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Lavender Brownies, Gluten Free (or not)

Brownies on a plate

Making lavender gluten free brownies pictures showing step by step. Ingredients and instructions after the pictures. These are seriously yummy brownies!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (138 grams) Lavender Wind Gluten Free Flour* or 1 cup (125 grams) whole wheat flour for a non-GF version
  • 3/4 cup (86 grams) Cacao Barry Cocoa Powder – 100% Cacao – Extra Brute
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (196 grams) butter, melted and cooled slightly 
  • 1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated sugar,
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons lavender extract
  • 3 large eggs, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup (128 grams) semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Directions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C) and line an 8″×8″ pan with parchment paper.
  • In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside.
  • In a large mixing bowl, stir together the melted butter or coconut oil, sugar, and vanilla extract. Once combined, add the eggs one at a time, and stir just until combined.
  • Add the dry mixture to the wet and stir just until almost no streaks of flour remain. Do not overmix! Fold in 3/4 cup (128 grams) chocolate chips.
  • Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
  • Bake for about 40 minutes (maybe more). A toothpick inserted into the center will come out wet. A toothpick inserted into the sides will come out with some moist crumbs on it, but not totally raw batter. The brownies will continue to bake as they sit in the pan and will firm up as they cool.
  • Let cool completely and then cover and store at room temperature for up to 4 days. You can also refrigerate them to give them a fudgier texture.

* Substitute Bob’s Mill Gluten Free Flour.

This was adapted from a recipe on the Texanerin Baking website.

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Mixing Up the Perfect Lavender Cocktail – Or Lavender Beer!

Cocktail
Photo by Paula Hayes on Unsplash

By Georgie Smith

It’s summer. The lavender fields are blooming. 

Time to mix up a lavender cocktail, pour the husband his cold glass of lavender beer and send the kids to the street corner to sell some lavender lemonade. 

Wait a minute…lavender? To drink? Isn’t that for soap?

Well yes. And no. 

Lavender IS an amazing and natural fit in traditional ‘floral’ applications. Soap, lotions, potpourri, oils, perfume, cleaning products and more. 

But, used correctly, lavender is also a surprising and refreshing flavor profile addition in many of your favorite summer-time cocktails (or mocktails) and even a fun addition to beer. 

So how do you impress with your lavender mixology skills? By understanding the basics.

Understanding the Science Behind Taste and the Theory of Flavor Matching

The science behind taste has evolved in recent years. There are entire websites and complicated charts on ‘flavor pairings.’ 

https://www.nature.com/articles/srep00196

One prevalent theory is that most palatable flavor pairings are combinations of ingredients that share one or more ‘flavor’ profiles. This is how chefs have come up with crazy pairing ideas like chocolate with blue cheese (they share 73 flavor compounds). 

Cultural and regional preferences also have a lot of influence in what is experienced as pleasant, versus unpalatable. In Western cuisine we tend to prefer pairings that ‘share flavor compounds’ in a sense that they ‘balance out’ different tastes. 

This is simplified to the four main ‘flavor’ experiences. Salty (aka as savory), sour, sweet, bitter and many chefs like to add ‘spicy.’ 

These are all taste profiles we experience in different ways and that can be used to balance each other in flavor pairings. So, a spicy dish benefits from just a hint of sweetness, for example. https://www.cooksmarts.com/articles/study-flavor-profiles/

Lavender, which let’s not forget IS a herb as much as it is a ‘flower’, lies squarely in the ‘sweet and savory’ characteristics, with a healthy dose of bitter thrown in for good measure. So, when thinking about beverage ‘pairings’ consider how a bit of the floral sweetness can balance a sour flavor like lemonade. Or a little bit of that lavender ‘bitter’ bite can combine into an amazing martini with a subtle floral overtone. 

Get the recipe for this beautiful drink at http://veggiecravings.com/blueberry-lavender-mocktail/

Don’t Forget the Olfactory Power of Lavender!

