I have been very impatient for spring this year. It’s been exceptionally cold in Chicago and everything has just been talking for-ev-er to come up.  So when I saw the first bursts of yellow dotting the yards of the lazy I got super excited!  I could almost hear Oprah announcing her next guest.  Please welcome, Spriiiiinnnnnggg!  Every year, the kids and I make dandelion jelly and violet jelly.  It’s delightful.  But you really have to be in the right frame of mind for making jelly.  It’s not that hard, you just have to wrap your head around it before you go for it.  It’s like jumping out of a plane, not hard in theory but try telling your brain that.  Plus, I didn’t think I would be able to find the 8 cups of flowers I needed for jelly.  Plus, my flower pickers were at school.  That’s how I ended up with these yummy Dandelion Lemon Bars.

Why Dandelion Lemon Bars?

So I decided to experiment with what else dandelions might do well.  I made some glazed orange-ricotta cookies topped with dandelion petals.  Meh.  They weren’t tidy enough looking and the flavor wasn’t as bright as I thought it should be.  But I liked the citrus-dandelion combination.  These dandelion lemon bars were my second, much better, attempt.  They’re beautiful.  They’re tart and sweet and rich.  And the petals on top look just like the sort of lovely yellow sprinkles a lemon bar was meant to have.  They’re a familiar favorite with just a hint of the spring wilds.

Are You Hardcore?  I’m Really Not.

My mom has been eating wild edible plants for decades.  Cattail pancakes, acorn stew, garlic mustard.  She’s awesome.  There are folks out there who ferment berry and branches with the wild yeast that floats by.  Some people are committed to eating mostly foraged foods and are experts on identification, preparation and canning.  I love that ethos, but I’m basically a poser who delights in eating things I can forage from my urban surroundings.  It makes me feel good to make that connection between what’s growing around me and how I sustain myself.  If you arrived here hoping these bars would be agave-sweetened with an amaranth cookie base, you are going to be very disappointed.   These are made with sugar, butter, eggs and flour.

Are You Next Level?  You Could Be.

You can make this recipe as it is written, using the petals from about 2 cups of whole flowers.  It’s easy and prepared exactly like a traditional lemon bar, topping it at the end with fresh petals.  But if you also want to infuse the filling with dandelion, you can steep the petals of an additional 4 cups of dandelion flowers in the lemon juice before adding it to the filling.  It will add a subtle flavor to your bars.  It might just be psychological actually, but they’ll definitely be more dandelion-y.  The night before, heat up your lemon juice just until the point where it would be too hot to put your finger in.  Pour the juice over the petals in a heat safe bowl and let steep, covered, overnight.  When you’re ready to bake, strain out the petals, squeezing them to get as much of the liquid out as possible.  Don’t worry if your juice looks a bit murky, it will brighten up when you add the eggs and sugar.

Some tips for perfect Dandelion Lemon Bars on the first try:

• Try to gather on a dry day. Muddy flowers mean muddy lemon bars.  Ew.  And they really shouldn’t be washed as it makes getting the petals off a total pain in the butt.
• Which leads me to my next tip, which is to gather flowers in an area you feel confident is not loaded with pesticides and dog pee.
• Make your dandelion tea as soon as you can after picking if you’re going that route, while the petals are still a nice bright yellow. A few hours is fine.  If you’re only using the petals as a topping, just make sure to snip the petals within a few hours of picking.
• Don’t be in a hurry when cutting the petals.  It really is a bit tedious, but even if you infuse the filling you only need to do 6 cups worth.  Look at it as an opportunity for introspection.
• To trim the petals, grasp the flower by the petal end and snip the stem and base of the flower off. Then separate the green part from the yellow petals.  Here are some pics in case that makes no dang sense.  My daughter Ramona is the hand model.

• You need 2 cups of whole flowers for the topping, that will yield about a cup of petals.  For steeping the filling you need another 4 cups of whole flowers, which will yield about 2 cups of petals.
• Don’t get too aggressive when zesting your lemons.  This recipe uses a lot of zest and if you get a bunch of the white pith in there, your bars will be bitter and metallic.  That’s the voice of experience talking.
• These have an almost 1:1 crust to filling ratio.  The crust is a cookie/shortbread.  It’s sturdy but still soft.  Let the crust cool a bit before adding the filling or you may have a soupy mess on your hands.
• Make sure you bake these long enough.  They should be set almost completely.  If the very middle looks a tiny bit wobbly, that’s fine.
• How many bars this recipe makes is obviously down to how big you want your bars.  If you, like me, are kidding yourself about what constitutes a serving, you can cut these into 48 dainty 1.5″ squares.  Or you could just cut them into 12 Corner-Bakery-sized 3′ squares.  Your call.
• Do chill these until completely cold if you want nice neat sides.  I used a bench scraper sprayed with cooking spray, but I am pretty obsessive about precise cuts.  My husband dug out a bar with a butter knife and didn’t seem to be suffering terribly afterwards.

More Wild Edible Plants Recipes From Bakers Brigade:

• Violet Jelly
• Dandelion Jelly
• Caramelized Spruce Tip Syrup
• Pawpaw Ice Cream

Print Recipe

Dandelion Lemon Bars

These dandelion lemon bars are beautiful, tart, sweet and rich.  The petals on top look just like the sort of lovely yellow sprinkles a lemon bar was meant to have.  They're a familiar favorite with just a hint of the spring wilds.

Servings

bars

Ingredients

For Shortbread Base:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cups unsalted butter very cold, cut into small cubes

For Filling

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 4 eggs
• zest of four lemons
• 3/4 cup lemon juice about 4 lemons
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups fresh-picked dandelion blossoms petals snipped off to yield about 1 cup petals
• powdered sugar for dusting

Servings bars Ingredients For Shortbread Base: 2 cups flour 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cups unsalted butter very cold, cut into small cubes For Filling 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/4 cup flour 4 eggs zest of four lemons 3/4 cup lemon juice about 4 lemons 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups fresh-picked dandelion blossoms petals snipped off to yield about 1 cup petals powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

For the Shortbread Base:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9" x 13" pan with butter or cooking spray.
2. Stir together the flour, sugar and salt. With a pastry cutter, cut in the butter until it mixture resembles a coarse meal. Press into the pan evenly, using the bottom of a drinking glass or measuring cup sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes, until just starting to brown at the edges. Let cool at least until you can handle the pan easily with your bare hands, about 15 minutes.

For the Filling:

1. Stir together the sugar and flour. Then add the eggs, zest and juice and stir until combined. Pour over the crust and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the filling is mostly set. A tiny bit of wobbly in the middle is okay.
2. Cool in the fridge for a few hours, then top with powdered sugar and dandelion petals. Cut into squares with a bench scraper or sharp knife sprayed with cooking spray.

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