Are you looking for a sweet, pretty treat for Mother’s Day, a Baby Shower, or “just because”? Then we suggest this delicious shortbread cookie recipe, dressed with edible flowers!
Real Edible Arrangements
Wait, flowers are edible? Well yes, you probably eat them all the time! Broccoli, artichokes, and capers are actually immature flower buds. If you’ve ever enjoyed hibiscus or chamomile tea – also flowers!
You might even be lucky enough that you’ve enjoyed stuffed zucchini flowers (or have even eaten these in a quesadilla). Flowers are everywhere – so why not use them in an eye-catching shortbread cookie recipe?
Experiment … Carefully!
We used pansies (orange, yellow and blue) and cornflowers. You can use any edible flowers available for this recipe. However, please be careful! Do your recipe homework and make sure your flowers are safe for shortbread cookies (here’s a handy link). You should also avoid flowers that were grown with pesticides – in fact, it’s easy (and a great idea) to grow your own.
Don’t Short the Shortbread
A traditional recipe for shortbread cookies is all about the butter. Well, like always, we’re keeping this vegan, so you might ask – how does that work? We’re pleased to say there’s an easy fix. Find yourself a good quality dairy-free butter and you’re good to go! We like the Vegan Buttery Sticks from Earth Balance, but you can go with any butter substitute you’re comfortable with.
Beyond that, just use the recipe tricks that apply to any shortbread cookie!
- Sift the dry ingredients really well
- Don’t overwork the dough: mix until just combined
- After shaping the dough into cookies, chill them thoroughly – this stops them from spreading flat while baking
- Bake until golden brown
- Pour some tea (OK, coffee is alright too)
When you’re done you’ll have beautiful, tender shortbread cookies, garnished with a flower! What’s not to love?
Thanks for checking out our shortbread cookie recipe – we hope you love the edible flowers!
Did you try this recipe? Let us know what you think with a comment and rating! Every bit of feedback helps make the blog even better!
If you’re looking more sweet treats, we humbly suggest some Blueberry Scones with Lemon & Lavender or these Fudgy Black Brean Brownies.
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Shortbread Cookies Recipe w/ Edible Flowers
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 20 Cookies 1x
Description
This recipe makes delicate, melt-in-your mouth shortbread cookies, with the added “wow” factor of edible flowers! Sure to impress at special occasions!
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 stick (1/2 cup, 4 oz or 113 grams) vegan butter, cut into small cubes
- 1/4 cup organic caster sugar*
- 1 tablespoon plant milk of choice (I used almond milk)
- Pinch of salt
- Handful of edible flowers, washed and stems removed
- Icing sugar for dusting (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300F / 149C, and line a cookie sheet with baking paper.
- Put vegan butter and sugar into a medium size bowl, and cream together, using electric beaters or whisk, until well combined and fluffy.
- Add flour and salt to the bowl, and mix until combined. Form into a ball.
- Lightly dust a clean surface and rolling pin with flour. Place shortbread dough onto the surface and roll out until about 1/3 inch (nearly 1 centimeter) thick.
- Using cookie cutter/s, cut shortbread dough into desired shapes and transfer to prepared cookie sheet.
- Collect shortbread off cuts, and then repeat Steps 4-5 until all shortbread dough has been used.
- Add plant milk to a small glass. Lightly wet a pastry brush with plant milk and wipe over the top of the shortbread cookies. Top cookies with edible flowers. Lightly pressing down so the flowers adhere to the surface of the dough (If desired, press edible flowers into 3/4 of the cookies and leave 1/4 of the cookies plain to be dusted with icing sugar after baking).
- Bake for 45 minutes or until the cookies turn a light golden brown. Allow to sit for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
- Lightly dust plain shortbread cookies with a little icing sugar.
- Store shortbread cookies in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
Notes
- *Using white sugar will result in traditional shortbread cookies, however you can also use raw sugar (if the sugar crystals are large, pulse in the food processor for a second or two to break down their size) or coconut sugar, with varied results (i.e the texture and color will be different).
- Nutritional information is to be used as a guide only as calories and nutrition vary between products and brands worldwide.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 51
- Sugar: 2.8 g
- Sodium: 165.1 mg
- Fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 7.8 g
- Fiber: 0.2 g
- Protein: 0.7 g
- Cholesterol: 1.9 mg
Keywords: shortbread cookies recipe, shortbread cookies recipe with edible flowers, shortbread recipe, edible flowers
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