Making Friends with Dandelion

Dandelion is one of my favorite plants.  I look forward to its appearance every spring.  It's exciting when you begin to see one or two because in a few weeks they are going to be everywhere.  I can't wait.  There are so many great things you can do with dandelion.  Eat the greens, eat the flowers, make a tea out of the flowers, leaves and roots.  You can bake with it, toss it raw into salads, add it to your smoothies, use the greens as a pot herb; the list could go on for a while.
This past weekend, for the first time, I baked with dandelion flowers.  I tried a recipe I found from LearningHerbs.com for Dandelion Cookies.  It's a simple recipe, geared towards children to get them into the kitchen and familiar with herbs.  Now that I've tried the basic recipe (which, to be honest, I feel this is more like a scone than a cookie) I know what to expect and I will be adding the flowers to all kinds of baked goods - banana dandelion bread anyone?

First things first, I had to pick my dandelions.  Lucky for me, my neighbor doesn't mow the backyard, so I had more than enough to choose from.
For the recipe you are only using the flower heads, so I just meandered through the yard grabbing flowers here and there - the general rule of them when wild crafting/harvesting plants is to only take 20% of the plant to ensure that it will continue to bloom and survive.
When I was done, I had a basket full of the gorgeous, bright flowers.

Then began the tedious work of separating the flowers themselves from the green parts.
This resulted in yellow fingers:

and then after a little kitchen magic, I ended up with dandelion cookie/scones :)

They aren't very sweet and they go great with a cup of tea. 

Dandelion Cookies (courtesy of Herb Fairies, written by Rosalee de la Foret)

1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of honey
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup freshly picked dandelion flowers

Preheat oven to 375.  Melt butter on low heat, set aside to cool slightly.
Remove all of the green stems and bracts from the dandelion flowers, set aside
Mix together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl, set aside.
Mix the dandelion flowers into the honey and butter mixture.
Add the eggs and vanilla and stir well.
Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir well.
Place by the tablespoon full onto greased cookie sheets.
Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown on the edges.