Sugar & Spice

A few months back I took one of my regular trips to Cairelle's shop, Witchy Living . Once I got home and started playing with my herbs, I got the idea to make herbal cookies. So, the hunt began! Since then I've been working on my recipe and I think I finally got it! I wanted a sweet, buttery, chewy cookie home for the herbal goodness. This cookie is all of those things, and absolutely delightful! The Lavender and lemon glaze marry well and seem to elevate these cookies to a new level. I love the combination of herbs used in this recipe, but it's completely versatile. So, without further ado:

Nutmeg's Herbal Cookies
1.5 T Chamomile
1-1.5 T Lavender
1 T Lemon Balm (I go through and pick just the leaves, no stems)
.5 T Yarrow
.5 T Wormwood (Mugwort works too)
Pinch of Nutmeg (May be omitted--I put a pinch in everything, thanks Cairelle!)
2 c flour
.5 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp salt
2 sticks of butter (room temp.)
1 c sugar
1 T brown sugar (packed)
1 egg
1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
4-5 T powdered sugar
1 lemon

Preheat oven to 375. Prepare a tea with the Yarrow and Wormwood while the oven is preheating. I pour just enough water to cover the herbs so the tea is more concentrated, and let it steep while I prepare the rest of the recipe.

Combine lavender, chamomile, and lemon balm in food processor (or coffee grinder). The food processor gets the herbs to a much finer grind. I have also found its best to take the processed herbs and then grind them again with a mortar and pestle. The mortar and pestle seem to release the oils in the lavender more so than the food processor.


Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and finely ground herbs. (Tea should still be steeping).

Cream butter and both sugars. Add egg, vanilla, and 1 Tablespoon of the Yarrow and Wormwood tea. Mix until creamy. Add dry ingredients to wet, in 3-4 batches. Transfer dough to plastic wrap and freeze for 30 minutes, or until firm.

Once dough is firm, remove from freezer and roll into balls (approximately 1.5 Tablespoons per cookie). Roll dough balls into sugar and place on prepared, lined cookie sheets. Dip the bottom of a glass in sugar and press each cookie. May need to redip the glass after 2-3 cookies.

Bake for 7-10 minutes, depending on preferred consistency. I baked mine for 8 minutes, and they were perfectly chewy.

Cool cookies on pans for at least 10 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

Once cookies are cool, add the powdered sugar to a small bowl. Squeeze the lemon juice into the sugar, while stirring, until desired consistency. I used a little more than half the juice of one lemon.

Dip the tops of each cookie into the lemon glaze, and let rest on cooling rack until dry.



I usually get my herbs locally, from Cairelle. If you're not in the New Orleans area, you can email her and place an order: Witchy Living  

Bouncing Bear Botanicals is an online shop with a great selection.