Dandy Dande

Over the last few days, I've been foraging through the yard for tasty morsels.  First were the violets, and now the dandelions are coming on strong, so I thought I would gather some blossoms to make syrup...perhaps wine.  Perhaps something altogether different.

Inspired by the cookies seen on Pinterest, I decided to have a go myself.

Dandy Dande(lion) Cookies :

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/3 cups rolled oats
1/4 teaspoon allspice
Zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon baking soda
Barest pinch of salt--not more than an 1/8 teaspoon max
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
3/4 cup dandelion flowers, gently packed (yellow petals only)
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds, toasted (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and allspice; then stir in the oats. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until smooth and light in color. Beat in the honey, vanilla and lemon zest. Add the egg and beat until mixed in. Blend dry ingredients, dandelion petals, and chopped nuts into butter mixture. Mix only until flour is just incorporated. Roll into 1 inch to 1 1/2inch balls and place 2 inches apart. Bake 10 minutes or until the bottoms are just golden, the tops will still be pale. The cookies will be soft when first out of the oven so wait a minute or two to cool on the pan before transfering to a wire rack to finish cooling. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

My thoughts :

If I were to make these cookies again (and I will :P ), I might try adding some dried fruit like sultanas to the dough.  Orange zest in place of the lemon would be mighty tasty, too. Don't like almonds?  Try cashews, instead.  Need to avoid dairy?  Try substituting coconut oil for the butter.  

The least amount of mixing after the addition of the flour mixture helps improve texture...along with a chill in the refrigerator.  I popped my dough in the fridge whilst I was preparing the pans...I had to stumble around for a bit, since I ran out of parchment paper and didn't remember to pick up more with this week's shopping.   I'm also thinking about reducing the flour to just 3/4 cup on the next run, too, and increasing oats to 1 1/2 cups.  I find the cookies are sweet with the 2/3 c granulated sugar...almost too sweet...but I don't know how reducing would affect the texture. And I chose to stick with granulated sugar to keep the cookie dough light in appearance--I wanted to showcase the pretty, sunny splashes of color.  I think that brown sugar might overpower the honey flavor, as well as darken the dough.

Speaking of texture...do not allow these cookies to color on top while baking.  With my oven, 10 minutes was sufficient, and I allowed for a 1 minute's rest on the pan, before I placed them on the rack.  They will be soft...really soft...freakishly almost not done soft...and that's okay.  At least for me...I like cookies that have oatmeal in them to be a bit soft and chewy.