Recipe: Wild Violet Cardamom Shortbread Cookies

Hey! It’s been a minute since I posted something here. I burnt myself out a bit and needed a little break. I’m up in Vermont right now, taking in the lilac season and the mud season, and writing a lot (I have some exciting stuff coming up!). The wild violets have been growing like crazy down here in Southwestern Vermont, and I’ve always wanted to try making pressed flower cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup or 1 stick butter (can be vegan or not)

• 1/4 cup white sugar, plus more for dusting after baking

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 pinch of ground cardamom

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• about 1/2 cup fresh wild violet flowers (be sure to clean them!)

In a large mixing bowl with either a paddle attachment on an electric mixer or with a spatula by hand, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add in the vanilla, cardamom and salt and mix. Lastly, add in the flower. If you aren’t using an electric mixer, you make want to use your hands to mix this final part. You want to knead the dough until all of the flour is incorporated into a soft, sticky dough.

Place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll it into a 10 inch by 10 inch square, about 1/4 of an inch thick. Remove the top piece of parchment paper. Then, lightly place your flowers on top of the dough. Put the top piece of parchment paper back and very gently roll the rolling pin over the dough and flowers to press them into the dough.

Place your dough square into the freezer to harden for about an hour, while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Before baking, take a pizza wheel and cut your shortbread into squares (I cut mine into 16 squares) and place them in the baking sheet with parchment.

Bake your cookies for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the tops are golden and the bottoms are lightly browned. Sprinkle the cookies with granulated sugar immediately after they come out of the oven.

Enjoy!