These carnival-colored floral doughnuts enliven any summer handfasting, Midsummer’s Eve, Summer Solstice or Litha celebration!  Tie on your kitchen witch apron and create something special for your summer Sabbat ritual.

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Why Floral Doughnuts for Litha?

The hallmark of a good kitchen witch recipe comes down to fresh, seasonal ingredients.

An artful kitchen witch also selects elements with metaphysical meanings significant to the holiday, spell or season.

Mythical woodland spirits known as “faeries” or the “fae” connote a traditional association summer flowers and the Litha season in general.

In this recipe, the circular shape of the doughnut symbolizes the cycles of the seasons and the infinite loop of the rhythms of nature.

Where to get edible flowers.

If you know your land well, you can forage for flowers in the woods.  This is my favorite way to get them.

However, with road pollution, pesticides and the uncertainty of whether or not a flower is what you think it is, this may prove too daunting a task.

If you prefer to purchase edible flowers, Amazon sells an edible flower variety pack.  It’s a little pricey, but you can use the leftover flowers for any of the following projects:

–Rose Love Spell Cookies

–Flower Moon Esbat Cookies

–Summer Solstice Floral Incense DIY

–Ritual Baths

–Aphrodite Rose Love Spell

–Wildflower Witchcraft

You can use any in-season, edible flower for this project, but here are some suggestions based on common flowers that are in season right now:

Roses

As the Veil Between Worlds thins, the Midsummer air swarms with spritely woodland creatures.

Fireflies light the nocturnal horizon.  The low tones of night birds echo through the forest.  Shooting stars streak the sky, blurring the landscape with celestial light.

Roses evoke a sense of enchantment we often associate with Litha.

Many varieties of roses bloom in their fullest glory around Litha and Midsummer Solstice.

Wild Violets

Greek mythology associates Midsummer with nymphs, virtue and maidenhood.

These themes fit neatly on the Summer Solstice section of the Wheel of the Year.

Litha’s association with the fullness of youth, beauty and the divine spirit of nature in full bloom is embodied in the delicate grandeur of a field of wild violets!

If you live in Europe or the North Eastern part of the United States, violets grow wild in the late spring in early summer, making them easy to forage for.

Calendula (Marigold)

In this context, marigold flowers embody the sun’s fullest energy.

Marigolds are commonly included in sun magic or used as symbol of solar powered magic.

Bright, cheerful and almost smiling, they add a lightness to any summer dish.

If you don’t have a deep fryer . . .

You can still do this.

I didn’t have a deep fryer.  I just used a pot with oil in it.

But at the very least, you need a cooking thermometer.

The hardest part of making this recipe for me  was controlling the temperature of the oil.

If it’s too hot, the doughnuts will burn almost immediately.  If it’s not hot enough, they’ll come out heavy and oily.

And without a deep fryer, the temp will fluctuate wildly.  You must keep a constant eye on it.  You’ll find that keeping it at exactly at a constant 375 degrees is almost impossible, but if you can keep it between 370-380, they’ll come out okay.

I’m told it’s easier to maintain a constant temperature with heavy-bottomed cast-iron pot or Dutch oven, but I didn’t find this out until after a wrestled this one out with a cheapo pot.  So if you have some nice cookware, you may fare better.

Ingredients

For the Doughnuts:

-2 cups all-purpose flour

-1/2 sugar

-2 teaspoons salt

-3/4 tablespoon baking powder

-1/2 tablespoon ground ginger

-1/2 cup milk

-1 egg

-1-2 quarts for frying

For the Icing

-3 tbsp melting butter

-3 tbsp whole milk

-1.5 cups powdered (confectioner’s) sugar

-1 tsp vanilla

-1/2 cup edible flowers

Step 1

Heat deep fryer (or heavy-bottomed pot) with oil to 375 degrees.

Step 2

In a large-sized mixing bowl, blend the dry ingredients for the doughnuts.

Add in melted butter, milk and egg.  Stir until well-blended.

Step 3

Flour your counter or a large cutting board to create a work surface.  Divide dough, then roll out one piece at a time.  Roll until the piece is about 8-9 inches long and about 1 inch in thickness.   Then, connect the two ends together to form a circle.

Take care to “seal” the cracks with your fingers, or they will really flower out when cooking.

Step 4

Fry doughnuts 2 or 3 at a time, taking care not to crowd the pot or fryer.  Cook until golden (about 2-3 minutes).

Step 5

Allow doughnuts to drain on paper towels and cool completely.

Step 6

While doughnuts are cooling blend the first four ingredients for the icing.  Adjust the ratio of milk to powdered sugar until the icing runs off the spoon, but isn’t watery.

Step 7

Once doughnuts are cooled completely, you may ice the doughnuts.  I like to spoon on the icing so that it drips down the sides of the doughnut a little.  Use whatever method you like.

Then, sprinkle the edible flowers on.  Voila!

Happy Litha!