Beltane Recipes Continued (Patreon)

Here are some more recipes that sound really yummy! Have you made any of these before? Would you try any of these recipes?

Dandelion Fritters

Now I know a dandelion may be easy to identify, however if you are too quick you may mistake one for a look alike! Always consult at least two guides before eating anything edible.

When picking dandelions, try to do so on a clear, sunny day. Like most flowers the dandelion will close up and look rather angry on rainy, cloudy days. You want a nice open, calm flower to fry.

My caveat to this recipe would be to make just a small handful. or, make for a group of friends. You do not want to be left, alone, like I am today, with a whole bowl of fried dandelions. You will make yourself quite ill. I promise you.

Every part of the dandelion is edible. From the roots to the greens and the flowers. Euell Gibbons wrote in his book of a family he knew that survived a famine on the island of minorca thanks, in no small part to dandelions. He said they would fry their dandelions in butter. Nearly everyone has a recipe for dandelion fritters. The essential principle is the fritter part. You really need only batter and oil and a hot pan. The article calls for chevre and horseradish which sounds delicious but not what I have here. so I used my homemade yogurt and some cut up wild ramps as the dip dip.

Dandelion Fritters (as found in the burlington free press)

you will need:

2-3 cups of dandelion flowers

1 local egg, beaten

1 cup local milk

1/4 c all-purpose flower (king arthur or other locally milled or grown)

1 c cornmeal (from butterworks, or grow your own)

1 t salt

1 t pepper

1 c veggie oil. i used EVOO, because i read the recipe hastily and therefor not thoroughly and it was scrumptious

directions:

1. for sauce, whip ingredients and set aside. serve with fritters. (again, use whatever sauce you can imagine, including the chevre and horseradish, or my yogurt with ramps).

2. collect your dandelions from a nice clean pasture (not one where your dog or boyfriend pee). if they look clean, you needn't wash them.

3. mix up your batter including all the ingredients save the oil and the flowers.

4. put your oil in pan and heat. you want about a 1/4 in of oil. CAREFUL. hot oil has a very unpleasant reaction when contacted with the skin.

5. when the oil is hot dip the flowers into the batter while holding onto the stem and then drop them flower side down in the hot bubbling oil. again, careful.

6. cook until goden brown. fork or spoon them out of the oil and serve warm with the sauce of your choosing.

honestly, anything fried is delicious. i bet i could fry up worms if things got desperate enough and find them tasty. but the dandelion does have a bite to it that adds to the enjoyment of the fry.

Strawberry Maypole Cupcakes

Yield: 9 large cupcakes or 24 regular cupcakes • Preparation: 45 minutes • Bake: 19 to 25 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups cake flour, such as Swans Down

1¼ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup salted butter, softened

1¼ cups sugar

½ cup seedless strawberry jam

Red paste food coloring, such as Wilton

3 large eggs

3 tablespoons sour cream

2 tablespoons whole milk

2 teaspoons strawberry extract

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 recipe Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (recipe follows)

Garnish: 1 Mini Maypole per cupcake (instructions follow)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place decorative baking cups* on a rimmed baking sheet. [If using regular baking cups, line wells of 2 (12-well) muffin pans.] Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt, whisking well. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar. Beat at high speed with a mixer until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Add jam, beating until incorporated. Add red paste food coloring until desired shade of pink is achieved. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Set aside.

In a liquid-measuring cup, combine sour cream, milk, and extracts, stirring until blended. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in thirds, alternately with milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Divide batter evenly among baking cups (approximately 7 tablespoons per large baking cup; 3 tablespoons per regular baking cup). Tap baking sheet on countertop to level batter and reduce air bubbles.

Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the centers comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes (19 to 20 minutes for regular cupcakes). Let cool completely.

Place Vanilla Buttercream Frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a very large open-star tip (Ateco #869). Pipe a frosting rosette onto each cupcake.

Garnish each cupcake with a Mini Maypole, if desired.

Serve immediately, or refrigerate in a covered container until serving time.

Notes:

*We used large baking cups from Simply Baked.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Yield: 3½ cups • Preparation: 10 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup salted butter, softened

5 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 tablespoons whole milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

In a large bowl, combine butter, confectioners’ sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and salt. Beginning at low speed and gradually increasing to high speed, beat with a mixer until smooth and creamy.

Use immediately, or refrigerate in a covered container until needed. Let frosting come to room temperature before piping.

Mini Maypoles

Items Needed:

3 (18-inch) lengths narrow ribbon

1 decorative pick*

1 decorative drinking straw*

Step 1

Place lengths of ribbon together. Using an overhand knot, tie lengths together approximately 1 inch from one end.

Step 2

Using decorative pick, poke knotted end of ribbon lengths into drinking-straw hole. (If desired, glue decorative end of pick to straw.)

Step 3

Trim straw and ribbons to desired length.

Faerie Cakes With Candied Violets

Spending Beltane in the kitchen this year? Make it magical with these charming little faerie cakes. Whimsical yet elegant, candied violets make a striking addition to love spells, wishing magic and faerie rituals. Use candied violets in faerie cakes for a spring ritual, a “dressed up” cakes and ale or to serve at any spring gathering — especially Beltane!

The best part is, they’re practically free! If you’re in the Eastern US and you haven’t put down pesticide this year on your lawn, there’s a good chance your yard or a nearby one has wild violets in abundance.

Go spend some time outdoors, bring a basket and gather those little beauties up for a Beltane with a splash of purple.

- Gather a clean, washed, dry paintbrush with a fine tip, an egg white, and some sugar.

- Start by gently washing the violet blooms. A spray bottle and a strainer work well for this, but be careful! Even for flowers, wild violets are delicate!

- Allow them to dry on a paper towel.

- Dip the paintbrush in egg whites, and paint each blossom.

- Then sprinkle sugar on the violets. Most recipes call for powdered sugar, but I use granulated because it reminds me of late frost.

- Finally, bake some cupcakes!

Any vanilla cupcake recipe will do, but make it from scratch. The more you put into your ritual food, the more “fragrant” the magic of it. Be connected to the process.

Bonus points for making the vanilla extract yourself. Vanilla inspires passion in kitchen spells. Here, we use it to wink and nod at Beltane’s celebration of “spring romance.”

Pipe on some cream cheese frosting and arrange violets in tiny “bouquets.

Serve and enjoy!

Sources:

https://www.moodymoons.com/2017/04/18/faerie-cakes-with-candied-violets/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.teatimemagazine.com/strawberry-maypole-cupcakes-recipe/amp/

http://longestacres.blogspot.com/2012/05/dandelion-fritters.html?m=1