Lavender shortbread tea cookies are made to look like the beautiful blewit mushrooms that visit my garden each spring. We use mushroom compost in our garden beds to add extra nutrients to our soil. It’s a wonderful by-product of mushroom farming. Thanks to the rich organic additive, we have many types of mushrooms that grow among the flowers—truly a treat for a mushroom and flower lover such as myself!
These cookies are held together with white chocolate and adorned with a lavender glaze. The bottoms are melted milk chocolate dipped in matcha coconut flake moss.
½ cup unsalted butter, softened (or shortening)
⅔ cup light brown sugar
½ teaspoon food-safe lavender extract paste (or 2 teaspoons dried and ground lavender buds)
½ cup heavy cream (or any milk)
⅛ teaspoon salt
½ cup honey
3½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting 12 ounces white chocolate
1 teaspoon matcha powder
2 cups shredded coconut
In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with your electric mixer until just combined. Scrape down the sides.
Add the lavender, milk, salt, and honey and mix on low until well incorporated. Add the flour slowly.
I like to use a large spoon and add a spoonful at a time until there’s no flour left. Stop periodically to scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated evenly. The dough should be dry but not crumbly. If it appears too crumbly, simply add a splash of heavy cream or milk.
Remove dough from bowl and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.
When ready to bake:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Shape small balls of dough into mushroom caps and mushroom stems. Place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake until just set, usually 8 to 10 minutes.
Once the baked shapes have cooled, melt white chocolate and use it to hold the cap and stem together. Dip the cookie caps in easy glaze (recipe below).
Then dip the bottom of the stems in melted semisweet chocolate and moss made by mixing matcha and shredded coconut together. Add a teaspoon of matcha to two cups of shredded coconut until the desired color is achieved.
Lavender Glaze
1 cup confectioner’s sugar 1½ tablespoons heavy cream
3 or 4 drops of food-safe lavender extract paste (optional)
Food-safe coloring
Mix all the ingredients together and store in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to use.
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