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A huge bunch of lilacs brought back two weekends ago from the country were repurposed into syrup before they died completely.
The flowers had lost much of their gorgeous fragrance and the result was a slightly bitter syrup with just a hint of lilac but still flavorful enough to bake with.
Some more of the dried petals were added with the syrup to my favorite sugar cookie dough as well as some vanilla bean paste to smooth out the flavor. I used the sweeter vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract to balance out the slight bitterness of the syrup. The result were flavorful cookies that looked pretty enough even before I tricked them out for Mother’s Day.
For the icing decorations, I mixed up a batch of royal icing, separated the batch, leaving most of it white, then colored small amounts green and two shades of purple.
The letters for the words “Mom” and “Lea” (my mother’s name) and the lilac blooms were made first as royal icing transfers. For the words, once I found a font I liked I printed it out and then slipped the sheet under baking paper and traced over the letters with the icing.
The flowers were done free hand using two different shades of purple. After drying completely I peeled them off the paper and stuck them on a freshly iced cookie and piped on stems and leaves.
For the cookies themselves, I created a color border, let it dry and then filled it in with the white. The stems for the lilacs were piped on before adhering the lilac blooms. Yeah I realize, the leaves would have looked better if I had used a stiffer icing. I am still working out my issues with 5, 10 and 15 second rule icings. Don’t judge.
I am submitting this post to Lavender and Lovage and What Kate Baked‘s Tea Time Treats hosted by Lavender and Lovage. The fun theme this month is Floral Flavours and Flowers. A big thank you to both ladies.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother’s Day!
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1+1/4 lilac blossoms (clean with no pesticides)
Directions:
- Bring Water and sugar to a boil.
- Add lilacs and simmer for about 20 minutes until mixture thickens.
- Strain out the lilac blossoms and pour into a jar.
For the Lilac Vanilla Sugar Cookies:
Ingredients:
- 1 stick butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1+1/3 cup AP flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- lilac syrup
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
- 3 tablespoons dried lilac blossoms
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Sift flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl and set aside.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Cream butter and sugar together.
- Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
- Add lilac syrup and vanilla bean paste.
- Mix in the dried lilac blossoms.
- Wrap dough(s) in plastic cling film and refrigerate for at least one hour.
- Remove from fridge and roll out on a floured surface and cut out desired shapes.
- Place on baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minute or until the cookies turn slightly golden on the very edges.
- Remove from oven, transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before icing.
7 comments
I love that there are dried lilac blossoms in these cookies and your decorating is adorable. I'm sure your Mom was deeply touched by these.
Lilacs add for such a dainty touch! I had no idea you could actually EAT them!
Wow, Lora. This is so inspiring – I'd love to try these. Bet the taste is incredible!
They're beautiful Lora! I've never smelt nor tasted lilac before, how intriguing.
AN absolutely WONDERFUL entry thanks SO much! I have lilac in my garden, so I MUST give this a go! The biscuits/cookies are SO pretty and a PERFECT bake for Mother's Day…..a truly LOVELY Tea Time Treats Entry for Floral May!
Karen
So pretty! Love the transfers, and I also love the randomness of the lilacs in the cookie dough. Inspiring!
Oh they look beautiful…happy Mothers day:)