Easy Lavender Cookie Recipe with Sweet Honey
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This extremely popular lavender cookie recipe combines a honey-sweet and buttery cookie base with the aromatic flavor of lavender buds. They’re soft and chewy on the inside, crisp on the outside, and the flavor is both sweet and floral. Think soft-baked cookie meets edible flower deliciousness! When you make this recipe, you can also choose to make the cookies lightly lavender-flavored or you can go for a bigger lavender punch if you use homemade lavender sugar. Either way, they’re absolutely delicious!
Lavender isn’t common in cooking outside of Europe, but it really should be! You can use it whole or infuse it into sugar or syrups to use in drinks, but also as an unusual and intriguing flavor for sweet dishes. Lavender tastes almost nutty but has that characteristic lavender aroma that pairs so well with sugar and honey. Even if you’ve never eaten lavender before, I can guarantee that you will enjoy these lavender cookies. The floral aroma pairs perfectly with golden honey, giving the cookies both sweetness and aromatic flavor. I’d recommend making these lavender cookies for special gatherings since they’re so delicious and unusual and will get everyone excited.
Lavender Cookie Recipe
This lavender cookie recipe may be a little different from others you’ve made before. The dough begins off very soft, and instead of using softened butter, we use melted. That means that the dough needs refrigerating afterward to resolidify the butter. Work quickly to form the cookies into balls and get them in the oven and you’ll be rewarded with crispy yet chewy honey and lavender cookies.
The inspiration for this recipe comes from the English lavender that blooms in my garden. Each July, the lavender is covered in honeybees going crazy for their nectar. So for this recipe, it only made sense to pair lavender with honey. I hope that these lavender cookies also remind you of lazy summer days and bees buzzing over newly opened lavender flowers.
Easy Lavender Cookie Recipe
Equipment
- Large bowl
- Baking sheet
- Kitchen mixer
Ingredients
For the Lavender Sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200 g )
- 4 tsp English lavender buds (fresh or dried)
For the Lavender Cookies
- ⅔ cup melted butter (150 g)
- 1 cup granulated lavender sugar* (200 g)
- ¼ cup honey (75 g)
- 1 egg (large)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour (300 g)
- 2 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
- ½ tsp salt
For finishing the Lavender Cookies
- coarse-grained sugar (for rolling)
- 2 TBSP English lavender buds (fresh or dried)
Instructions
Make the Lavender Sugar
- Mix the granulated sugar with the lavender buds and place them in a sealed jar. Leave for at least a week, and sift the lavender buds out before using the sugar in this recipe. The amounts given are to make enough lavender sugar for this recipe but feel free to make more as it stores well. Also, if you don't have time to make lavender sugar, you can make this recipe using plain granulated sugar*.
Make the Lavender Cookie Dough
- Beat the melted butter, honey, and lavender sugar until smooth.
- Next, beat in the egg and vanilla.
- Mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt until well incorporated.
- The dough will be very soft so refrigerate for at least thirty minutes and until it has firmed up. Cover with cling film or a beeswax food wrap.
Make the Lavender Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C (165°C for convection ovens)
- When the oven is hot, take two Tablespoon-sized pieces of dough (about 50-60 g) and shape them into balls.
- Flatten them with the palm of your hand and then roll in the coarse-grained sugar, coating the whole cookie. Sprinkle the tops with lavender buds and gently press them into the cookie.
- Place the cookies onto a sheet, allowing a full cookie's spacing between each. Any closer and they'll melt into one another as they bake.
- Bake on a baking sheet for 10 to 15 minutes or until the edges are crispy and light brown in color. They’ll still be soft when you take them out so let them cool to room temperature before eating.
- Once cooled, store in a sealed container for up to a week at room temperature. In the refrigerator, they can last up to a month.
