Que Sera Sara?

May is one of the very, very best months.

There is sunshine and there are flowers and barbeques and a bounty of good, juicy wild foods for foraging.

One of the first welcome friends I find in the hedgerow (after the prolific wild garlic) is mint, in all her varieties.

Foraging is not a skill I have in spades but I dally, aided by the eccentric John Wright.

I swear his book on the subject has as much not-so-subtle fruit-inspired  17C sex poetry in it as it does actual fruit. He is mad. And hilarious. And will make your granny blush.

Who’d have thunk it of the good folks at River Cottage?

Ahem. Anyway… mint is a wonderful thing in small doses.

Fresh, zesty and soothing, it’s a harbinger of spring in my mouth.

Thus inspired, I finally attempted Guardian baking guru Dan Lepard‘s Mint Brownies.

The marbling is mint (don’t worry, just the oil version found in the baking aisle. no wellies required.) plus cream cheese, vanilla and lashings of sugar. An unexpected combination, but the perfect tangy butter cream. I’d honestly bathe in the stuff.

AND these brownies are delicious, despite my best efforts.

Warning: a little creativity is required when impromptu baking urges are not met with the desire to measure (AT ALL) or some of the  recipe’s listed  ingredients (in this case, chocolate. rather essential.).

I am lucky this batch are edible all things considered.

Edible, though, they most definitely are. Even if my substitutions and laissez-faire stylings left them a bit on the spongey-cakey side of brownie bliss.

(Needless to say, above I used the official recipe photo rather than display my own sorry lot. They are truly hideous.)

But ugly though they may be, they are still practically perfect. Even if, like me, you skip the rum.

So go on, splurge on a minty May weekend treat. You’ll thank me for it.