Cookies and lemonade made special with herbs

The FOHC herb garden also includes several lavender plants, which were harvested in July for the sachets given away at Harvest Day. Some varieties are better than others for culinary uses, if you're shopping for plants. Some lavenders have a more soapy taste and are better in sachets or wreaths. (If you want to learn more about lavender, a good place to start is the website of Morningsun Herb Farm, the Vacaville nursery where the master gardeners found several of the plants for the herb garden.)

For each of these recipes I made partial batches. I had just enough dried lemon verbena leaves for a half batch of shortbread. For the lemonade, since we're long past harvest time, I was delighted to find culinary lavender in the herb section of my local Safeway. That jar was just enough to make one-third of a batch.

But the recipes below are the full amounts as passed along by the Herb Team. My additions are in parentheses.

Lemon verbena shortbread

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened (plus 1/2 teaspoon salt, if using unsalted butter)

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 to 3 teaspoons finely ground dried lemon verbena leaves

Instructions:

Blend butter and sugar well (and the salt if using unsalted butter), then stir in the flour and lemon verbena. Form into logs (mine in the half batch was about 8 inches long) and wrap in plastic. (I added a layer of wax paper over the plastic.)

Chill overnight. (If you want round cookies, start shaping the logs after they've started to firm up. That'll be easier than trying to reshape the very cold dough.)

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Slice the dough about 1/4-inch thick. (Place on a parchment-covered baking pan.) Bake 12-15 minutes, until slightly brown on the edges. Cool on rack. (Cookies are very soft when they come out of the oven, so don't try to remove them for at least 15 minutes.)

These will keep several days in an airtight container. (Vivian sometimes makes these into sandwich cookies with lemon verbena jelly, but that's a recipe for another day!)

Lavender lemonade

Makes about 6 cups

Ingredients:

2 cups boiling water

1 cup dried lavender flowers

1 cup sugar

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 6 to 7 lemons, depending on their juiciness)

2 cups cold water

Instructions:

Make an infusion by pouring the boiling water over the lavender in a mixing bowl (or large glass measuring cup). Let steep 10 minutes. Strain; discard (or compost) the lavender. 

Pour the hot lavender water over the sugar in a large bowl or pitcher. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Then add the cold water and the lemon juice. (The lemonade will turn a gorgeous pink color.) Refrigerate before serving; use lemon slices and/or lavender sprigs for garnish.

Tip: Zest those lemons first and save the zest in the freezer for another recipe.