lavender look no further! This recipe is easy to make and will get the culinary creative wheels spinnin'.
Cooking and baking with fresh herbs and edible flowers is something I love. I don't do it often, but when I do there's some extra note of lavishness that I love!
Ingredients
Of course, the main stars are lemon and lavender. The way I get the lavender flavor incorporated is by cutting it in with the sugar. A food processor does a good job of helping the oils release from the buds and zest.
When you pulse it for a bit, you'll get the most fragrant aroma ever! The cookies will truly taste just like the aroma, so if you want more lavender this would be the time to add it.
The recipe is like a cross between a butter and sugar cookie. You get the moist sugar cookie part and the airy, soft part of a butter cookie.
Essentially, you'll cream the butter and sugar together, add the liquid ingredients and mix it into the dry ingredients.
To give the dough more firmness, I refrigerate it for at least 2 hours before baking. The dough will hold its shape as it bakes and not spread out. So know whatever shape you put the dough in the oven you will get as a cookie when it's done baking!
When the cookies are done baking, I definitely recommend the flavorful glaze recipe. It's got fresh lemon juice and homemade lavender syrup so you get the best of both worlds.
If you've never made a homemade syrup, it's super easy! I go through all the steps with pictures in my lavender latte post. Since you'll have extra lavender syrup leftover, save it for a hot latte the next time you need a hot coffee beverage!
Fresh Lavender
I believe the key to these cookies is picking a good lavender. You want the buds to be aromatic so that the floral notes come out through the cookie.
There are three types of lavender: French, Spanish and English and they all got their own special traits! As you can probably tell, I'm a big lavender fan 🙂
In fact, I went to a lavender farm in Hawaii because how does one not pass that up? It was paradise if you ask me!
For the recipe, I wanted to find lavender buds that weren't too dried out they lost their color. I've noticed this happens a lot when I buy lavender; the buds are more of a grey/brown color rather than a beautiful blue/purple hue.
So, I did a lot of searching and chose a small company that truly delivered! The brand is called Lavande Sur Terre. The buds are super fragrant and absolutely beautiful!
This post isn't sponsored by them, but I felt excited to finally find a brand that sells colorful lavender buds and had to share their amazing product!
Steps
To start, I like to get the dry ingredients together first in a large mixing bowl. Then I move on to the sugar and cut in the zest and lavender buds.
I cream the butter and sugar together until nice and fluffy and then add in the wet ingredients. Lastly, add the dry ingredients in two batches and you got dough!
Refrigerate it for 2 hours before baking. I roll the dough into balls and flatten it between my palms to get nice flat circles. The dough is raised about ½ inch off the baking sheet.
You could use a cookie press gun to get perfect circles or to press fun shapes and designs into them!
They'll bake for just 10-12 minutes - not long at all before they're ready to melt in your mouth! But before you indulge just take 5 minutes to make the icing - so worth it!
Recipe Tips and FAQs
Yes! I've refrigerated the dough overnight and had no problems baking the cookies the next day. I wouldn't do longer than that but overnight is just fine. Just make sure to tightly wrap the dough so that it doesn't dry out.
Add ½-1 tablespoon milk in its place. Add a small amount until you reach your desired consistency.
Glazed Lemon Lavender Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon dried lavender buds
- zest of 1 lemon
- ½ cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 1 egg (room temperature)
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Lemon Lavender Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar (sifted)
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lavender syrup
Instructions
Cookies
- Take the butter and egg out 30 minutes to an hour prior to starting the recipe to allow them to come to room temperature.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
- In a food processor, blend the sugar, lavender buds and lemon zest together until fragrant.
- Beat the butter and sugar mixture until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg, lemon juice and vanilla extract to the butter and sugar and mix to incorporate.
- In two batches add the flour mixture until dough forms.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
- When ready to bake the cookies preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Roll the dough into balls and flaten between your hands to get a flat circle about ½ inch in height. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.
Lemon Lavender Glaze
- Using a fork or whisk, mix the sifted powdered sugar, melted butter, lemon juice and lavender syrup together.
- Spoon onto the cooled cookies and top with extra lavender buds.
Notes
- If you want perfect circles, you can roll the dough into logs before refrigerating and then slice before baking or use a cookie press gun to get the desired shape.
- Whatever shape you make the dough, know it will hold it. So, if you roll the dough in balls and bake them, they won't flatten out.
- If you need to substitute the lavender syrup in the glaze, add ½-1 tablespoon milk in its place. Add a small amount until you reach your desired consistency.
