Pistachio and Lime Cookies + Dried Strawberry-Lemon Thyme Shortbread Cookies + Blueberry Lavender White Chocolate Cookies

The next three recipes I will be posting are cookies that I made as going away gifts for three of the men I worked with. I really enjoyed their company, and spent most of my lunches eating with them. I thought that they deserved a more special goodbye so I thought what better way than to make some cookies. I decided on some cookies that aren't your traditional flavours, and decided to go a little bit more outside of the bubble on these ones. The reason I decided on that is that they have traveled all over the world, and I figured that people who travel the world are more open to certain flavours that your traditional homebody may not be open to. Well, I was right.

Pistachio and Lime Cookies

Recipe taken from here

The first cookie I had decided on was a pistachio and lime cookie. Ever since I was a young girl, pistachio's have have always come at the top of my list for favourite nuts. They're just so good, they're salty, filling, crunchy (of course), and just have an awesome taste, plus the red ones dye your fingers, I always loved that, not sure why. I was a little skeptical at first of how the pistachio and the lime were going to mix together but holy cow, these two flavours definitely compliment one another. You get a little zing from the lime and then you get a sweet nutty flavour from the pistachios. Very good recipe, I just found that the dough was NOT fun to work with. It was incredibly sticky even after being in the fridge for over an hour. I decided to just scoop the batter onto the pan and just gather it together into an interesting "ball" shape since I couldn't roll the dough.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour aka plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, slightly firm
• Finely grated zest of 2 limes
• 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 + 1/4 cups caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 cup unsalted pistachios, peeled, chopped
  

Directions:

Sift together; flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment; mix the butter with the lime zest until smooth and creamy. This way the flavours of the lime will get infused into the butter evenly.

Add sugar and keep mixing till well combined. Add egg yolks, lime juice & vanilla and mix well.

Chop your pistachios finely, or put in your food processor. Add pistachios into the dry mixture and continue folding it in by hand (continues to next process)

Roll and shape the mixture into logs, with diameters of roughly 3.75cm (1 1/2in) and 15cm long. Wrap logs in cling wrap and refrigerate for an hour or until firm… generally you can keep these logs in the fridge for up to 3 days, or a month in the freezer.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two trays with baking paper.

Using a sharp knife, carefully cut out 6mm (1/4in) thick slices and roll/reshape log if need to.
Places slices 5cm away from each other. Bake in over for 8 or so minutes, or until the edges are slightly brown. If you like slightly soft cookies this step is recommended, otherwise for crunchier cookies you will need to leave in a bit longer.

Remove from oven and let it cool.

Dried Strawberry-Lemon Thyme Shortbread Cookies

Recipe taken from here

These shortbread cookies were quite simple to make and create such a sophisticated, full-flavoured dessert. When I think of those three men and I hear about the food they've eaten around the world, and the food they choose to cook up at home, it makes me think of them as a dried strawberry-lemon thyme shortbread cookie. That's a weird thing to say I know but the cookies are just so nice and delicate as any shortbread should be. However the strawberries to me added a little sweetness with a subtle tartness which is needed to compensate for the floral hues you get from the lemon and thyme. I used a chewier kind of strawberry rather than a very dried strawberry so it was a little harder to work with, almost a gummy strawberry. I did chop them up but it was still difficult. This made it a little difficult to have flatter shortbread cookies so instead I had balled shortbreads, they were still cute though with the little speckles of thyme and lemon intermingled through out.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dried strawberries
• 1 stick butter butter at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp fresh chopped lemon thyme
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tbsp of milk

Directions:

In a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour, thyme, dried strawberries, pinch of salt and the milk and beat until the ingredients are just starting to come together. Stop the mixer and finish mixing the dough with your hands on a work surface.

Roll the dough into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes (overnight is best).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Slice the cookies about 1/4 inch thick. Arrange them on a baking sheet and bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes or until just golden brown around the edges (don't overcook or the strawberries will burn).

Blueberry Lavender White Chocolate Cookies

Recipe taken from here

This was an amazing cookie. I liked it a lot too because the taste of the lavender was not overpowering, so especially if you're not a fan of floral flavours especially in your baking you would still like this. The lavender is offset by the blueberries and the white chocolate. I liked this because you could tell that the cookie was inspired by an oatmeal cookie. It had gorgeous sophisticated flavours within the chewy tender oatmeal cookie. It really had a sweet taste, I'm not the biggest fan of white chocolate, but getting the big chunks of white chocolate was so wonderful. I didn't however roll the cookies in sugar or lavender once completed which I wish I would have because then you would know for sure that lavender was a part of this cookie combination and it would of added just a little bit more crunch from the sugar, regardless, excellent cookie.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cups brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups oats (old-fashioned)
• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 5 tbsp frozen blueberries
• 1/2 tsp of ground lavender buds
• 1 cup white chocolate

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix together brown sugar and butter until smooth. Stir in baking soda, vanilla and salt. Add eggs and stir until blended.

Stir in oats, flour, lavender, dried blueberries and white chocolate.

Roll into small balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet, about 2-inches apart. Bake 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Remove from cookie sheet at once and cool on wire rack.

Enjoy :)