THURSDAY MEET UP: CELEBRATING BELTANE/MAY DAY

Merry Meet, witchy friends!

I HAVE A RECIPE FOR YOU DOWN BELOW!

This meet up happens to be landing a day before one of my FAVORITE holidays: BELTANE!

There are ALL sorts of wonderful ways to celebrate Beltane--an Irish word but not the only country/religion to celebrate May 1st--and one of my favorite ways is with community!

I hope you can join me this Thursday as we delve in the gods, stories, foods, and traditions of this flowery fire festival! We'll also cover ways you can celebrate if community isn't your jam, and I'll even be providing some (easy!) recipes you can make the day of Beltane.

FOR THOSE WHO CAN'T ATTEND, HERE IS A RECIPE JUST FOR YOU!

LILAC & CHAMOMILE SUGAR COOKIES

Lilac Sugar:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup fresh Lilac flowers (no stems/leaves)

Place the flowers and sugar in a jar and shake daily until flowers loose color and dry OR place sugar and flowers in a pan and put in your dehydrator at 100F Degrees for 3 to 4 hours. Remove flowers if desired or keep in the sugar in tightly sealed jar until ready for use.

Chamomile-lilac Cookies:

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons dried chamomile (attracts abundance)
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter
¾ cup lilac sugar (love and renewal)
1 egg
1-2 teaspoon vanilla extract or to taste (prosperity)
Yields 3 ½ dozen cookies

DIRECTIONS:

-Combine the all-purpose flour, chamomile, baking powder, and salt and set aside

-Cream softened butter with sugar until light and fluffy using a stand mixer or electric beaters

-Add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix to combine

-Add the flour mixture a bit at a time until combined

-Divide the dough into two flattened disks, wrap, and chill in refrige for at least 2 hours.

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

-Remove one disk and allow it to soften until it can be rolled without breaking. Roll out on a lightly floured surface or between pieces of parchment to ¼-inch thickness

-Cut into rounds using a 2 ¼-inch (or similar size) cookie cutter

-Space 1 inch apart on parchment-lined sheet and bake on middle rack of oven for about 9 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden but the tops remain light

If desired, use powder sugar with a bit of lemon juice for a glaze and place some of your sugar dried flowers on top for some fun! ENJOY!