Lavender citrus biscuits

Lavender and orange zest may sound like exotic ingredients for a biscuit, but they give these lovely biscuits a subtle flavour. It is the perfect biscuit to accompany quality tea, and will be a winner at your next tea party.

If you don’t have an orange handy, you can use a lemon instead!

This recipe makes a plate-full of biscuits. We needed to try out a smallish, 5 cm cup-sitter biscuit cutter, and ended up with 20 biscuits. Feel free to double the recipe if your party’s a larger one.

Ingredients

  • 150 gram flour  
  • 90 gram butter
  • Zest of an orange, finely grated  – or lemon zest, or you don’t have an orange
  • ¾ teaspoon dried, edible lavender
  • Pinch of salt
  • ½  teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 50 gram fine caster sugar
  • 1 egg yolk

Method

  1. Use a food processor (or a sturdy mixing bowl and wooden spoon) to mix the flour, butter, orange zest, lavender and salt together. The mixture should be dry and crumbly.
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth.
  3. Chill the dough in the fridge for 20 minutes. It will be easier to roll out, if you make it into a flat rectangle before chilling it. Wrap it with cling wrap to keep it moist.
  4. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
  5. Take the dough from the fridge, place between two pieces of baking paper or cling wrap, and roll out. The dough should be about 7 mm thick.
  6. Cut out with cookie cutters
  7. Bake  for about 10 minutes, until golden brown.
  8. Transfer to a wire rack to cool down for about 10 minutes.

Notes

We serve them plain, but an orange or lemon glaze topping will work very well too.