When using lavender for culinary purposes it is always important to remember that aroma makes up a HUGE part of a tasting experience. Eighty percent of how we perceive flavors is determined by aroma, according to many researchers. http://cst.ufl.edu/taste-vs-flavor-whats-the-difference.html

And that’s one thing lavender has in abundance – aroma. Particularly, a very floral, sweet aroma most typically associated with soaps, lotions and ‘perfume.’ After all the origin of the word ‘lavender’ comes from a Latin word ‘lavare’ meaning ‘to wash.’ 

Yet, what we like to ‘wash’ with isn’t what we typically want to eat, even though sometimes those scent profiles might be used in interchangeably purposes with different affects. You might enjoy and sort of want to eat, the chocolate-scented candle your husband bought you for your birthday. But probably not the lavender-scented one. 

So how does that work when it comes to lavender? Which we can all agree has a LOT to offer when it comes to aroma?

It’s simple. Don’t use too much! 

Home brewer and local high school math teacher Marc DeArmond followed that rule religiously with his “Hop Scald Pale Ale.” His ale, brewed from hops grown at the school garden and lavender sourced from Lavender Wind Farm, was the unanimous winner in all categories at a recent “Cook for the Cause’ contest and fundraiser for a local farm to school program. https://www.coupevillefarm2school.org

He added just two tablespoons of culinary lavender into a five gallon batch of brew. 

“If you didn’t know the lavender was there, you might not have noticed. It’s just enough of the flavor to add to it,” DeArmond says. “Generally, if you’re doing anything with lavender, that’s where you want to be. You want it to have a nice floral bit without being overwhelming. It’s all about limiting how much you do.”

Whether you brew beer or cider, lavender can be a great addition. Locust Cider used our lavender https://www.locustcider.com/

Use Culinary Lavender for Culinary Purposes

Sort of a no-brainer, but it really makes a huge difference to use the RIGHT type of lavender in beverages (or any food application.). 

What IS culinary lavender? Well, it is varietals of what is commonly called “English Lavender”, or the Lavandula angustifolia species. English lavender, often considered the ‘true’ lavender by many aficionadas, has a more subtle, softer lingering flavor with the more intensely perfumed or camphoric (think Vick’s vapor rub) aroma than the other Lavandula species possess. 

To read more information on the differences between lavender species check out our blog post here: https://www.lavenderwind.com/2019/lavender-essential-oils/

Making sure to source and uses culinary lavender, freshly-grown locally without chemicals so it’s human safe, properly cured and dried as well, is an important step in creating that perfectly ‘lavender-enhanced’ refreshment. Or you might end up creating a much different flavor experience than you were going for!

Make a Lavender Simple Syrup

A lot of the recipes use for lavender beverages start with a ‘simple syrup’ infused with lavender. 

This prevents a lot of potential mistakes with using lavender flavor profiles. 

It combines the sweetness of lavender with even more sweet (which we know works well because like flavor profiles pair well). It dilutes the intensity of the floral effects of lavender. It puts the lavender ‘flavor’ into an application that easily dissolves and mixes well with other liquids. 

And also gives you a beautiful ‘syrup’ to display in that gorgeous little apothecary-type bottle you’ve had floating around your kitchen and never knew what to do with! (Just store in your fridge, up to two weeks). 

Creating a simple syrup is, not surprisingly, very simple. The only ingredients needed are dried or fresh lavender flowers, water, sugar and sauce pan and a strainer. https://www.thespruceeats.com/diy-lavender-simple-syrup-760293

Ready to Start Mixing? Lavender Cocktail Inspiration Commence!

So, what’s next? Now that you understand the basics and are ready to start concocting? How about a little inspiration? Here’s a few of our favorites.

Lavender Lemonade
Lavender Lemonade

Lavender Wind Farm’s Lavender Lemonadehttps://www.lavenderwind.com/2015/lavender-lemonade/

A classic, summer-time favorite. Great for the kids, or you can add a little rum for an adult beverage!

Lavender Bee’s Knees – https://www.gastronomblog.com/lavender-bees-knees-a-gin-cocktail/

A twist on a historic favorite, the gin sour cocktail. Using lavender and honey for a sweet, floral and earthy aroma. 

Lavandou – https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/lavandou-cocktails-2010

This is a heavier lavender-flavored cocktail, using cognac and a lavender-honey syrup. 

