In a small saucepan, heat the ¼ cup honey and 1 tablespoon of dried lavender until the honey begins to boil, stirring occasionally for 3-5 minutes
Once it boils, remove the honey from the heat and let it cool to room temperature***
Make the purple sugar:
Make the violet sugar (for topping the dough balls before baking) by combining the purple food coloring with the half cup of granulated sugar
Gently massage the sugar and food coloring until evenly distributed****
Set the sugar aside once colored
Make the cookie dough:
To make the cookies, place the softened butter in an electric mixer and cream on high for 2-3 minutes
Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the sugar and cooled honey to the creamed butter
Once well combined, add in the egg and vanilla extract, beating another 1-2 minutes
In a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour, cream of tarter, baking powder, soda, and salt
In 3 separate additions, add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture, incorporate each addition fully and scraping down the sides before adding the flour addition
Lastly, add in the final 2 teaspoons of dried lavender using a wooden spoon so as not to break the lavender
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat and scoop tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto the mat about 2 inches apart
Top each dough ball with a heavy sprinkle of purple sugar and using a flat-bottomed glass, press the dough balls into discs to about ¼ inch height
Put a final pinch of purple sugar in the center of each disc and tap lightly to set it in place before baking
Bake the cookies at 350* for 8 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through so the cookies bake evenly
Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool for 2-3 minutes on the pan
Finish cooling the cookies on a wire rack or paper towel placed on the counter
Notes
*I prefer clover honey specifically because it has a distinct flavor but any other would work as well **I prefer gel food coloring, as it's easier to work with and doesn't wet the sugar as much but the regular liquid food coloring would work as well ***Do not use hot or warm honey to make the cookies. I also do not advise putting the honey in the fridge to cool as it will crystallize resulting in lumping cookies ****Use a gloved hand or a spatula to massage the food coloring into the sugar to avoid staining your hands purple
Recipe by Her Modern Kitchen at https://www.hermodernkitchen.com/honey-lavender-sugar-cookies/