Lavender sugar cookies are a twist on a classic! The herbaceous, botanical note of lavender is offset with a simple Earl Grey glaze.
This post was first published October 22, 2018 and was last updated August 22, 2020.
Cut out sugar cookies are one of my favourite baked treats to make! There’s something so satisfying about mixing basic ingredients together to make pretty, pale golden cookies.
These lavender sugar cookies are buttery, fragrant, crisp, and chewy thanks to a touch of corn syrup. The cookies are great plain, however, I love glaze! I dipped these cookies in Earl Grey glaze made with ground Earl Grey tea leaves. A simple lemon glaze would also be gorgeous!
Please note that unglazed cookies will be more crisp the day after baking. Glazed cookies will be chewier thanks to the extra moisture in the Earl Grey glaze.
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Ingredients
- culinary grade dried lavender buds
- sugar
- butter
- 1 egg
- milk
- clear corn syrup
- vanilla
- all-purpose flour
- baking powder
- salt
- dried Earl Grey tea leaves
- powdered sugar
Is All Lavender Edible?
The answer is yes and no. Classified as part of the mint family, some varieties of lavender are grown for decorative purposes only. You can buy dried lavender buds specifically for culinary use.
What Do Lavender Sugar Cookies Taste Like?
Used in excess, lavender can make baked goods taste “soapy”. In the right proportion, lavender flavour in baked goods should be herbaceous, almost like a mix of other pungent fresh herbs like rosemary and mint.
If you’re new to baking with lavender, or don’t love the flavour, reduce the amount of lavender called for in this recipe to 1 or 2 teaspoons, or omit it completely.
Making Lavender Sugar
I used a mortar and pestle to make the lavender sugar for this recipe. I combined one tablespoon of the sugar measured out for the cookies, with the dried lavender buds, and ground it all together to a fine powder.
If you don’t own a mortar and pestle try pulsing all of the sugar and lavender buds called for in the recipe until you get similar results.
Why Do You Use Clear Corn Syrup In This Recipe?
- In The Lavender Sugar Cookies – The cookies will seem super chewy for the first little while out of the oven. As they sit they will firm up and become crisp. A touch of corn syrup in the dough helps retain a slight bit of chewiness. If you don’t want chewy cookies, feel free to omit the syrup.
- In The Earl Grey Glaze – Over the years I’ve discovered that a touch of clear corn syrup in a simple powdered sugar glaze helps the glaze retain structure and harden better on cookies. You can omit the corn syrup, however, you may not get the same shiny, smooth, and sturdy results.
Why Do You Chill The Dough And Freeze The Cookies Before Baking?
Cold dough takes longer to expand in a hot oven. Chilling the cookie dough for an hour before you roll it, and then freezing the cut out lavender sugar cookies for 20 minutes before you bake them, ensures the cookies don’t spread too much and hold their cut out shape better.
Making The Earl Grey Glaze
I used a blend of Earl Grey tea with dried blue cornflowers for this recipe, however, you could really use any tea blend you prefer. To make perfect glaze for lavender sugar cookies:
- Make sure you sift your powdered sugar.
- Grind your tea leaves as fine as you can. No one wants huge bits of dried tea leaf in their mouth!
- Add the milk by the half teaspoon and stir well between each addition. I used 5 teaspoons of milk to make the glaze seen in these photos. After I add the milk I always wait a bit for the milk to absorb so I can fully see how thick the glaze is. Do this until your glaze is thick, but can still drip, similar to honey.
How To Dip The Cookies In The Glaze To Get A Smooth Finish
Pour the Earl Grey glaze in batches onto a small plate. Hold one of the lavender sugar cookies upside down by the edges and lay it on top of the glaze. Lift the cookie straight up before it sinks down to its edges and let the glaze drip straight down back onto the plate. Once the drips have slowed down, quickly flip the cookie right side up, and lay it on a rack for the glaze to harden. Pop any air bubbles with a toothpick before the glaze sets. Let the cookies sit for one hour, and up to overnight, for the glaze to harden.
More Recipes Using Dried Lavender:
Lavender Lemonade A pretty and refreshing drink for summer!
Pink Grapefruit Lavender Loaf A sweet and citrusy cake with subtle floral lavender notes.
Extra Crispy Pear Lavender Crisp A seasonal dessert featuring an extra crispy topping and just a hint of lavender.
Recipe
Lavender Sugar Cookies With Earl Grey Glaze
Lavender sugar cookies are a twist on a classic! The herbaceous, botanical note of lavender is offset with a simple Earl Grey glaze.
Ingredients
For The Lavender Sugar Cookies
- 1 tablespoon (2g) culinary grade dried lavender buds
- 1-¼ cup (250g) sugar
- ¾ cup (170g) butter, room temperature
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 tablespoon clear corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2-¼ cups (335g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
For The Earl Grey Glaze
- 1 teaspoon dried Earl Grey tea leaves
- 1 cup (120g) powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons clear corn syrup
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 4 to 5 teaspoons milk
Instructions
- Make The Lavender Sugar Cookies - Grind the dried lavender buds with 1 tablespoon of the measured sugar to a fine powder with a mortar and pestle.
- Combine the butter, remaining sugar, and lavender sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, cream the butter on medium-high speed for 4 to 5 minutes, or until pale and fluffy.
- While the butter is mixing, whisk the egg, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla together in a small bowl. Stop the mixer, add the egg mixture, and continue to mix on high speed until well combined, about 1 minute.
- Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the bowl. Switch to the paddle attachment and mix on low speed until everything combines to a soft dough, about 1 minute.
