Have you ever made shortbread cookies with edible flowers on top?

It’s like eating a treat straight out of a fairytale.

But, as expected, it’s hard to find a gluten-free and dairy-free recipe for this beautiful dessert! Naturally, I got busy whipping up some ideas in my kitchen. And, voila, a new recipe was born.

These easy shortbread sugar cookies:

• are gluten- and dairy-free,

• are sweetened with coconut sugar,

• require only two flours (almond and oat),

• are made in one-bowl,

• bake up in 10 minutes,

• require no extra steps such as chilling/freezing.

I love an easy cookie recipe, don’t you? I’m all about that low-effort, high-payoff game.

And I’ll be the first to tell you these make a stunning gift!

Not to mention that they’re a great seasonal project to do with kids.

I like to make these with friends to celebrate the bounty of flowers growing in my garden. Once a season I bake up a few batches to mark the shift in (edible) flora from season to season.

Violets, pansies, nasturtiums, calendula…

There are so many edible flowers to explore as cookie toppings!

Here are a few of my favorite flower varieties to use:

• Bachelors buttons,

• Violets,

• Pansies / violas,

• Roses,

• Nasturtiums (flowers and leaves),

• Wood sorrel (flowers and leaves),

• Calendula,

• Sunflower petals,

• Mint (flowers and leaves),

• Sage (flowers and leaves),

• Lemon Balm (flowers and leaves),

• Lavender,

• Dianthus,

• Chamomile,

• Borage.

There are lots of other edible flowers, but those are the ones I like best on cookies.

Be sure that your flowers are grown in organic, pesticide-free soil! This is a big reason I grow a lot of my own flowers. It’s hard to confirm how “clean” foraged flowers are in my area since I live in a semi-urban city. I always check before I forage flowers from neighbors or parks.

Without further ado… enjoy this recipe!

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Edible Flower Shortbread Cookies Recipe

Prep time: 5 mins - Cook time: 9-10 mins - Makes: ~ 18 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup almond meal

• 1/2 cup oat flour

• 1/4 cup coconut sugar or cane sugar

• Pinch salt

• 1/8 tsp ground cardamom

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste

• 4 tbsp coconut oil, solid at room temp

• 1 egg

• 1 tbsp coconut sugar or cane sugar to top

• Violets / edible flowers to top

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. In a large mixing bowl combine your dry ingredients: 1 cup almond meal, 1/2 cup oat flour, 1/4 cup sugar, pinch salt, and 1/8 tsp cardamom. Break up any flour clumps.

3. To your flour mix, stir in 1/2 tsp vanilla and 4 tbsp coconut oil. Use hands to massage the coconut oil into the flour until the mixture looks like wet sand. Add your egg, stirring it into the mix. Knead to bring everything together into a ball. Don’t worry about over-kneading since this recipe is gluten free.

4. Set the dough ball on a sheet of parchment paper. Top with a second sheet of parchment paper and roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick.

5. Use a circular cookie cutter (or a small mason jar lid) to cut out circles of the cookie dough. Roll away the excess dough and set it aside for your second batch.

6. Place violets on your cookies, pressing them into the tops firmly so they stick. Sprinkle sugar generously over top. Note: coconut sugar will do here but will make your cookies a brown / golden core. Cane sugar is the most attractive aesthetically, which is what you see in the photos.

7. Bake your first cookie sheet for 9-10 mins on the center rack until golden brown. Cookies firm up as they cool.

8. Store in a container loosely wrapped in a cloth at room temperature — a sealed top will soften the texture as moisture escapes the cookies.