Welcome to Bridgerton Watch Party Week! 7 days, 6 brand new, Bridgerton-inspired recipes & lots of tips, tricks and ideas for creating an afternoon tea-style dessert table worthy of the show. Whether you’re planning to host a Season 3 watch party yourself, or just want to make your own viewing experience extra sweet- I’ve got you covered!

Today’s post is all about these super easy, 5-ingredient Lavender Shortbread Hearts. They’re quick to make, perfect for this time of year and super delicious- what’s not to love?

Inspiration
Ingredients
How to Make Lavender Shortbread Hearts
Tips & Tricks for Perfect Shortbread
Lavender Shortbread Hearts Recipe

Inspiration

I knew that I wanted to include some sort of biscuit on my dessert table and shortbread felt like the perfect choice! Not only is it delicious, it’s also a great, neutral base for incorporating other flavours. As well as this, from the promotional content I’ve seen so far, it looks like the newly recast Francesca Bridgerton will be playing a significant role in this season, after taking a bit of a backseat over the first two seasons. While I haven’t actually read the Bridgerton books by Julia Quinn yet (I’m all confused because I usually read books before watching the tv/film adaptations, but I didn’t know these books existed at first and now I don’t want to ruin the series for myself by reading the books- especially because I’ve heard the show changes a lot? So I’m very much all in a pickle), from what I gather, Francesca ends up living in Scotland, so my Bridgerton-inspired spin on this classic, Scottish biscuit is my little ode to her character (and her new actress: Hannah Dodd!).

One of the things I love about Bridgerton is all the flowers. I know there’s a lot of artificial blooms and rather scandalous out-of-season situations (it drives my botanist parents INSANE), but I just love the whole flower-y, OTT vibe. I wanted to include some sort of floral flavour in this series, so I opted to flavour my shortbread biscuits with lavender. I associate lavender with the eldest Bridgerton sister, Daphne, mainly because of her gorgeous lilac dresses in Seasons 1 and 2 (I loved her purple outfits so much so that I actually knitted myself a lilac Daphne Top!). Francesca’s new look in the Season 3 promotional material feels very similar to Daphne’s style, so this shortbread recipe is kind of like my ode to those two debutante sisters (…sorry Eloise).

Also, I decided to cut my shortbread into heart shapes, because, you know, Bridgerton is a romantic series. Obviously, though, you can choose any shape you want for your shortbread!

Ingredients

To make these Lavender Shortbread Hearts, you only need 5 ingredients:

Dried lavender

Make sure you buy culinary-grade dried lavender. I use this brand.

Butter

You can use either salted or unsalted- whichever you have on hand. I tend to use unsalted, but, to be honest, it doesn’t make that much of a difference.

Caster sugar

This gets creamed into the butter for the dough, then more is sprinkled on top of the baked biscuits to give them their characteristic, sparkly look and crunchy texture.

Plain flour

Don’t use self-raising flour- you don’t want the cookies to rise, you want them to be crisp and snappy.

Rice flour

Rice flour helps to give the shortbread its characteristic crumbly (or ‘short’, hence the name) texture. You can find rice flour in most supermarkets- try looking in the Free From aisle if you’re having trouble.

How to Make Lavender Shortbread Hearts

Start by preheating the oven to 180°C (conventional oven). Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and set aside.

Next, prepare your lavender by grinding it into a powder. This will ensure that the lavender flavour is evenly distributed throughout the shortbread (and that the texture of the biscuits stays consistent). I do this in a mortar and pestle, but you could use a spice grinder, if you prefer.

Once your lavender is prepared, you can start the shortbread dough. Place the softened butter and sugar into a large bowl and cream together until light and fluffy. You can do this by hand, with a wooden spoon, but I prefer to use a handheld electric mixer (you could also use a freestanding mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, if you have one).

When the butter and sugar are well-combined and the mixture is pale and fluffy, sift in both flours, then add the ground lavender.

Mix until the dough starts to come together.

Use your hands to finish bringing the dough together into a smooth ball, being careful not to overwork it (otherwise your shortbread might end up being a bit tough, which isn’t what you’re going for!).

Place the ball of dough onto a clean, lightly floured work surface and roll it out, until it’s about 1cm thick.

Using a heart-shaped cutter (or any cutter of your choosing), stamp out the shortbread and transfer the biscuits to the prepared baking tray. Re-roll as necessary (but as little as possible, to prevent over-working the dough).

Use a fork to prick each biscuit all over before baking. The holes will remain after baking, so try to keep them neat.

Bake the biscuits in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, until just golden around the edges.

Dredge the biscuits with caster sugar as soon as you take them out of the oven (doing this straight away helps the sugar to stick), then allow them to cool completely on the tray before shaking off any excess sugar and serving. The shortbread can be made in advance- stored in an airtight container, at room temperature, it will keep for about 3-4 days.

Tips & Tricks for Perfect Shortbread

Don’t overwork the dough

Overworking the dough can make your shortbread tough and oily, instead of soft and crumbly. Bring it together until it just forms a smooth ball, then re-roll the dough as little as possible by cutting out the individual biscuits as close together as you can. It’s not quite as important here as it is with, say, scones, but it is something to keep in mind.

Always prick the biscuits before baking

Also known as ‘docking’, pricking shortbread before it bakes is a really important step. If you don’t, your shortbread will bubble up and bake unevenly- not only will it look a bit strange, but the structure of your biscuit will be all over the place! Make sure to prick the whole surface evenly- for these heart-shaped shortbread biscuits, I made 5 vertical lines of fork pricks on each biscuit, spacing them out so that no part of the biscuit would bubble. Just remember that these holes will stay after baking, so try and keep things looking pretty and even!