Lavender Poppy Seed Cookies
Poppy seed sugar cookies made with lavender sugar, honey, and lemon are packed with a bright and floral flavor of summer. These cookies are topped with a lavender lemon glaze adding a refreshing pop of flavor to these soft and chewy cookies.
I spent my teenage years growing up in Blanco, Texas. I think I was around 15 or 16 when my parents took us kids to visit the first lavender farm in Blanco. Little did I know how this tiny fragrant plant would take over this small town’s persona for years to come.
Blanco was recognized as the lavender capital of Texas in the late 2000s and the city hosts a yearly festival celebrating all things lavender. In recent years the cascading uncertainty of Texas weather has forced many lavender farms and businesses to close. But the memory remains intact in my mind, in June when everyone gets ready to kick off summer, I think of lavender.
The smell reminds me of hot summer days sampling lavender cheese and working a booth on the blacktop of the town square. I’ve had my fair share of lavender dishes ranging from appetizers, drinks, main dishes to desserts. The tiny little purple flower does pack quite a flavorful punch and my favorite dish to memory was a blackberry lavender ice cream with a blackberry lavender jam swirl. Yum.
So, let’s talk about the elephant in the room when it comes to culinary lavender. Occasionally this herb is overused and makes food taste like soap. Lavender is pungent and astringent, the sharpness of its fragrance piercing through your olfactory system, and you will inevitably feel like a lavender breathing dragon. Not cute. The way to solve this problem is to use it sparingly and with flavor pairings that will highlight the delicacy of this herb while balancing its bite.
I grind the flowers to a powder and rub the lavender into sugar prior to making the dough. This allows me to use fewer lavender flowers while still extracting a good amount of floral flavor. The oils in the flower release when rubbed into sugar creating a beautiful bouquet of delicate lavender aroma.
Steeping lavender flowers in hot milk to extract the flavor is another technique used to add a floral depth to this cookie without it being too perfumy. Lavender flowers are mixed with hot milk to steep and make a mild lavender milk which is used in the glaze with powdered sugar and lemon juice.
The result of using these techniques creates a delicately flavored cookie with honey and lemon highlighting the flavor of this interesting culinary flower. Poppyseeds are added for a layer of crunch and nutty flavor balancing out the cookie to be a great cookie make for summer.
Looking for cookies to celebrate summer??? Here are my favorite summer cookie recipes:
- Brownie Cookies (for ice cream sandwiches)
- Hot Fudge Sundae Cookies
- Blood Orange Thumbprint Cookies
- Roasted Strawberry Cookie Bars
- Soft Lemon Cookies
- Key Lime Pie Cookies
Why I Love This Recipe
Flavor-Floral, bright, and slightly tangy from the lemon these lavender poppy seed cookies are bursting with flavor. Lavender sugar is used in the cookie dough to create a warm lavender flavor, and lemon zest is added to brighten the flavor of the sugar cookie dough. Honey is added for another depth of warm sweet flavor and the poppyseeds add a subtle nuttiness to the cookie dough. Lavender steeped milk is used for the glaze along with lemon juice for a creamy, tangy, sweet glaze on top of the cookie.
The flavor of lavender is prominent in this cookie but not in any way overpowering. Less is more when it comes to incorporating lavender into baked goods and this recipe will make you fall in love with the robust yet delicate flavor of lavender.
Texture-The base for this cookie is very similar to my sugar cookie dough recipe. The addition of honey creates a chewier cookie that spread while baking. Cornstarch is added to also keep the dough soft and chewy for days.
I opted for a thinner and chewier cookie dough base for this recipe so the flavor of honey, lavender, lemon, and poppy seeds could shine without having a cookie too cakey or heavy that would overwhelm the palate.
The crisp glaze on top of the cookie adds a nice crunch to the soft and chewy cookies underneath. It is optional to use extra lavender flowers, poppy seeds, and lemon zest on top of the cookie, but it does add wonderful crunch and flavor to the finished glazed cookies.
Taste of Summer-Lavender reminds me of hot summer days in Blanco, Texas. I love having fresh lavender in my garden and even more so dried in my home. Using culinary lavender in cookies to kick off lavender season only feels right. These cookies are wonderful by themselves, with fresh local blackberries, or if you are a sweet and savory person like me, added to a cheeseboard for a sweet buttery treat.
Ingredients You Need:
Lavender Poppy Seed Cookies
- Butter-unsalted, room temperature.
- Sugar
- Brown Sugar
- Salt
- Egg
- Lavender Flowers-use culinary lavender for this recipe from Hill Country Lavender.
- Flour
- Lemon Zest-I used one large lemon for zesting. I set aside a good pinch to sprinkle on top of the finished glazed cookies.
- Cornstarch
- Baking Soda
- Honey
- Poppy Seeds
Lavender Lemon Glaze
- Powdered Sugar
- Milk-I used whole milk.
- Lavender Flowers
- Lemon Juice
How To Make Lavender Poppy Seed Cookies
These are very simple cookies to make and require very little prep time. You can refrigerate this cookie dough for up to 2 days in the fridge prior to baking. The longer the chill time, the better as the flavors will develop and the dough will bake more consistently when adequately chilled. The cookie dough can be frozen for up to 3 months in a tightly sealed bag or container. If baking from frozen, add a minute or two to the bake time.
Using a coffee grinder, spice grinder, or a mortar and pestle (sometimes I like to kick it old school. Gets the muscles moving.) grind the lavender flowers into a powder. It’s ok if there are some larger pieces as long as the majority of the lavender is broken up.
Add the lavender powder to the granulated sugar and rub it into the sugar with your fingertips. I took my time mixing the lavender into the sugar. The process of mixing these two ingredients allows for the lavender to release its oils into the sugar. This will create a cookie dough that tastes like lavender without having to add whole lavender flowers to the dough and risking the cookies tasting like bath bombs. We want flavor bombs not perfume.
In a bowl mix together room temperature butter, brown sugar, and lavender sugar. Mix on high with a handheld mixer for one minute until creamy.
Next, I add in the lemon zest, egg, honey, and mix on high until the mixture is creamy. This took me a minute or two and I scraped down the bowl halfway through mixing to make sure everything was combining well.
Add in the flour with the mixer on low speed just until the dough comes together. I finished mixing the dough with a spatula and folded in the poppy seeds.
Next, I took a one-ounce cookie scoop, you can also use a tablespoon it works great, and scooped out 16 portions of cookie dough onto a baking tray. I placed the cookie dough in the fridge for an hour to allow the flavors to mingle and the flour and cornstarch to fully hydrate.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350*F.
I place 6 cookies per parchment lined baking sheet. These cookies will spread slightly during baking so make sure to leave a 2 inch space around each cookie.
Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes in a 350*F oven. The cookies are done when the edges are light golden brown, and they are slightly puffed in the middle. It’s ok if the centers still look wet, they will continue to bake on the baking sheet and set up when cooling down.
I let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. The cookies will need to be cooled to room temperature before adding the glaze on top. If the cookies aren’t cool the warmth from the cookies will melt the glaze and it won’t set up neatly, it will be messy.
Lavender Lemon Glaze
This simple glaze requires 4 ingredients and a microwave. Make the glaze when the cookies are cooled and ready for this step.
In a microwave safe bowl, glass, or mug, warm the milk for 50 seconds. The milk should be very hot but not bubbling over.
Add the lavender flowers to the hot milk and stir to cover the flowers in milk. Cover with a lid or plate, and allow to steep for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes have passed use a mesh strainer to strain the flowers form the milk. I press the flowers on the strainer to get every drop of lavender milk out that I can.
In a bowl add the powdered sugar and lemon juice. Stir to combine the best you can, it will be dry still. Add one tablespoon of warm lavender milk at a time to the lemon powdered sugar.
I used 2 tablespoons of lavender milk before the glaze reached the desired consistency. The glaze should be loose but not watery, it will look like maple syrup, not too runny but not too thick. I want the glaze to flow freely from my spoon when a dollop is tipped over into the bowl.
There was leftover lavender milk i did not use for the glaze that I added to a cup of Earl Grey tea. It was magical and a nice treat when I was making cookies this day. You can drink the leftover lavender milk or add to your tea or coffee.
Using a spoon or fork drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies. I zig zagged the glaze in a straight line pattern over the tops of the cookie but you can use any pattern of drizzle you like.
While the glaze is wet, I sprinkled on a tiny bit of lavender flowers (2-3 flowers per cookie), poppy seeds, and fresh lemon zest. This will create a bouquet of flavor and texture on top of the cookie spotlighting the flavors of the cookie underneath.
The cookies will need to set up with the glaze for an hour or so before storing or packaging. This may take longer depending on how humid your environment is. Allow extra time for the glaze to harden in humid climates.
These cookies can be stored in a loosely covered container on the counter for up to a week. You can separate them with small sheets of parchment paper in layers stacked on top of each other to preserve the toppings and the glaze.
A delicious and delicate cookie to kick off an awesome summer of cookie treats. I do hope you love these cookies as I have been simply smitten with them.
I look forward to sharing more summer cookie recipes with you. Enjoy!
If you try this recipe and love it as much as I do, please tag, follow, and like @sunshinetxcookies on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok. New posts every Thursday so be sure to follow me for more delicious cookie recipes. Happy Baking!
Lavender Poppy Seed Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 stick Butter unsalted, room temperature.
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar
- ¼ cup Brown Sugar
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Honey
- 1 Egg room temperature.
- 1 Lemon Large lemon, zested.
- 1 tsp Poppy seeds Plus a small pinch extra for decorating tops of cookies.
- ½ tsp Lavender Dried culinary lavender flowers.
- 1 tsp Cornstarch
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ½ cup Cake Flour
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
Lemon Lavender Glaze
- 1 tsp Lavender Dried culinary lavender flowers. Save a pinch extra for decorating.
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar
- ¼ cup Milk I used whole milk.
- ½ tsp Lemon Juice
Instructions
- First, prepare lavender sugar. In a spice grinder, coffee grinder, or using a mortar and pestle, finely grind up the lavender flowers into a powder.
- Add the lavender to the ½ cup of sugar in a large bowl and rub in with your finger tips. You want the sugar to smell fragrant and the lavender to be mixed in evenly. This will take a few minutes of mixing.
- Add the room temperature butter, brown sugar, and salt to the lavender sugar bowl. Mix on high for 2 minutes until light and creamy.
- Add the egg, honey, lemon zest and continue to beat on high until the mixture is smooth and shiny, 1-2 minutes.
- Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, and cornstarch and gently fold in to form a soft dough.
- Gently fold in the teaspoon of poppy seeds making sure they are evenly incorporated.
- Using a one ounce cookie scoop or a tablespoon, scoop out equal portions of cookie dough onto a baking sheet.
- Refrigerate dough for at least on hour to allow the flavors to mingle and the flour to absorb. You can leave the dough in the fridge for up to two days or freeze for 3 months.
- Preheat oven to 350*F.
- Place 6 cookies on a parchment lined baking baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. These cookies will spread while baking so make sure to leave 2 inches of space around the dough.
- The cookies are done when the edges are light golden brown.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool to room temperature before drizzling with glaze.
Lemon Lavender Glaze
- In a small microwave save glass or bowl, heat up the milk for 30-50 seconds. You want the milk to be very hot but not bubble over.
- Add the lavender flowers to the hot milk. Cover and let steep for 10 minutes.
- Strain the lavender flowers from the milk into a small bowl. I press the milk out of the flowers in the strainer to get all of the flavor out.
- Add the powdered sugar to a mixing bowl and add the lemon juice and a tablespoon at a time of the lavender milk. I used 2 tablespoons of lavender milk. You want the consistency of the glaze to be like maple syrup. Not too thick where you can't drizzle it with a spoon but not too tin where it is watery.
- If you have leftover lavender milk, drink it or add to coffee or tea. It's wonderful.
- Using a teaspoon or fork, drizzle the glaze in a zig zag pattern on top of the cooled cookies on the wire rack.
- Allow the glaze to set up for 30 minutes to an hour before packaging or storing.
- These cookies will stay fresh for up to a week in a closed container on the counter.
- Enjoy!
