Sugar Candied Flowers- vegan no egg!

Whimsical and delightful, these easy to make, edible sugared flowers will add a beautiful touch to any dessert. I personally love growing pansies just for this very purpose. Best of all, this recipe is completely vegan, no egg white wash necessary! Only two ingredients are needed - edible flowers and sugar.

Start by using freshly harvested, non sprayed blossoms. I like to let the flower heads sit for about ten minutes on a paper towel to allow any little bugs to crawl away before shaking out.

This is a vegan recipe, so the 'glue' for the sugar sprinkles will be a simple sugar syrup. You can also use the liquid from canned garbanzo beans, this liquid from chickpeas is called aquafaba, and is used as a substitute for egg whites in vegan recipes. But to make this as simple as possible, we will just need plain white sugar.

Next, make a simple sugar syrup by combining equal parts white sugar and water, about 4 ounces each. Bring to a low boil until all sugar is dissolved, set a side until completely cooled.

Press flower petals between fingertips to soften petals. By pressing flower petals between fingers before dipping them in syrup, this helps the syrup adhere better and helps the syrup penetrate the petal's structure, resulting in a more uniform and longer-lasting coating. Remember to be gentle, we don't want to rip the petals!

Either hand dip directly into syrup usings tweezers, or holding stem with fingertips, or paint syrup on petals using a clean small paintbrush.

Sprinkle with sugar, and lay face up, flat on wax paper. It should take a full 24 hours to dry and set.

If using a multilayered blossom, like calendula, it will take several days to dry. You also can place in a cold oven with the oven light on to gentle dry petals. This will speed up the process.

Once dried, you can use to decorate, and brighten up even the plainest of desserts. I recently made these to add to my granddaughter's birthday cake for her Garden Party themed birthday.

If planning to use later, you can store in a covered container for up to several months!

Here's a printable Recipe Card to keep on hand!