Lavender's blue dilly dilly...

I LOVE shortbread (what's not to like about sugar, flour and butter?!), and  have decided to make some lavender shortbread next week, so lavender sugar is needed! You can buy this, but in my opinion, they charge extortionate amounts for what is just lavender and sugar. So, off I went to Yummy Grandma's garden to raid her lavender bushes, just in the nick of time as it is coming to the end of their season. Happily successful, with a bag of lavender and a bag of sugar, I trotted home to make mine and it smells yummy (as do my hands!)

So if you want to have a go at making some of your own, here's how! There are 2 main methods I could see out there, I went for option 1 as I think it looks much prettier, is much quicker and I'm not adverse to eating flowers! With both methods, you could sieve out the flowers if you don't want to put them into your baking.

Lavender Sugar

1kg castor sugar,
2-4 tbsp lavender flowers (make sure you give them a quick check over to make sure no beasties have hitched a ride! I took the flowers off on a white chopping board so I could see them clearly).

(You can scale this up or down depending on how much you need to make, I actually made half this recipe).

Method 1

1. Weigh out the sugar into a clean glass jar (you need a jar that is slightly bigger so that you can shake the contents).
2. Add the lavender flowers and shake.
3. Leave for a week and then give it a taste, the sugar should be beautifully lavendery (yes I know that isn't a real word).

Method 2

1. Weigh out the sugar into a clean glass jar (you need a jar that is slightly bigger so that you can shake the contents).
 2. Using a spoon, crush the lavender flowers (reserving 1 tbsp for adding to the jar at the end) through a sieve into the sugar. A fine powder should come through into the sugar.
3. Add the reserved flowers and shake.
4. Leave for a week before using.

Hope you enjoy making some lavender sugar ready for some floral baking next week!

xxx