Spring has sprung! I love so many things about this season that's all too short in the Deep South. Soon, it will be 90 degrees in the shade down here, keeping most of hiding indoors in our AC. But for now, the temps are mild, the sky is impossibly blue, flowers are blooming, and the cacophony of chirping birds and buzzing bees is somehow calming.

It all puts me in a loving mood, and the current focus of my affection is a lavender and its tiny purple petals. These Sprouted Lemon-Lavender Cookies are a wonderful way to incorporate lavender’s subtle but scent-sationsal flavor into food.

I can' t take credit for coming up with these simple delights that happen to be gluten free (yay!). I was introduced to these cookies several years ago while "working" with chef Ban Stewart, who was then at Lake Martin's Kowaliga restaurant, and the fine folks at To Your Health Sprouted Flour Company in Fitzpatrick, Ala. Ban was kind enough to share the recipe, and when I made them again recently, I knew I needed to share it. (Oh, and these mouth-watering images were captured by the talented Erika Tracy. )

Bake up a batch or two and consider using them to fill this year's Easter baskets. Nobody will miss the drug-store candy, I promise.

But about those cookies...

Lemon-Lavender Cookies

1 ¾ cups To Your Health sprouted brown rice flour (it's gluten free!!)
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons dried lavender flowers, finely chopped
1 stick of butter (at room temp)
1 cup organic sugar
2 large eggs
¾ teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixer with a paddle attachment. Add the eggs and mix to combine. Add the flour, baking powder, lemon zest and juice, and the lavender and mix until combined. Use a small spoon or scoop to form the dough into balls and roll in powdered sugar. Place the cookies on a lightly greased, parchment-lined cookie sheet, one inch apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.