Recipe - Lavender Shortbread Cookies

1 One half cup Butter (3 sticks)*
;room temperature
2/3 cup Sugar
2 tablespoon Lavender florets, chopped
1 tablespoon Fresh mint, chopped
2 1/3 cup Flour
One half cup Cornstarch
One fourth teaspoon Salt

GARNISH Lavender powdered sugar**

*No substitutes.

**To make lavender powdered sugar, put a few lavender flowers in a sealed,
pint jar of powdered sugar for a day before using sugar.

Preheat oven to 325 F. Cover two baking sheets with parchment or brown
paper.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream together the butter, sugar,
lavender and mint; mix until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add flour,
cornstarch and salt; beat until combined. Divide dough in half. Flatten
into squares and wrap in plastic. Chill until firm.

On a floured board, roll or pat out each square to a thickness of 3/8". Cut
the dough into 1 1/2" squares or rounds. Transfer to baking sheets, spacing
cookies about 1" apart. Prick each cookie several times with the tines of a
fork.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes until pale golden (do not brown). Cool slightly, then
transfer to a rack. Sprinkle with lavender powdered sugar. Store in tin
cookie boxes or sealed containers.

Yield: About 4 dozen.

Shepherd writes: "A lovely rich shortbread with a hint of sweet lavender
fragrance and flavor. Perfect to serve with tea in the afternoon."

From 1994 "Shepherd's Garden Seeds Catalog," pg. 61.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini