Lavender picnic / Piknik s sivko

Yes, I realize that we are in the middle of  blizzard, we can only dream of sun, sea and lavender ... And that's what I'm doing. Dreaming ... dreaming of summer. And nobody can take that away from me. I dream of Tuscany, which I have never seen, but I want to. I dream of a romantic picnic that would pessimists label as something unreal, something that happens only in movies,... but for me..this seems completely real. Why not? I would escape to Tuscany and run to fields of lavender, walk on the paths surrounded by dreamy, sun-drenched nature, photograph, lay in the grass, read books, enjoy the homemade pasta, ice cream, cheeses, prosciutto, cook ... These are the things in which I would really enjoy. The world turned off, romance turned on.
Lavender is not for everyone, it's too strong for some. Only a few months ago I learned that it can also be used in cooking (well, just a few months ago I also started to cook =) ). I wanted to bake simple, granny cookies. Therefore, I now present you this lavender cookies. Lavender tea or lavender lemonade fits perfectly with this cookies. I bought a lavender tea and with this lavender I have prepared all of this. The color of lemonade is not as strong as mine, I used a little blueberry syrup.  Yeeesss, let's dream away to Tuscany!

With love, Neja
Lavender lemonade

Ingredients

• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup agave nectar (or honey)
• 3 Tbsp dried lavender
• 2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 4 cups water

The process
Over medium heat, combine two cups of water and sugar, bringing to a boil until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in agave nectar and dried lavender. Cover for about 15 minutes, allowing mixture to steep. Strain lavender, making sure to release all juices and syrup.In a large pitcher, combine freshly squeezed lemon juice, lavender mixture and water.

Lavender cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup of butter 
• 1/2 cup of icing sugar 
• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 1/2 cup of corn starch
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• 3 Tbsp dried lavender

The process
I cut my butter into thin slices directly from the fridge and then beat it with my stand mixer. Using cold butter prevents having to chill the dough.
Beat the butter until smooth but not creamy. You don’t want to over beat it. When smooth, add your icing sugar and cream together. In a smaller bowl I had combined the flour and the cornstarch and whisked them together before adding to the butter and icing sugar mixture. As the beaters are combining the flour mixture with the butter mixture, I added the vanilla. Don’t over mix your dough, just mix on 2nd speed until all combined. Add Lavender.
Then I scraped down the bowl and formed a buttery ball of shortbread cookie dough. Roll the dough and cut the cookies.
Bake for 12 minutes at 150°C.

Da, zavedam se, da nas je ravno na sveže zasnežilo, da lahko samo sanjamo o soncu, morju in sivki... In točno to delam. Sanjam, sanjarim...o poletju. Tega mi nihče ne more vzeti. Sanjam o Toskani, ki je še nikoli nisem videla, a si jo želim. Sanjam o romantičnem pikniku, ki bi ga pesimisti označili za filmskega, torej nerealnega.. ampak meni se to zdi popolnoma realno. Morda ni? Pobegnila bi v Toskano, se zapodila v nasade sivke, sprehajala bi se po poteh obdanih s sanjsko, s soncem obsijano naravo, fotografirala, ležala v travi, brala knjige, uživala ob domačih testeninah, sladoledu, sirih, pršutu, kuhala... To so stvari, v katerih bi res uživala. Svet izklopljen, romantika vklopljena.
Sivka ni za vsakogar, za nekatere je premočna. Šele pred meseci sem izvedela, da se jo lahko uporabi tudi v kulinariki (hja, šele pred meseci sem začela tudi kuhati =) ). Želela sem speči take prave, preproste, babiške piškote. Zato vam danes predstavljam sivkine piškote. Zraven super paše sivkin čaj ali sivkina limonada.  Sama sem kupila sivkin čaj in iz te sivke sem pripravila vse to. Sivkina limonada ni tako močne barve, sama sem uporabila malo borovničevega sirupa. Jaaaa, odsanjajmo v Toskano!

Z ljubeznijo, Neja

Sivkina limonada
Sestavine

• 480ml vode
• 100g sladkorja
• 75 agavinega sirupa (ali med)
• 3 žlice posušene sivke
• 480ml sveže stisnjenega limoninega soka
• 960ml vode

Postopek
Na srednje močnem ognju, združite dve skodelici vode in sladkor, tako da zavre, oz. dokler se sladkor raztopi. Odstranite z ognja in vmešajte agavin sirup in posušeno sivko. Pokrijte za približno 15 minut. Precedite sivko in iz nje izstisnite vso tekočino. V velikem vrču združite  sveže stisnjen limonin sok, sivkino mešanico  in vodo.

Piškoti s sivko
Sestavine

• 227g masla
• 63g sladkorja v prahu
• 188g moke
• 75g koruznega škroba
• 1 žlička vanilijevega ekstrakta
• 3 žlice posušene sivke

Postopek
Maslo narežemo  na tanke rezine neposredno iz hladilnika in ga nato zmiksamo z mešalnikom.
Maslo zmiksamo do gladkega, ne kremastega. Dodajte sladkor v prahu in dobro vmešajte skupaj. V manjši posodi združite moko in koruzni škrob in mešanico dodajte maslu in sladkorju v prah., nato dodajte vanilijo. Ne mešajte na previsoki hitrosti. Dodajte sivko.
Postrgajte maso in oblikujte manjše krogle, ki jih s prsti sploščite in z modelčki izrežite piškote. pecite 12 minut pri 150°C.

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Lavender lemonade