Notes
Nutrition
Edible Flower Inspiration
Lavender is an iconic edible flower and if you visit southern France, you’ll find lavender ice cream, lavender honey, lavender cakes, and yes, even lavender cookies. There are almost countless edible flowers that you can use in food, everything from spicy nasturtiums to citrusy tuberous begonias. I’ve even dedicated an entire chapter of my book, A Woman’s Garden Grow Beautiful Plants and Make Useful Things, to growing and cooking with edible flowers. Here’s even more inspiration to get you started:
Everyone loved these! So so unique and yummy, only change I would suggest is making them smaller. With 2 Tbsp of dough per cookie, they were huge! I’ll try 1 Tbsp next time and see how it works out :)
Theo. Reread the recipe. The reason they say to take two tablespoon size pieces of dough is to make two cookies not 1. They’re just telling you to work with two at the time .
That’s right – if it’s not clear, making two cookies at once means that you can use one cookie to get the spacing between each and the edge of the pan right. It’s a suggestion, though, and if you want to make one at a time, that’s up to you.
I never had a cookie with lavender in it before but wanted to try these especially since I grew my own lavender from seeds last year and I have an abundance of gorgeous buds right now. These didn’t disappoint. I made them gluten free and it worked out great! Definitely great with a cup of tea but if you want a REAL treat, get some vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt and make ice cream sandwiches out of them. OMG.
They were amazing!😊 The lavender was wonderful!!
If I don’t want to use the lavender sugar, would I only use one cup of regular sugar?
Yes of course :) Use granulated sugar though, the coarser the better.
I just made the dough and will be baking tomorrow for a party. At a first glance, I think infusing the sugar with the lavender is a lovely idea but I think infusing the butter with the lavender might be a quicker, more effective option. I’ll try it next time!
I make Lavender Soaps, Lavender Sachets and I made these Lavender cookies. So beautiful and so good. Making them again Saturday for our Farmer’s Market just to give away as people pass by. Texans will love these. Thank you for the recipe.
I recently made these cookies and they were a HUGE hit. Everyone loved them and could not stop talking about how good they were. I had lavender paste on hand so I added a bit to the dough. The cookie has a sweet and slightly floral hint to them. Will be making them again to give as gifts for Mother’s Day.
I’ve made these for my friends multiple times and they love them :) They taste great and are super simple to make!!
Hello, I would like to make these cookies. How many does this recipe yield? Thank you!
It depends on how large you make the cookies, but around 16 :)
My neighbor was so kind as to share a batch of these that she just made. SO delicious! Love the crispy, chewy texture and the touch of honey and lavender. Yum.
Thanks for sharing! Do they keep long?
Only a few days
This looks so good! What a great flavor twist on a sugar cookie!
I’m trying two plant based substitutions with these – country crock plant butter 1:1 and FYH veganegg ™ . They’re in the oven now but they look and smell GORGEOUS.
Hi Tanya
I have just made these lavender honey biscuits. They are delicious and pretty. With my folks around they will not last for later.
Thanks for sharing your great recipes.
Enjoy Maria! I need to make another batch soon too. They’re so yummy :)
I fell in love with these cookies back in 2017, however, a year ago I was diagnosed with celiac and had to give up gluten. I just made these for the first time today using gluten free flour and they came out perfect. So for anyone with celiac or gluten sensitivity these are a winner!!
I was a little upset when I pulled my first batch from the oven. I followed the recipe to a T! I even weighed all the ingredients out (which I NEVER do). My cookies where super thin/flat. (They spread out A LOT…so much that there was no space between cookies). I had to throw the whole first tray out. They smelled delicious, so I attempted a second round….I did a small tablespoon sized ball this time and didn’t flatten them out with my palm..just finger tips. Hopefully they will turn out better this time. Any suggestion as to why my cookies aren’t baking correctly?
Can you let us know how your second batch turned out?
I also used the measurements and the 12 individual cookies came out of the oven as one sheet pan size cookie. I believe the butter measurement is incorrect. 2/3 cup of butter in grams should be about 150 grams, not 170 grams. They still taste great, supper buttery, but do not look good.
Agh!! You threw them out.
They are AMAZING like that. Full honey crisp delight!!
I have made this recipe multiple times. Seems to depend on the honey used. Perfect GF ❤️❤️❤️
I love lavender and honey together, but often find the underlying recipes to be pretty mediocre. So I made these for tea, ready to enjoy the lavender/honey combo, but hate the cookie. I muttered about melted butter, whatever I don’t have time to let them chill, why there wasn’t any lavender in the dough, and declared that they clearly appeared “cake-y” as I watched them bake.