Nutrition
(Nutrition values are calculated by third-party software and an estimate that can vary based on product brands and cooking methods.)
Linda
I didn't have lemon so I used lime juice and zest; love the tang from the lime. At first I thought I wouldn't use the glaze, but after they were baked and tasted, I decided the glaze would add to the cookies. I only made half of the glaze and didn't quite use it all. Delicious and different from the usual. Since I made the lavender simple syrup I'm going to try a lavender latte tomorrow.
Monica Nedeff
Love the fun change up with lime! Thanks for sharing, Linda! Hope you enjoy the lavender latte 🙂
Marie
Will the baked cookies (unfrosted) or the dough freeze well? I am looking to make several batches for teacher appreciation.
Monica Nedeff
I have used frozen cookie dough many times and have had no issues! I can't recall doing it with this recipe, but I've done it with so many other cookie recipes that yes I think it would work just fine! Freezing cookie dough usually helps cookies maintain their shape and prevents cookies from spreading, so for this particular recipe should be great! I haven't freezed the cookies after they've been baked, but I would imagine they would be okay. I would go the frozen dough route of the two if you want an opinion! Hope you enjoy!
Karen B
I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free all purpous flour. I only got 16 cookies so next time I'll make a little smaller. I used 1 drop of Young Living lavender essential oil and a tiny bit of milk for the frosting instead of lavender syrup. These were delicious!!!
Monica Nedeff
So happy to hear it, Karen! Thank you for sharing your changes and how they turned out!
Kim
Enjoyed the recipe. Really flavorful cookies and easy. Thank you!
Just a suggestion about purchasing lavender especially when using for baking… buy organic lavender if possible. I noticed that the lavender in your recipe is from China. Nope!
Monica Nedeff
Hi Kim, glad you enjoyed the recipe! Regarding getting lavender organic - that is completely personal preference. There is no significant clinical nutritional difference in conventional vs organic, and organic food can still use pesticides - they are just naturally derived pesticides. It can cost farmers a lot to get the organic certification, so many follow organic farming protocol and to keep costs down don’t get the organic certification. Of course, that is not all farmers but want to put that out there for anyone who may read this comment. Do what you are comfortable with and can afford.
Lindsay
The cookies are delightfully soft, with the right amount of sweetness and tartness. But that is a LOT of lavender! I think it might be the lavender I’m using, I got it from a local lavender farm and it smells very strong. My lavender syrup came out dark purple! I’ll make them again, but with less lavender.
Monica Nedeff
Hi Lindsay! Yes, that's most likely related to the potency of the lavender, which sounds incredible! However, you will probably want to reduce the ratios. Thanks for sharing your insight!
Lindsay
Update: I tried the cookies again the next day and the flavor was perfect. I made the cookies, lavender syrup, and icing in quick succession, so I probably had a nose full of lavender when I tasted one right after icing them. Lesson learned, either put the cookies away for the next day or make the syrup ahead of time!
Also, I did a little research and lavender grown at high altitude has a higher concentration of certain fragrance compounds. I live in Colorado and the lavender farm where I bought my culinary lavender is about five miles down the road, so that might explain why it’s so potent. Definitely try some Colorado lavender when you run out of your current batch!
Monica Nedeff
Thanks so much for the update, Lindsay! That lavender sounds divine!
Callie
Hi there! hoping to make these this weekend. 🙂 I'm hoping for a fluffy, cake-like texture, and wondering if I should sub in some cake flour (but I've actually never baked with it before!). Any thoughts?
Monica Nedeff
Hi Callie! Thanks for your question! These cookeis are a more dense tea cake cookie texture. I've never made them with cake flour, so it's hard to say if the texture would be more fluffy. Since cake flour has less protein, it may work but I can't say for sure. If you do experiment and try it out, please let us know how it goes!
Evelyn
These came out delicious! I did get nervous with the first batch in the oven that they weren’t done so I left them in a little longer than recommended and they got a tad dry so next time I won’t be so hesitant to take them out just cuz they’re pale. I had some lavender syrup to use up so I replaced the dry buds in the dough with 2 tablespoons of the syrup and it came out quite mellow, like a lemon cookie with a hint of lavender. I like that! But might add 3 tablespoons next time 🙂
Monica Nedeff
So happy to hear you enjoyed them, Evelyn! Thank you for sharing your adjustments and what you noticed. These cookies are very lavender forward, so it's nice to know how to make it more lemony in case others are interested!
