Lavender brownies recipe with almonds

Have you been looking at the beautiful lavender in your garden, maybe wondering if you could use it for something else besides their visual appeal. I have good news for you. You can bake this absolutely delicious lavender brownies by using your home grown lavender. (providing they are the right kind. Check all info on cooking with lavender)

​Lavender brownies

These lavender brownies came about when I was having a photoshoot with Alexandra. At the time it was one of our very first shoot together and I might not have picked the same setting as I did with these photos. Pretty sure it would look completely different but at that moment we had this idea of shooting with lavender flowers and incorporating the purple color into the frame. Well mission accomplished I would say. Not the best mission but hey, it’s all about those lavender brownies right? I had only used lavender in cooking once before when making these lavender macarons. The flavor of those was just a hint of lavender as it was only sprinkled with lavender sugar. This brownie recipe is something else!

What you need to make these lavender brownies

Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature before starting. 

• all purpose flour 
• unsalted butter
• eggs – I used large eggs
• granulated sugar – I used regular white sugar but you can also use brown sugar for this. The flavor will be subtly different.
• almonds – you can replace the almond with other nuts if you prefer. The nuts need to be roughly chopped
• dried lavender

In addition to that you need a large bowl, parchment paper, prepared pan (I used a square baking pan) and a small saucepan. No need to use a food processor for this easy recipe. A wooden spoon is really all you need.

How to make the brownies

Now you can make the brownie batter like you normally would any other brownie mix. You could even consider using a brownie box mix if you want and add just the lavender to the batter. I wouldn’t do that as I love the taste of this particular recipe but if you want, there is nothing stopping you.

You first melt butter and chocolate together in a double boiler. While that cools down a bit you combine the dry ingredients together. For the lavender you can either use a pestle and mortar or use a spice grinder to crush the lavender buds. Mix those in with the granulated sugar. The amount of lavender can be changed if you want. You just want a hint of floral lavender and it shouldn’t be all too overpowering. We initially used 25 grams of the flowers and that was quite a lot. I loved it, but if this is your first time baking with lavender maybe go easy on the lavender first. 

There will always be a next time! 

​Mix the melted chocolate with the eggs, sugar and flour mixture until it just comes together. Don’t overwhip the batter. Place brownie mix into the prepared pan and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the top feels dry to the touch. 

Let the cake cool in the pan for a few minutes and than place on a wire rack to cool down completely. I love how the chocolate flavor merges with the sweet note of lavender, making these brownies really special! You can make this into triple chocolate lavender brownies by adding some semi-sweet mini chocolate chips and dust the top with cocoa powder. 

Serving

For serving it is delicious to add a bit of lavender sugar on top of the brownies or serve with subtly flavored whipping cream.