Lavender White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today we began harvesting the veggies and herbs we have so far from our Spring garden.  In case I haven't mentioned before, our garden is made up of numerous container plants on our apartment patio.  And by numerous, I mean this patio is covered in plants...plus two fruit trees...it's kind of ridiculous.  It's so bad that we have received several letters from property management asking us to take down all of our planted pots from our ledge...so we take them down for a day or two and then they go back up again!  Chris is definitely the one with the green thumb.  Not me, If I so much as look at a plant I swear I will kill it.  I am the absolute worst gardener I've ever known, but I love helping pick everything once it's grown!

Today I decided to make a special treat with our fresh lavender.  I absolutely love the versatility of lavender.  It can brighten up any baked treat or add a unique twist to a savory dish.  For my Bachelorette party last year my girls took me to this cute place in downtown Fullerton called the Tranquil Tea Lounge where I discovered the most amazing White Chocolate Lavender Scones.  I decided to recreate them into cookies and they turned out so good.  Soft cookies with a hint of floral lavender are complimented by creamy white chocolate chips creating a unique twist on the classic chocolate chip cookie.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons fresh lavender (or you can use dried)
2 sticks butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and lavender.  Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars together.  Add the vanilla.  Add eggs, one at a time and mix until combined.  In small batches, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until combined.  Fold in the chocolate chips.

Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop out tablespoon size portions of cookie dough onto sheets.

 Bake about 10-12 minutes until golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack.

Recipe Adapted from Pass the Sushi