Edible Flower Shortbread Cookies

There are many edible flowers and herbs you can press into your shortbread cookies. I found that pansies, violas, mini dianthus, cherry blossoms, violets, lilacs, mint, chamomile, thyme, pansy, rose petals, calendula, etc flowers work best to add color to small cookies.

Perfect Bridal Shower Cookie or for afternoon tea.

Ingredients:

• butter
• sugar
• flour
• vanilla
• Fresh local edible flowers
• sugar for finishing

Instructions:

In a food processor pulse the butter and sugar until smooth

Add in the flour and vanilla until a dough forms

Divide the dough into two equal portions, shaping them into discs and wrapping them in plastic wrap

Chill the dough for 1-2 hours

Trim the stems of the flowers as close as you can while keeping the flower intact

Press gently to flatten slightly – set aside

Preheat oven to 325 and line baking sheets with parchment paper

Roll out the dough on a floured surface to ¼ inch

Use a cookie cutter to cut out cookies

Place them on lined sheet and bake 8-10 minutes just until set in the center

Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately place a flower into the center of each cookie and sprinkle sugar over the flower

The heat from the cookie with wilt the flower slightly and “attach” it to the cookie

Serve, share, and enjoy!

Note: When sourcing edible flowers always make sure you 100% confirm the type of flower you’re using! You may find edible flowers at your local florist, some grocery stores or online. You may also want to grow your own, and have edible flowers all season long! Some flowers will add a flavor to the cookies (for example, dianthus tastes like mild cloves, and herbs will bring a strong flavor), while others mostly add beauty.

How to Bake in Batches to Make the Most of Your Baking Time

One way to handle your holiday baking is to bake in batches, then freeze and store for the big day. You can do this successfully over a couple of weeks with batch baking and batch preparing.

The biggest thing to remember is to only try a few different types of things in one day, or focus on just one type of baked good in one day. For example, you might want to bake all your quick breads in one day. Another day you can prepare all your cookie dough. Yet another time, you can bake all your fruit pies and so forth. This process makes the most of the time you have, the space you have, and your skill level.

Be Prepared

Don’t try batch baking without a plan of action. Be sure to write down your plans in advance so that you are sure you have enough time to do everything that you’ve planned. To figure out a basic time line, add up the prep time, the baking time for each oven full, and then multiply that by 1.5 to account for a little extra issues happening. Then you should be sure that you have enough time.

Get Everything Ready to Go

Your kitchen should be spotless when you start, and ensure that you have all the ingredients and appliances necessary to make each item ready to go. If you know, for example, that today you’ll be using about 10 pounds of flour, consider using a large bowl to hold the flour so you can easily spoon the flour into the measuring cup, flatten off over the bowl, without having to get into the bag over and over which usually means spillage.

Clean as You Go

Fill your sink immediately with hot soapy water so you can clean as you go. You will want to wash your mixing dishes and other utensils during the baking process so that you can use them again. There’s no point in totally destroying your kitchen as you batch bake, and you don’t have to. Set out a draining board, fill the sink with hot soapy water, and wash as you go. There are many opportunities during baking to wash a couple of dishes, and this will make the clean-up faster, and the process more organized.

All Day Batch Baking

You can set aside a day for batch baking such as a Saturday. Plan for all day baking, which usually entails 8 to 10 hours of work. Ensure that any other chores are done, including the shopping, and the kitchen is clean and ready prior to baking day. It’s important to organize your recipes with some logic behind them. For example, if you need dough to rise, start that first, so that it can be rising as you are preparing other things such as cookie dough or pie crusts. Both can be put in the refrigerator or freezer after preparation while you bake the bread, then baked after you bake the bread while the oven is still hot and ready.

Read each recipe that you plan to use and pay close attention to certain clues. For example, if an ingredient requires a cold kitchen, you’ll want to start that first. If something takes an hour to bake like banana bread, you can use that hour to mix other batter, dough, crust, filling and so forth that you can store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to bake them.

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• Edible Cookie Dough
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