Lavender Beer – http://chopandbrew.com/recipes/pedal-pusher-lavender-wit-homebrew-recipe/

There are many variations on how to use lavender in beer making. This blog post is a good example. You can always call up Mr. DeArmond though…he says he is always happy to share!

Culinary Lavender from Lavender Wind
Get our Culinary Lavender and get started!

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Scone Icing

Scones
You* asked and here it is!

Recipe for the icing that we use on our scones:

(You can get the extract and baking mix from our online shop if you are too far away to drop in. Each has a link in the name, or you can go to our online shop.)

If you think of new ways to use the scone mix or icing let us know, we’d love to learn from you. Visit our Facebook Page to let us know or send us an email.

1 egg white
1 Tbl Heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp Lavender extract
1 Tbl Milk
5 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar

In a bowl, whip the egg white until stiff.
Add Heavy Whipping cream and beat until frothy.
Mix in Lavender Extract and Milk until they are incorporated into the mixture.
Finally, gently mix in the Powdered sugar.

If you want to have the icing be light drizzle or have it heavy and thick, you can adjust the milk amount to suit your preference.

 

* Our customers have come into our shop to get our increasingly popular scones. We have a Lemon Lavender Scone baking mix but they wanted to have the whole experience which includes our icing.

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Customize our Lemon Lavender Scone Mix

Blueberry Lavender Jam

Our Scone mix makes great basic scones, but you might want something more decadent and special. Here are a few ideas using one full bag our our mix.

Of course you can split them and add jam, but that is just the beginning.

To each batch add:

  • 1/2 Cup dried cranberries
  • 1/2 Cup chopped pecans

or

  • 1/2 Cup dried blueberries
  • 1/2 Cup chopped almonds
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

or

  • make a hole in the middle and half way through baking them add two tablespoons of jam and finish baking

We’ll add more ideas!

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Lavender Apple Pie

 

This is an awesome pie! Use tart apples like Granny Smith, or the equivalent.

Ingredients

Pie Crust
DOUBLE CRUST

Pastry flour 2 1/2 Cups
Salt 1/2 Tsp
Butter 2/3 Cup (or 1/3 Coconut Oil and 1/3 butter)
Cold Water 6 TBL

You will need a 9″ pie pan.

Making pie crust is an art. You can buy pie frozen pie crusts if you don’t want to take this on, but we’ve learned to do it pretty quickly and it works.
In a food processor put in the flour and salt. The butter (or butter and coconut oil) need to be cold, then cut them into about 1″ pieces and put into food processor and pulse until the flour/butter mixture looks rough, but there aren’t any huge butter chunks. Then add about 5 TBL of cold water and pulse again, you might need another TBL or two more of water until the dough in the food processor is still loose, but will hold together if you try to make a ball out of it.

Roll out 2/3 of the pie dough into a circle and then transfer to the pie plate. Roll out the last 1/3 of the pie dough into a circle (to use after the filling is in).

Pie Filling
Apples 8 Cups
Lemon zest 1/2 tsp
Corn starch 2 Tbl
Vanilla 1 tsp
Cardamom 1/3 tsp
Lavender 2 tsp
Sugar 1/2 Cup
Melted butter 1/4 Cup

Top Sprinkle
Cinnamon Sugar 2 tsp

Zest the lemon, toss it with the dry pie filling ingredients. Peel and chop apples and mix them with all the rest of the pie filling ingredients, including the dry ingredients. Fill the pie crust.

Take the circle you have rolled for the top and put it over the whole pie. Cut the outer edge of the dough so that it’s evenly sticking out from the pie pan. Roll the top and bottom of the edges of the pie crust down and crimp with your fingers to make a little designed edge. Cut some holes in the top with either the point of a knife or a fork to make holes for steam to escape while cooking. Put the pie onto a cookie sheet to protect your oven from overflowing.

Cook at 350º for about 1.25 hours – check for golden brown crust. When it’s nice and golden, and there is a hint of bubbling in the pie, or steam coming out, then it’s done. Cool and serve. It’s really good with ice cream – lavender ice cream if you have any. Yum!!

