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Make these chocolate dipped lavender sourdough shortbread cookies for a classic shortbread with an herbal twist. These cookies are a long-ferment sourdough recipe that slowly cultures in the refrigerator to keep the texture light. The dark chocolate dip is the perfect finish for a tea time or fika finish!
(We’ve included an optional keto sugar version for those who would like to leave out a few carbs.)

More Long Ferment Sourdough Treats for Later:

Sourdough Discard Cookies (Easy Chocolate Chips)

Sourdough Gingerbread Cookies

Sourdough Brownies

Sourdough Jam Cookies

Even with scent companies overusing the lavender fragrance (and hardly ever getting it right, by the way), lavender is still one of my favorite flowering herbs. I love to grow it; run my hand along its leaves on a hot summer day.

Then those rewarding moments as the lavender blooms begin to ripen and you can steal away with a basket and some scissors to make your first forrays into harvesting. Lavender is a cut and come again herb, so if you harvest blooms strategically, you can continue to harvest into fall.

Most of my lavender is reserved for lavender salves, lavender soaps, and lavender lip balms, with the rest of it hanging around the house in bunches. Since I have a number of antique pieces of furniture and linens, I also make a number of lavender sachets to lay in drawers and stuff between quilt folds.

However, there are a few precious recipes that I reserve some of the lavender harvest for, and these lavender sourdough shortbread cookies are among them. They can be enjoyed without the dark chocolate dip, if you’re in a rush.

Chocolate Dipped Lavender Sourdough Shortbread Cookies

With or without chocolate, shortbread is my favorite cookie, so I knew I needed to figure out a long ferment sourdough cookies recipe to enjoy. We long ferment all our sourdough recipes for optimal health benefits.

Chocolate Dipped Lavender Sourdough Shortbread Cookies

Homestead Lady Tessa Zundel

Here's a long-ferment sourdough shortbread cookie with lavender. Dip one side in dark chocolate for a rich addition to this classically delectable treat. Use fresh seasonal lavender or preserved, and a long, cold fermentation cycle to preserve texture and improve taste.

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 10

Ferment Time 12

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, British

Ingredients

1 1/2 Cups Butter, Room Temperature
3/4 Cups Organic Cane Sugar Or 1/2 Cup Allulose or Low Carb Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract Or 1 tsp. ChocZero Keto Vanilla
3 1/2 Cups Organic White Flour
1 tsp. Sea Salt
1/2 Cup Sourdough Discard
2-3 tsp. Lavender Flowers, Dried Or 1 Tbsp. Fresh Lavender Flowers
8 Oz. Organic Dark Chocolate Chips Or Low Carb Dark Chocolate Chips
1 Tbsp. Coconut Oil

Instructions

Cream 1 1/2 cups of room temperature butter, 3/4 cups of organic cane sugar (or 1/2cup of low carb sugar), and 1 tsp. or vanilla until smooth.
In a seperate bowl, combine the 3 1/2 cups of flour and 1 tsp. of sea salt.
Add 2 cups of the flour mixture into the butter mixture and combine until incorporated.
Add 1/2 cup of sourdough discard and the rest of the flour to the mixing bowl and mix only until incorporated. Do not overmix.
If you still have stray bits of dough balls in the bottom of your bowl, stop the mixer and knead the rest in by hand. Your warm hands will help the butter envelop the the last bits of flour.
Ball the dough and place it into a bowl with a lid. Mark the date and time, and place it into the refrigerator to ferment slowly.
After at least twelve hours, remove the dough from the fridge and form it into a tight rectangle or log as soon as it's workable. Slice into 18 cookies and place onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake at 350F/176C for 15-20 minutes for a light cookie, 20-25 minutes for slightly browned edges.
Remove the parchment paper with the cookies onto a baker's rack to set up. Once firm, remove the cookies from the parchment paper to continue cooling on the rack. Reserve the parchment paper.

To Dip the Cookies

While the cookies are cooling, mix 8 oz. of dark chocolate chips and 1 tbsp. of coconut oil in double boiler over medium heat. Stir continually once the chocolate begins to melt to avoid scorching.
Once the chocolate is smooth and melted, remove it from the heat onto a heat resistant surface. Dip the lower half of each cookie into the melted chocolate and place it onto the reserved parchment paper to set up.
If you have leftover chocolate, you can spoon it out to set up on the parchment paper for later use. You can also ladel it over the top half of the cookies to further decorate them in chocolate.

Notes

This recipe yields anywhere from 1-3 dozen, depending on how you cut the shortbread.

ChocZero brand vanilla can be purchase on their website at: Choczero.com.

When mixing up a sourdough treat like cookies, you don't want to overmix the dough at any point. Overmixing will result in a bready texture.

This is why you add the starter in with the last bit of flour for this recipe. With the generous amount of butter, you won't need to mix long to incorporate.

If you're busy, you can keep the dough in the fridge for 3-5 days before you bake it. Be aware that the lavender oils will continue to infuse into the cookie dough the longer it sits.

If you have leftover chocolate, you can spoon it out to set up on the parchment paper for later use.

You can also ladel it over the top half of the cookies to further decorate them in chocolate.
While the chocolate is still hot on the cookie, you may sprinkle it with lavender for further flavor and effect.
You may also sprinkle the chocolate with lavender infused sugar.

Keyword dark chocolate, herbal, sourdough discard cookies

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Lavender Sourdough Shortbread Cookies Notes

While the dough is still cool, divide the dough into two or four sections. Warm it a bit by covering it with your hands, then work the dough gently until it holds together firmly while you shape it into a circular or rectangular log.

Tamp down each side on a flat counter to get good corners and to firm the dough. Slice carefully with a very sharp knife.

If you have breakage, don’t worry! Simply warm the dough some more with your hands and firm the crumbles back in place. Shortbread has a generours amount of butter, so you’ll be able to work the dough enough to get it to hold together.

When mixing up a sourdough treat like cookies, you don’t want to overmix the dough at any point. Overmixing will result in a bready texture. This is why you add the starter in with the last bit of flour for this recipe. With the generous amount of butter, you won’t need to mix long to incorporate.

After the cookies have baked, cool them completely to allow them to firm up for dipping into the chocolate.

If you’re busy, you can keep the dough in the fridge for 3-5 days before you bake it. Be aware that the lavender oils will continue to infuse into the cookie dough the longer it sits.

Please visit Quest for Sourdough to learn more about the benefits of long sourdough fermentation.
ChocZero brand vanilla can be purchase on their website at: Choczero.com.

Adding Chocolate to the Sourdough Shortbread Cookies.

Heat the dark chocolate chips over a double boiler with the coconut oil added to help the melted chocolate firm up smoothly. Work quickly to dip the sourdough shortbread cookies, and then sprinkle remaining chocolate over the top of the cookies.

Honestly, these lavender shortbread cookies are delicious even without the chocolate!

If you have leftover chocolate, you can spoon it out to set up on the parchment paper for later use.

While the chocolate is still hot on the cookie, you may sprinkle it with lavender for further flavor and effect. You may also sprinkle the chocolate with lavender infused sugar. This technique will work for low carb granulated sugars, too.

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