Dandelion shortbread recipe

Dandelion flowers can be used in a number of different recipes from dandelion "honey" (see previous blog) to dandelion wine and pickled dandelion flower buds, but one of our favourites is as a flavouring to shortbread or biscuits.  Our lovely foraging course clients on the last few courses thought our dandelion shortbread was very tasty so we promised to put the recipe on our website.  We made our shortbread from gluten free flour and plant based "butter" - everyone thought they were yummy but please feel free to use the flour and 'butter" that suits you:-

DANDELION SHORTBREAD (makes 18-24 depending on the size of the cutter)

• 300g plain flour or gluten free plain flour, sifted
• 100g caster sugar plus extra to sprinkle on the top
• 200g butter or plant based "butter"
• 1 tsp dandelion honey (or normal honey if you don't have any dandelion "honey")
• 1 cupful of dandelion petals from freshly picked flowers on a sunny morning 

1. Cream the butter, sugar and "honey" together.
   
2. Add the flour and dandelion petals, and mix into a dough, then wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees / 140 (fan) / 320 F. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
4. Roll out the dough between two pieces of greaseproof paper or on a board dusted with flour, until roughly ½ cm thick. Cut into your favourite shape and return to the fridge for 10 mins.
5. Put the shortbread shapes onto the lined baking tray, sprinkle with a little caster sugar and cook for around 12-15 mins until golden brown around the edges. Turn over and bake for a few more minutes to crisp the base up.
6. We decorated ours with edible flowers such as primroses, forget-me-nots and dead-nettle, pushing the flowers gently into the raw dough before we put the shortbread into the oven.