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Pecan Puffs

Who doesn’t like a tasty bit of butter, pecans, and sugar? It’s one level better with lavender.

Lavender Pecan Puffs

Ingredients*

Cookies:

114 g Butter
2 g Lavender Extract
150 g Pastry Flour
23 g Sugar
110 g Ground Pecans

Sugar Dusting:

80 g Confectioner’s Sugar
1/2 tsp Finely ground Lavender

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325°

Beat butter until soft, add sugar & blend until creamy, add lavender extract.

Measure the pecans, then grind them in a nut grinder, food processor or chop finely with a knife. Stir them into the butter mixture and sift in flour.

Roll the dough into small balls, place balls on greased cookie sheet & bake about 30 minutes.

Roll after cooled in powdered sugar to coat, put them on a plate and watch them disappear.

If you want to store them, they will do well in a sealed container.

* If you don’t already have a scale, get one that also measures grams. Your baking will be ever so much better because you will be able to measure more accurately. Atmospheric conditions affect the volume and weight of ingredients, so using a scale helps make recipes succeed no matter where you are.

But, if you don’t have a scale here are some tips to help translate the weights

Butter – 1/4 lb = 115 g
Pastry Flour – 1 Cup = 106 g
Pecans – 1/8 Cup = 110 g
Extract – 1 tsp = 4.2 g
Sugar – 1 Cup = 200 g
Confectioner’s Sugar – 1 Cup = 125 g

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Herbs de Provence Quiche

Quiche

Need an exceptional Quiche for a party and aren’t allergic to cooking? This is our secret recipe for a Quiche that is utterly delightful. (Printable Quiche Recipe)

Quiche

 You will need the following ingredients. There are some ingredients that are simply best to measure by weight, so get out your scale or make your best guess. Get your Herbs de Provence from us!

quiche filling ingredients

Make your Pie Shell first (see below)

Preheat the oven to 350º

Sauté onions in the butter until tender.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, cream and apple juice. Stir in most of the cheese, Herbs de Provence, bacon, salt, pepper and onions. Pour into pastry shell that you have prepared; sprinkle the top with the cheese you didn’t mix in earlier. If you don’t want a darker color on the top then mix all the cheese in earlier and don’t sprinkle the top with it.

Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

Pie Pastry Shell

pie shell ingredientsMaking a pie crust doesn’t have to be a huge mystery. But, it does take some basic understanding of what needs to happen to make a good pie crust. The dried ingredients (flour and salt in this case) need to have little bits of fat all through it. The best way to do that is to cut the fat into the dry ingredients, and then add really
cold water (cold to stop the fat from melting) enough so the dough will form into a ball that doesn’t stick too much to your hands.

I use a food processor to cut the butter into the flour mixture. Put the flour & salt into the food processor, then add the butter that you have cut into chunks and pulse it in quick short bursts. When it looks like you’ve got little bits of butter throughout the flour, then you are ready. Add a few Tablespoons of the water and pulse. You want the dough to form little balls, but not one big ball – because if it does that you’ve put in too much water or pulsed it too much. Once it has a lots of little balls, see if you can pack it with your hands into one big ball. If you can you are ready to roll it out into a circle for  your pie shell. Get your pie pan near the circle, fold the dough circle in half, and then ease it onto the pan, spread it out. Cut off the uneven bits around the edge. Along the edge, fold the dough under and press with your fingers to make a scalloped design. Voilá! You have a pie shell ready for your Quiche filling

Bon Appetite!

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Lemon Lavender Butter Cookies

Butter Cookies

These are those gorgeous brown edged cookies that are delicate and so tasty.

Watch our video to see how to make them.

Preheat the oven to 3750 F.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 C Butter
  • 1/2 C Sugar
  • 1 tsp Ground Lavender
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 tsp Vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp Grated Lemon Rind
  • 3/4 C Flour

Bring the butter and eggs to room temperature. Cream the butter and the sugar together until you have a fluffy consistency. Add the lavender, egg, vanilla, and lemon rind and stir. Then add the flour and stir.

