Flowers can charm our senses in so many ways – sight, smell and touch. But did you know that some flowers can delight our taste buds as well? LA-based baker Loria Stern creates appetizing flower cookies that look good as well as taste good. By hand-pressing gorgeous edible botanicals into delicious shortbread cookies, she creates baked treats full of eye-popping color and distinctive taste.
Stern’s idea of enhancing desserts with edible flowers began when a friend of hers asked her to make desserts for a themed party. The theme of the party was ‘Flower Power’ which was inspired by the floral paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe. Stern fulfilled her friend’s request by pressing edible flowers she found at a local farmers market into vanilla shortbread dough. With the beautiful blooms adorning the baked treats, Stern’s cookies became the centerpiece of the party. Fittingly so, it looked like the delicate blossoms were meticulously painted on the cookies.
Baker hand-presses edible botanicals into shortbread cookies to create appetizing flower cookies
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“The idea to press edible flowers into cookies hatched from that party,” reveals Stern. “Since then, I planted an organic garden in my backyard and now use flowers in all kinds of dishes.”
Stern now has a wide range of edible flowers planted in her back garden. Daisies, scented geraniums, dahlias, calendulas, begonias and many more. She handpicks the blooming flowers from her garden and carefully presses each on the cookie dough before baking. The fresh blooms then come out looking like a pretty painting on the baked cookies.
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The baker also creates different colored dough
Apart from vanilla shortcake cookies, Stern also plays with other ingredients to add color to the dough. Turmeric lemon makes yellow dough, green matcha makes green dough, black sesame makes black dough and butterfly blue pea dust with blueberry makes blue dough. So, she can pair the beautiful blossoms with a befitting canvas. In addition to her flower cookies, Stern also makes cakes, pies, crackers, buns and focaccia decorated with delightful flowers and herbs.
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Here you can see how colorful and delicious the biscuits with yellow dough look!
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If you want to try Stern’s cookies, you can visit Stern’s online shop to place your order. The artistic baker also offers her services for private events and special occasions. You can also follow her on Instagram to see her latest culinary creations.