- Lay a piece of plastic wrap out on a work surface. Dump the dough onto the middle of the plastic and shape into a 7 to 8-inch (18 to 20-cm) disc, about 1-inch (3-mm) thick, with your hands. Wrap the dough with the plastic and place it in the fridge for one hour.
- Line a plate, or a small baking sheet that will fit in your freezer, with parchment paper. Unwrap the dough and cut it in half. Re-wrap one half and return it to the fridge. Place the other half of dough on a work surface dusted with flour. Let the dough sit at room temperature for 3 to 5 minutes and then use a rolling pin to roll it to approximately ¼-inch (3mm) thick. Cut the dough into circles using a 2-inch (5mm) round cookie cutter, or other cookie cutter of your choice (see notes). Place the dough circles on the plate or sheet you have ready. If the dough doesn't lift off of the work surface in the cutter, use a small offset spatula to transfer. Place as many of the cookies on the sheet as you can. It doesn't matter how close they are because you are going to chill the dough in the freezer at this stage. Once you have cut as many circles as you can, reform the dough into a disc, reroll, and cut again. Place the cut cookies in the freezer for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line a standard baking sheet with parchment paper. When the 20 minutes of freezing time is up, transfer 12 frozen cookies to the sheet and bake 9-11 minutes or until very pale gold around the edges. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool and repeat baking until all cookies from the freezer are baked.
- When the last batch of cookies is in the oven, remove the second half of the dough from the fridge and repeat - roll, cut, freeze, and bake. Cool the cookies completely before glazing.
- Make The Earl Grey Glaze - Grind the dried Earl Grey tea leaves to a fine powder with a mortar and pestle. Mix the ground tea leaves in a small bowl with the sifted powdered sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, and ½ teaspoon of milk. Continue to add milk by the ½ teaspoon, stirring well between each addition, until the glaze is thick, but will still srip, similar to the consistency of honey.
- Dip The Cookies In The Glaze - Pour the Earl Grey glaze in batches onto a small plate. Hold a cookie upside down by the edges and lay it on top of the glaze. Lift the cookie straight up before it sinks down to its edges and let the glaze drip straight down back onto the plate. Once the drips have slowed down, quickly flip the cookie right side up, and lay it on a rack for the glaze to harden. Pop any air bubbles with a toothpick before the glaze sets. Let sit one hour, and up to overnight for the glaze to harden.
Notes
If you don't have a mortar and pestle to grind the lavender buds and sugar, combine the lavender and all of the sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to a fine powder.
Use fresh lavender buds snipped from your garden if you have them! They won't grind to a fine powder like dried so try zipping them in the food processor rather than using a mortar and pestle.
You can use any shape cookie cutter you like, however, note that the baking time of the cookies may change.
If you don't want to bake all of your cookies right away, transfer the frozen cut outs to a container with a lid and store in the freezer for up to one month.
Using clear vanilla extract for the glaze will keep it looking white.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
48Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 56Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 4mgSodium: 30mgCarbohydrates: 9gFiber: 0gSugar: 5gProtein: 1g
DISCLAIMER - NUTRITIONAL DATA IS PROVIDED BY A CALCULATOR AND IS A ROUGH ESTIMATION OF THE NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION IN THIS RECIPE.
i made these yesterday in little moon shapes for halloween and they’re soooo good!! they taste EXPENSIVE🌝💵
Ooooh how fun! Love this so much!
What an elegant cookie! Thank you for taking the time to add high-quality notes (like why you added corn syrup). Little details like that build confidence in trying a stranger’s recipe and also my own confidence in executing it properly. Excellent recipe!
I’m vegan so I had to make some substitutions. I replaced the butter with Earth Balance butter, the egg with 1/4 cup of Silk brand soy yogurt, and the milk with almond milk.
I prepared my dough and glaze and let them sit overnight in the fridge. When I awoke, I went to taste the glaze but was disappointed that the tea didn’t steep like cold brew would have. It looked very similar to your pictures, with the flecks floating in it. The presentation was quite beautiful, but I personally didn’t prefer the mouth texture.
I studied another Earl Grey Glaze recipe over at https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/earl-grey-glaze. I didn’t want to make a buttercream, so I simply extracted her concentrated London Fog technique. I microwaved 1/3 cup of milk, steeped a tea bag in it for 15 minutes (stirring frequently), then proceeded to make icing the way you instructed (adding the London Fog in 1/2 teaspoon at a time, roughly 10 times).
The cookies aren’t sickeningly sweet like most desserts Americans get. They were also quite crisp immediately after cooling, as mentioned in your notes. The glaze really is the perfect complement to the cookie, making it chewier overnight, providing the sweetness to round out the flavor, and producing a subtle “crackle” as a gorgeous finish.
The lavender was quite bold in these cookies. I can certainly understand that preference, but (as you also mentioned in your notes) I might reduce it the next time I make these. I’d like to taste more of the tea, but it’s hard for it to be tasted in such a thin layer. I will try steeping 2 tea bags next time I make this. I want it to be a very strong concentrate, perhaps too flavorful without its sugar counterpart.
I look forward to making these again and checking out more of your other recipes! Brava!
Thanks so much Jared! Your attention to detail speaks to my Virgo soul. lol Thanks for making them and letting me know how they turned out for you!
This is amazing, im going to try to make them. How nessesary is it that I get food grade lavender? I have some lavender buds I dried myself, other than it not being specifically food safe do you forsee any problems with using that?
I don’t think there’s really a huge difference, other than some people say some varieties taste better is all. I would definitely trust any lavender I’ve grown myself! I hope you love them!