Drop the cookies onto a greased cookie sheet (or use parchment paper to line the sheet) and allow plenty of space between them because they spread.

Bake for about 10 minutes. They will be paper thin and have a brown edge when done.

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Pesto Rollups

Rollups with Aioli

On the farm we grow garlic as well as lavender, so I needed an hors d’oeuvre for a party and wanted to use the garlic scapes (flower stalks) that are so tasty and have a beautiful color.

These delightful bites of pesto with a crunch were a hit at the party last night. They are combinations of garlic scape pesto (but you can substitute any of your favorite pestos), cheese, and pie crust dough. Combine them with a dipping sauce and you are off to being very popular at that potluck or party.

Garlic Scape Pesto Recipe

Preheat oven to 400º

8 garlic scapes

1/2 cup mixed nuts or your favorite nuts

3 large springs of parsley

2/3 C grated romano cheese

1/3 C olive oil

Put scapes, nuts and parsley in your food processor and process until finely chopped. Add romano cheese and olive oil and process until it forms a coarse paste. Then it’s ready.

Pie Crust Recipe

2/3 C butter

2 1/2 C pastry flour

1 tsp salt

6 to 8 tablespoons cold water

Put butter, flour, and salt into the food processor and mix. Pulse and add the cold water 2 tablespoons at a time. When the mixture just starts to form clumps it is done.

Forming the Roll Ups

Make a ball of 1/2 of the piecrust dough and roll it into as much into a square shape as you can.

Pie Dough Square

Cut the dough into half so it forms two rectangles. Using one rectangle per roll, spread the pesto on top of one.

Spread Pesto

Add the cheese.

Sprinkle Cheese

Roll it up

Roll Up Dough

Cut the roll into 1/4” rounds.

Cut Into Rounds

Put them individually onto a cookie sheet.

Bake for 25 minutes or until brown is starting to show on them.

Take them out and cool.

Serve with a dipping sauce. I used a lavender Aioli that we make, but you can get creative with whatever dipping sauce you think would be good – or just serve these tasty bites plain. Either way, you’ll have a great treat with that glass of wine.

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Lavender Lemonade

Lavender Lemonade
Lavender Lemonade

Is there anything more refreshing and delightful you can think of? Imagine yourself holding a nice glass of lavender lemonade tinkling with frigid ice cubes on a warm day. You raise it and take a cool sip, the refreshing coolness going into your mouth and and on down while you lean back and sigh with delight.

Ok, you might really be throwing together the lemonade to give to a room full of kids racing around on a rainy day. Or you might have some friends over for a bridge game and serve them something new and different. If it’s a celebration, throw a little splash of vodka in to make a punch with a kick.

Natural lavender lemonade has either a light brown color or a slightly pink color depending of if you use dried or fresh lavender to make the tea. The fresh lavender does have a slight pink color when it is infused, but dried lavender really and truly comes out brown. Great flavor, though! If you want a brighter color and bit different flavor you can add some strawberry or blackberry juice.

If it’s a cold, blustery day you might want to try hot lavender lemonade. Just warm it to around 150º, pour it into your best coffee mug and sip it as your warm your toes by the fire. My favorite image from when I was a kid is of playing Monopoly and drinking hot lemonade and eating fluffernutters. (If you know what those are you get some extra credit.)

Any way your want serve it, lavender lemonade is a great way to relax and enjoy your day with a unique flavor.

Lavender Lemonade

RECIPE

  • 1 Can Frozen Lemonade
  • 1/3 can Strawberry or Blackberry Syrup (optional)
  • 1 can Lavender Tea
  • 2 TBLS Dried Lavender Bud (flowers)

Make Lavender Tea ahead of time

Lavender Tea

In a sauce pan add 1 1/2 C water and 2 TBLS lavender flowers to a boil.  Turn off the heat and let it sit for at least 1/2 hour.  Cool before using in the lemonade.

Mix the Lemonade

Mix up the lemonade  – substitute one can of Lavender Tea for one of the cans of water, and if you want, 1/3 can of strawberry syrup  for 1/3 can of water.

Source for Lavender

Lavender Wind has Culinary Lavender available online or at our shop in Coupeville.