I’m a jerk. They were amazing. The texture was spot on. The honey flavor was perfect. Chewy, but still crispy. Not cake-y at all. I particularly enjoyed just the lavender on top, I got these lovely pops of it in each bite without being assaulted by a pervasive soap type thing. Had them with a pot of hot black tea.
I did accidentally go a little generous on the salt, but that somehow worked out too, it accentuated the honey lavender. I might oversalt them again ;).
A truly outstanding recipe. I’m sorry for all the terrible things I said about you in my head, I take them all back.
This comment made me smile :) Thanks so much Salem and so pleased you’re a fan of the recipe! I might try the next batch with a little extra salt too.
I made these cookies following the recipe exactly, for our family reunion this summer. I used honey from our hives and lavender from my herb garden. They we’re a huge hit! Everyone loved them and they disappeared rapidly. I doubled the recipe, but wished I had made even more so there had been some left for me! I will definitely be making these again. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
That’s so wonderful to hear! I’m super pleased that you and your family loved them that much. Even better so since you used your own honey :)
I don’t usually post comments, but I felt I had to regarding these cookies. These are the best cookies ever! I now have a serious lavender addiction. I will be the first to admit that lavender is definitely an acquired taste. I have always loved the lavender chewing gum so the flavor was not new to me. I can say that my husband and son cannot stand them as it reminds them of what a urinal smells like in a public retsroom. LOL I have taken them to work and there are only a couple of co-workers that did like them, once again it is an acquired taste. Over the past three months I have made three batches. FYI- they freeze very well. Because I am the only one that eats them since my daughter is away at college I put them in a gallon ziploc and freeze the entire batch. When I want one I just grab it right from the freezer. No need to thaw!!!
What a lovely message! Yes, lavender is an acquired taste but for those with adventurous palates it’s a real treat. Great idea with freezing the dough too — I’d probably be tempted to eat it that way!
Wow!! I never leave comments but I feel I have to for this recipe! These cookies a YUMMY! I didn’t follow the recipe exactly (I’m terrible with that haha) I put the lavender directly into the dough (while mixing the wet ingredients) and added a little lemon zest. I didn’t have to refrigerate the dough …probably because if the extra volume the lavender flowers added to the recipe. I think that’s probably why mine didn’t spread out that much either. Anywhoo they’re fabulous!! Bringing them to a midsummer festival tomorrow ❤ Will probably make them again next week to bring to my ms house haha
That’s amazing Christine — so happy that you’re so pleased with the recipe that you left a message. Really hope your friends at the Midsummer festival enjoyed them :)
I was skeptical to make these because the lack of reviews(I read lots of reviews before I jump into a recipe). Made them tonight for a friends boutique opening tomorrow and am so happy I made them. What I’m not happy about is running out of flour so I couldn’t make more. I added the lavender into the dough and used raw sugar instead of white sugar and only coated one side in sugar. They are so good. They spread a lot and came out thin with a nice crisp edge and soft center. I can’t wait to make more of these cookies. Thank you for sharing this. Perfect for a tea party as well. I didn’t think my picky 4 year old would like them but he’s on cookie number 2. My house smells like lavender and honey, I want to bottle it up and wear it!
Do you melt the butter in a pot of room temperture melted butter?
Made these for a family gathering, they where amazing. I used lavender honey and it added a bit more lavender flavor.
Beautiful and I’m sure very tasty idea!
For the butter, do you use salted or non-salted?
I these look & sound delish!!! And my son is super excited to make these for us tomorrow. We had a quick question re when to incorporate the lavender buds into the recipe . . . does it go in the dough or is it simply used to garnish & add the flavor to the tops of the delicious honey flavored delights?? Can't wait to see what other goodies you have here!! thanks so much!!! SAB
Hi there! We messaged via Facebook about this topic but for the benefit of anyone else reading, you can choose to do either. Simply pressing them into the tops of your cookies is enough but for even more lavender flavour do try mixing them into the dough.