Fall is here and people are gravitating to the kitchen to bake. The Holidays are around the corner, it is a cozy place during the dark wet weather, and everyone loves cookies – so why not embrace the holidays.
The story of shortbread begins with the Scottish medieval “biscuit bread”. Leftover dough from bread making was dried out in a low oven until it hardened into a type of rusk: the word “biscuit” means “twice cooked”. Gradually the yeast in the bread was replaced by butter, and biscuit bread developed into shortbread. In the UK, biscuits are cookies and scones are the UK version of US biscuits.
Thanks to chefs like California-based Loria Stern and her application of edible flowers they add color and excitement to the cookies. One of her greatest hits is the pressed flower sugar cookie, a trifle of unique beauty perfect for a party. The recipes can also include cannabutter if you want to give it a little extra excitement.
Related: A Morsel Of Nostalgia: CannaBonbon Cookies Recipe
You can add edible flowers to so many foods, but a sweet cookie is an excellent place for their fragrant, vegetal glory, and it complements those similar notes in cannabis flower. Using homegrown flowers as Stern does is a luxury that some climates allow, but if you’re in an urban area lacking organic bachelor’s button and calendula, rose petals and lavender will also do nicely. Try it out as fall tips into full swing for a unique but rich consumable.
Triple Flower Shortbread
Estimated 5mg THC per 1/8th wedge
2 cups all purpose flour
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 stick cannabutter*, softened
1 tsp salt
½ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp coarse sugar for dusting
1 tbsp each organic rose and lavender flowers
Sift sugar and salt into a large bowl. Add the butter and whip with an electric mixer until creamy and fluffy. Add vanilla and mix again momentarily. Fold in sifted flour with a spatula until the dough comes together.
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Chill the dough for at least 1 hour before baking. Preheat oven to 325 degrees when you’re 15 minutes away from baking, depending on you r
Grease a large cast iron skillet and press the dough into the pan at a 1” thickness all around. Sprinkle with flowers and sugar, then cover with parchment or plastic wrap and press the flowers and sugar gently into the dough to make them secure for baking and handling.
Bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes until the cookie is golden, but not brown. Be sure to rotate throughout the bake time to avoid uneven cooking. Allow to cool completely before removing from the pan with a long flat spatula.
Cut into wedges or break into rustic slices, and serve with a matching floral tea, the experience of smelling this combo alone is worth the baking effort.
*Cannabutter
Decarboxylate 2 grams of finely ground cannabis or .25 gram of concentrate. Put material in lidded mason jar or vacuum sealed bag with cannabis and one stick of butter. Heat in water bath just under boiling for at least 1 hour. Strain and cool to use in recipes.
Complete any high tea with these beautiful cookies, and when you have access to all of the amazing wildflowers that some west coast chefs do, take advantage!
