At the end of last year I tied up some of our lavender, covered in tissue paper, and hung in the shed to see if it would dry out. I checked last weekend and it has! So of course now I need to bake something with it…  My first thought was shortbread, but I’ve been making that a lot, so I’m going for madeleines instead.

The Flavor Bible says honey works well with lavender, so I’m going to start with the French madeleine recipe I used originally, and up the honey and add a tsp of lavender, crushed up to release the flavour.

• 100g butter
• 1 tsp lavender, crushed up
• 30ml milk
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 100g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 50g caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs

Melt the butter on the hob, stir in the lavender, then leave to cool. Add in the milk & honey. Mix the flour & baking powder.Whisk the eggs and sugar until they go pale and frothy. Mix in the butter mixture. Fold in the flour in two batches. Chill in the fridge overnight.

In the morning I’ll set the oven to 170C fan, spray the madeleine plan with oil, then shake flour over, spoon out the mixture.

Bake for 10 minutes, check with toothpick. Bemoan uneven oven… put back in for an extra minute. Then leave to cool for five long minutes.

Gently loosen with a spoon (because it’s blunt… it’ll hurt more be less likely to rip the underside). Bemoan uneven oven again…

They are lovely and butter and with a good lavender taste without tasting soapy. However despite the extra honey they taste surprisingly savoury.