Tulsi Rose Lemon Cookies

Recently I shared on Instagram, the way that the garden inspires moments of unexpected creative flow, as we navigate the seasons of nature.

A few weeks ago, that sense of flow was inspired by the beauty and abundance of Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum) and Roses that were enjoying our local autumn heat waves.

As I was pruning back some foliage, I realized how much I wanted to spend some time with these two beautiful plants before continuing about my regular garden chores.

So, I gathered some Tulsi flowers, roses, and a few lemons from our yard and stepped into the kitchen. After looking through a few recipes and taking stock of the ingredients in my kitchen, I decided for something sweet; so I decided on Sourdough discard cookies.

If you aren't familiar with Sourdough discard, it is the by product of maintaining and feeding homemade sourdough starter. This discard can be used in a wide variety of recipes, and as someone who keeps a gluten free sourdough starter, it is a great option for making gluten free baking extra fluffy and more airy rather than the often cakey and dense texture that a lot of gluten free recipes tend to be.

If you are curious about exploring gluten free sourdough starter, I highly recommend this blog:

https://www.bakerita.com/how-to-make-a-gluten-free-sourdough-starter/ It helped me get started and has the most comprehensive info to make the process easy and straightforward.

If you don't have sourdough starter discard you can still modify this recipe and take the herb/flavor elements and place them into just about any base recipe and make a few adjustments for consistency to still enjoy these cookies.

Tulsi Rose Lemon Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegan butter (melted) 2/3 cup sugar

1 egg (or vegan egg substitute)

1/2 cup Gluten Free Sourdough Starter

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt 1 tsp lemon zest Juice from 1/2 a lemon 2 Tablespoons rose water 4 Tablespoons of strongly brewed Tulsi tea (*see notes)

2 1/2 cups almond flour (of preferred gluten free flour mix) Rose sugar for sprinkling on top

Process: -Preheat oven to 350 F

-Brew a strong Tulsi tea with either fresh picked or dried leaves/flowers. I prefer fresh flowers, as the flavor is stronger and more complex. Strain and set aside.

-Zest lemon and set aside.

-Mix melted butter and sugar together until smooth.

-Add egg, vanilla, discard, lemon zest, juice, Tulsi tea, and discard to wet ingredients and mix well.

-Mix flour, baking soda, and salt into wet ingredients and mix well.

-Scoop spoonful's for dough onto a prepared baking sheet and press flat. If dough is not firm enough, you can add more flour or refrigerate for 30 minutes to help with scooping. -Sprinkle cookies with rose sugar.

-Bake for 10-12 minutes until brown around the edges.

Notes: -To make rose sugar: Blend dried rose petals into a powder with a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder and mix thoroughly into cane sugar. You can save this in a cool dry cupboard for future cookies, teas, and more.

-If you want to add a little spice to this recipe, you can add a pinch of cloves and cardamom to give it a wonderful spicy autumn flavor as well.

-Flavor ingredients are underlined; feel free to use them in alternate cookie recipes or cakes. Just be sure to adjust wet/dry ingredients to compensate for added liquids.

If you do try this recipe, please let me know how you enjoy it! The flavors are subtle, fresh, mildly fruity, with a hint of florals. My kids said it tasted like blueberry muffins without the blueberries and with a hint of rose.