Dandelions are everywhere right now. They are such an amazing plant too. They will brow just about anywhere and are so resilient. We have some growing through concrete. Every part of the dandelion is edible, the leaves the root and the petals. Packed with vitamins and minerals, they are a great forage. They are also easily identifiable too.
When foraging for dandelion and any other plant, for that matter, do make sure you forage considerably. Only take what you need and leave plenty for the wildlife.
Doughnuts themselves are quiet a lengthy and tricky delicacy to make but they are so worth it. There is nothing better than homemade fresh doughnuts. All this being said, life is busy enough and no one would hold anything against you if you decided to just decorate shop bought doughnuts. If you do want to try to make your own doughnuts I have put the recipe below. If you have a doughnut making machine this will make it even easier.
To make your icing you need to have made the dandelion honey first. This can be found in my previous blog.
To make doughnuts you need
- 200g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
- pinch of salt
- 15g caster sugar
- 7g dried fast action yeast
- 50g butter
- 100ml milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg, beaten
- sunflower or other oil for deep-frying
How to make the batter
- Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the salt, sugar and yeast and mix together. Place the butter, milk and vanilla extract together into a small pan and warm it up. Just a gentle heat until the butter has melted and the milk is just warm but not boiling (you should be able to put your finger in it without burning it).
- Stir in the egg. Make a well in the middle of the dry mix and gradually add the milk mixture and stir to form a rough dough. Tip out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes adding more flour if needed so the dough is not stick. It should be slightly springy to touch. Place into an oiled bowl, cover with a piece of greased cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 ½ hours (I left it overnight and it was good- I didn’t forget at all) or until doubled in volume.
- Punch down the dough with your fist, knead lightly then divide into 12 balls. Place on baking sheets well spaced apart. Cover with a piece of greased cling film and leave to rise again for 45 minutes or until they are doubled in size. Don’t forget to do this part as this is what makes it nice and fluffy.
- Roll over the top of the doughnuts with a rolling to make them about 3cm high. Oil a 4cm pastry cutter, (or a child’s play dough cutter) to stamp out the middle of each doughnut. You could use the middles to make little doughnut balls.
- Pour the oil into a large saucepan it needs to be quiet a lot of oil, about 10cm and heat to 180-190°C. Drop a small piece of dough into the oil. If it sizzles immediately and floats to the surface it’s ready. Carefully lower 2 or 3 doughnuts at a time on a slotted spoon and fry for 30 seconds on each side or until golden brown.
- Remove and drain on kitchen paper. Then do the rest.
Now for the Dandelion honey icing.
Mix about 3 spoons of dandelion honey with 200g of icing sugar and a really tiny bit of warm water until you get a good icing sugar consistency. If it is too runny add more icing sugar. If it is too thick add more dandelion honey. If you want your icing a deeper yellow colour you can add a few drops of good colouring at this point.
When you are happy with the consistency, drizzle over your doughnuts. Sprinkle with dandelion flowers.
You can use this basic recipe to make all sorts of flower based icing and doughnuts too.
I hope you enjoy it.
I made some gorgeous elderflower doughnuts last year with an elderflower cream and jam filling. I will add this recipe soon.
Forgotten Forest 