Lavender Galettes

I was excited to make these.  These sounded so usual and I have never tried anything made with lavender…it is one of my favorite scents, but I have never eaten it.  I wasn’t sure where to buy the lavender, but surprisingly it was easy to find at my local produce store.  I love when that happens. 🙂

These cookies are described as so thin and crunchy they are really more like a cracker.  They are not very sweet using very little sugar and flavored with olive oil, lavender, vanilla, and orange zest.

They are also usual in the way you make them.  The dough is difficult to work with so we are told to roll a tablespoon of dough into a ball and then between two pieces of parchment roll it out into a pressed cookie.  The result is a rustic, simple cookie which I loved the look of.  You finish it off by brushing whipped egg whites onto the surface and sprinkling sugar over the top.

We thought these were delicious and very different than anything we had ever tried!  Not sure I tasted the lavender..it seemed to be more orange zest dominant but whatever the flavoring was, it was great!!  They are a keeper!

 

Martine’s Gâteau de Savoie

Our recipe is described as the “simplest of sweets…a classic sponge cake that is light, satisfying and beautiful in it’s plainness”.

I learned in reading the intro to our recipe that the Savoy cake is one of the oldest in the French repertoire, and maybe in the Italian too.  Today we would think of this cake as simple but back in 1358 it was considered a marvel. It was unusual for its lightness which is achieved by beating yolks and sugar until thick and pale and then beating in whipped egg whites to create a cake that rose and had a springy interior.  Think of doing all of that without our electric whisks! 🙂

This cake WAS beautiful and delicious in its simpleness.

We are told it is fine just plain, or that we can add jam, lemon curd, or cherries cooked in wine.  Since it is berry season here in California where I live, I went with simple, cut up strawberries.  We all loved it…we all declared it a keeper!