Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Pass the weeds, please!

The lawn said it was time for dandelion muffins. We do a batch of these most springs. This year I couldn't find my recipe, so I made one up. I think they're at least as nice as the ones we usually make.

Dandelion Cornmeal Muffins

1 cup packed dandelion petals (yellow parts)
2 cups corn meal
2 cups white flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup honey
2 cups yogourt

Mix dry ingredients, including dandelion petals, together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, oil, honey and yogourt. Add wet ingredients to dry, mix until moistened. Spoon into greased* muffin pan. Bake for 25 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Allow to cool for five minutes and then remove from pan. Share with children especially, but neighbours and friends get a kick out of these too. There's a distinctive but not unpleasant dandelion flavour, and a lovely sunny colour, to these muffins. Makes 18-20 large ones.

*I grease my pans these days with the soy-lecithin-and-oil mixture favoured in the Laurel's Bread Book. Take 1/2 cup of soy lecithin and blend with 1 cup of vegetable oil. Process several minutes until well emulsified and fairly smooth. Store in fridge. A little goes a long way with this stuff, and it works really really well for all kinds of quick and yeasted breads.

9 comments:

  1. Very cool! I'll have to try these and share the recipe with a couple of my foodie friends :-)

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  2. Sounds delicious! My 3y is picking dandelions to make some right now!

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  3. These look great, Miranda! I mentioned them to the kids and got a confused/eww look, but I think I'll make them anyway!

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  4. They look lovely! So spring-like. We'll have to do a dandelion hunting expedition tomorrow.

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  5. very cool! The kids and I ate dandelion greens last year and made dandelion coffee - this looks like something even more fun! We too are loaded with dandelions so maybe if W is feeling better soon we will give this one a try . . .

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  6. Holy cow! Now I have a destination for all those dandelions. Thanks for sharing :)

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  7. We've made yor muffins twice and they are a big hit!

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  8. I just had to tell you my variation. The first time I made them exactly as you say here but I am allergic to milk so I didn't want to use the yogurt. (I took the first batch to our homeschoolers summer solstice pot luck and they were a huge hit - seemed appropriate somehow...) So the next time, I substituted applesauce (that I made last fall) instead. This time I put in organic dried cranberries, too and I think that is my favourite way yet. What a great idea! I do want to know though if there is an easy way to separate all those little tiny petals. So far it takes me about half an hour...

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  9. Yum, that sounds great, Andrea, we'll try that. Just yesterday Fiona and I were bemoaning the lack of dandelions around here, so we may have to wait until next spring to give it a try.

    My trick for separating the petals is to read aloud to three children while they do the job. It still takes about half an hour, but it's a pretty nice half hour :-).

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