Dark Chocolate Lavender Shortbread

I love all things lavender.  I enjoy the aroma of lavender in my home, lavender vanilla lattes are one of my favorite things ever, and I love lavender in baked goods!  So last weekend I decided to make some Vegan Dark Chocolate Lavender Shortbread!  I have made chocolate shortbread before and vanilla lavender short bread, but never combined the two and let me tell you the end result was so delicious!  Which is why I am sharing it with you all!

This is so simple to make and so good!  I used vegan butter for the fat because I feel like it behaves slightly better in short bread than coconut oil (which I have also tried).  It gives it the perfect rich melt in your mouth texture.  I used Earth Balance this time but if you have another brand you prefer go for it with that one.  I used granulated sugar but maple sugar would also work here if you prefer that.  I mixed in dried lavender flowers when creaming the butter and sugar with vanilla to give these their heavenly lavender flavor.  I got my dried lavender flowers off of Amazon in bulk.

I mixed in a good amount of cacao powder along with the flour and it made these chocolaty, decadent and delicious!  I used whole wheat pastry flour but if you prefer all purpose flour instead, that would work as well.  Or if you wanted to make them gluten free, use a gluten free flour such as Bob's Red Mill all purpose gluten free baking flour.  I have used that brand before and it works well.  I baked these in a removable bottom 9 inch round tart pan and cut them into wedges but if you didn't have that type of pan you could use a 9x9 inch square lined with parchment that drapes over the ends (for easy removal), and score them into squares instead of triangles.

Once they were baked I drizzled them with dark chocolate and sprinkled them with a touch more lavender and I could not wait to try them!  They turned out so heavenly!  They were melt in your mouth rich packed with dark chocolate flavor and a hint of lavender and vanilla the dark chocolate on top just the icing on the cake!  My husband loved them as well and kept asking for more!  If you are a lover of all things dark chocolate and decadent definitely give this Vegan Dark Chocolate Lavender Short Bread a try!

Dark Chocolate Lavender Short Bread

Makes 16 pieces

Ingredients:

• 1 cup or 2 sticks Earth Balance or other vegan butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp dried lavender flowers
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cacao powder
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup vegan dark chocolate chunks or chips
• dried lavender flowers

1. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the butter, sea salt, sugar, and lavender until the butter and sugar are well incorporated.
3. Mix in the cacao powder, vanilla and baking powder until well incorporated.
4. Mix in the flour until the dough is uniform in color.
5. Place the dough in a 9 inch round removable bottom tart pan and press into the pan until it is spread out completely to the edges in an even layer.
6. Score the dough into 16 wedges using a knife, then poke the pieces with a fork a few times.
7. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes until set.
8. Remove from the oven, let sit for 10 minutes then re-cut where you scored it with a sharp knife.
9. Let cool completely in the pan.
10. When the shortbread is cool remove from pan. Arrange on a cooling rack.
11. Melt the dark chocolate in the top of a double boiler, and drizzle over the shortbread.  Sprinkle with lavender flowers and allow the chocolate to set (you can place it in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes to set it).
12. Enjoy!

Shortbread keeps for 1 week at room temperature in an airtight container or 4 months frozen in an airtight container.