I did a nice chunk of baking today... tiny bunnies and giant eggs to be decorated and shipped off to friends and family. Someone was nice enough to share a GOOD shortbread recipe with me, one that is sturdy and will hold up to decorating, and I modified it with my own touch... as usual. In addition to the normal shortbread ingredients these have a hefty dose of vanilla and a good amount of dried lavender. They look a bit overbaked, but that's more a product of ingredients than it is of timing. I'm starting to use white whole wheat flour in baking now and I just love it. If you've never had lavender in food before the best way I can describe it is, it's like tasting a smell. You may have had rose tea or something flavored with rosewater at some point. Know how as soon as the taste hits your tongue it feels as if the very flavor of it permeates up through the roof of your mouth, right into your nose? Lavender is like that, only not as overpowering as rose can be. It's just strong enough to hold its own against all that rich butter. If you look closely you can see all the lavender bits scattered throughout the cookies.

"Teacher & Student" My mom got to teach my best friend Johana how to make two of her signature recipes: apple pie and shortbread cookies! In return my mom got to learn a Columbian rice and shrimp dish that Johana cooked for lunch. It was a day where you couldn't place who was really "teacher" and who was "student"!