Nikki
These are delicious! I have made them twice now and just shared the recipe. So yummy. And I always make extra lavender simple syrup bc it goes in my tea & lemonade. So good!
Monica Nedeff
So happy to hear how much you've enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for sharing, Nikki!
C
Very flavorful and easy to make, but wound up being quite dry. It needs the glaze 100% to balance out. I thought repeating the flavor in the glaze might be overpowering (wasn't going for punch-you-in-the-mouth lavender flavor), so I made a simple one with powdered sugar and water. That ended up being perfect for me. If you don't make a glaze, still good, but it'll be BEGGING for a cup of tea.
Monica Nedeff
Hi C, happy to hear your feedback. The cookies haven't turned out dry for me, but glad to hear you still enjoyed them with the icing!
Matt
I made these for a coworker/friend’s birthday. She shared them with other employees and they all raved about these cookies. I know have to make them for my boss’s birthday hahaha do yourself a favor and make these cookies! They’re so soft and pillowy and the icing gives them a nice zing of lemon!
Monica Nedeff
I'm so happy to hear how much you and your coworkers have enjoyed these cookies!! Thank you for the sweetest comment - made my day!
lp
i want to make these for a friend who lives far away. would they be good even without the icing? they live in florida so icing wouldn't travel well there.
maybe i could put the icing in a jar and send it along? or include the ingredients besides butter and write out the instructions so they could glaze themself?
Monica Nedeff
Hello, you could definitely send them without the glaze - they will still taste delish! Or your other ideas of sending the instruction so that they can glaze them works or sending a jar of it pre-made sounds lovely as well.
Alyssa
I cant wait to make these again this summer!!! Probably my favorite cookie ever.
Monica Nedeff
I'm so happy to hear it's become a favorite, Alyssa!! Thanks for the lovely comment and rating!
Julian
Exited to try! Making them this evening
Pam
My daughter’s birthday is coming up and she told me she loves lavender and lemon flavors. I think this would be perfect for her, except she’s lactose intolerant. Has anyone tried these using Miyoko’s vegan butter?
Monica Nedeff
I’ve never baked with vegan butter, so I can’t speak to how the consistency will be but it’s worth a shot! Hopefully, if other readers have tried it with a vegan butter they can respond with their insight. Hope your daughter enjoys them!
Elizabeth-Ann Pietracupa
Could you replace the 1/4 lemon juice in the cookies for cold infused lavender/early grey tea?
Monica Nedeff
I don't see why not! They'll have a completely different taste and color to them and most likely won't be as lemony. If you try it out, let us know how it goes!
KT
How would I use lavender extract in this recipe. I don’t have flowers.
Monica Nedeff
I’ve never made them with lavender extract, so I can’t say for sure. I’d suggest adding a smaller amount than you think necessary, maybe ½ teaspoon to the dough. If you find the cookies not as strong in lavender flavor as you hoped, I’d add 1/8 tsp to the icing or until you find the balance of lavender flavor you want – hope that helps! Would love to hear how they turn out!
Anna Nores
I loved these! They came out delicious and that lavender syrup recipe is sooo delicious as well. Thanks for sharing!!!
Monica Nedeff
Absolutely! Thanks for the comment and rating! Enjoy the syrup 🙂
Patricia
Hello, just came across this recipe. Was wondering if you can freeze these? Thank you
Monica Nedeff
Hi Patricia! You could freeze the cookies after they bake, defrost them in batches when you want a cookie and then ice them once they're fully defrosted. If you're wondering about freezing the dough, I think you'd be okay to freeze it in the little circles and then bake them from frozen. However, the time for baking will be off and probably need more time. Hope this helps!
M
This caught my eye, and came out great, I didn’t add buds to the top though. I will be making this more in the future. Thanks for sharing!
Monica Nedeff
Absolutely! Thanks for the comment – so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Ashley
Fragrant and delicious! They came out with a beautiful texture and gorgeous look. The only two things I had to improvise a bit were adding about a tablespoon of milk to the icing and the height of the dough log. Mine was pretty big (around 3 inches in height), so when I baked them, they spread a bit. I'd recommend adding the height you used to the notes, since mine only came out to be 12 cookies. Other than that, thank you for a fantastic recipe!
Monica Nedeff
Yayy!! So glad to hear you enjoyed them! Thank you for your comment and rating, Ashley!
Abeer
loved it
Monica Nedeff
Thanks for the rating, Abeer! Glad they were a hit!