Lavender Orange Biscotti from The Dollop Book of Frosting + Giveaway
I am always a sucker for a good baking book and this week I am excited to share a great one: The Dollop Book of Frosting: Sweet and Savory Icings, Spreads, Meringues, and Ganaches for Dessert and Beyond. At first I thought this would be just be a ho-hum baking book but it really is so much more. Not only are the recipes for spreads and baking goods amazing, they are all different from ones I currently have in my cookbook collection. There really is something for everyone in here, especially if you are looking to add something new to your everyday sweets repertoire. Today I am featuring a fun little chat I had with the author, Heather Saffer and am giving away a copy. I am also featuring one of my favorite recipes from the book!
1) How did you first get introduced to the baking world? You know so much about it!
I introduced myself to the baking world about six years ago. Prior to that my only baking experience was once a year at Hanukkah time when my mom and I attempted to make sugar cookies; “attempting” being the key word. Suffice to say, my family was shocked when I started teaching myself how to bake six years ago. They were even more shocked when I opened my own cupcake shop. It’s amazing the skills you can learn via Google and YouTube!
2) This book is so much more than just a bunch of cupcake recipes. How did you come up with all the interesting flavor profiles? Do you have a favorite?
The thing that has drawn me to baking is the creativity that it lends itself to. I know people say that baking is a science but I think it’s absolutely possible to bend the rules and be inventive. When I had my cupcake shop I instituted what I called, “Crazy Cupcake Saturday” during which I would create a whacky flavor concoction for customers to taste and purchase. Crazy Cupcake Saturday was such a hit and so much fun for me that I learned that what I really loved was not the baking, but my ability to create unexpected yet tasty concoctions. As for my favorite recipe in The Dollop Book of Frosting, that’s hard to choose! My all-time favorite frosting will always be my Peanut Butter Buttercream but the Gingersnap Stout Frosting Pie holds a special place in my heart.
3) When you are developing a new recipe how do you come up with the flavors? I can’t get over how inventive everything is in your book.
I knew that I wanted to include a variety of uses for frosting so I started by listing all the different types of desserts I could incorporate in the book–pies, cakes, cookies, biscotti, brownies, etc. I would then pick a type of dessert, say biscotti, and think about what flavors gave me the feeling of biscotti. Biscotti reminds me of tea and tea reminds me of lavender. Once I knew that I wanted to use lavender I researched what flavors pair well with lavender. In this instance I settled on orange. So once I had the flavors and the type of dish, I needed to decide how I wanted to incorporate the frosting. The next steps were experimenting and taste testing until I was happy with my result! Did I just give away my secrets?!
4) What was it like to develop this book? Obviously it was very sweet. But the recipes are seriously awesome and involved.
It was a lot of work! As you know for yourself! My favorite parts of developing this book were the writing process and the idea process of inventing recipes. As for the baking process, well, you reach a certain point when your pants start to get tight and fear the thought of one more taste of sugar. I remember shoving fistfuls of spinach in my mouth with one hand while whipping frosting with the other, just in an attempt to maintain some semblance of health.
5) What is next for you and Dollop Gourmet?
I’ve been working for the past year on trying to get my line of packaged frostings off the ground and into stores so hopefully, fingers crossed, pray to the gods, that will be what’s next for the Dollop brand. I’ve also been blogging a lot, mostly about entrepreneurship, pursuing passions, and persevering past fear and adversity. Sometimes I mix it up with some frosting talk too. And I just found out that I was cast on a new show on Spike TV called Frankenfood so I’ll definitely be continuing with my love of creating crazy and tasty food concoctions!
How to Enter to Win a Copy:
1) Leave a comment sharing your favorite kind of frosting!
2) Contest runs from January 23rd through January 30th. Winner will be announced in the January 31st newsletter! Good luck!
adapted from The Dollop Book of Frosting
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon orange extract
- 2 teaspoons lavender blossoms
- 3 large eggs
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup lavender orange frosting, plus 1 cup to frost biscotti
- 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- Zest of one orange
- 2 teaspoons edible lavendar
Instructions
- To make the frosting: In a stand mixer beat the butter until smooth. Then add the sugar, salt, vanilla, orange extract, and lavender and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- To make the biscotti: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a stand mixer beat the eggs and olive oil until well blended. Then add the sugar and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add the frosting and beat until smooth. Finally, add the flour, and baking powder and beat until a thick, heavy dough forms.
- Divide the dough into two pieces and form two logs about 1 foot long. Press the dough into ½-inch thickness and place them 2-inches apart on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle the tops evenly with the orange zest and lavender. Bake for 25 minutes or until the loaf starts turns golden brown on top. Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes.
- Carefully use a serrated knife to slice the loaves into 1-inch thick slices. Smear a thin layer of frosting on both slices of each slice and place one frosted side down on the baking sheet. Bake for an additional 6 minutes. Turn to the other side and bake for 6 more minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Serve.
My favorite frosting is good old fashioned chocolate.
I love vanilla!
I like a Vanilla Bean Swiss Meringue Butter Cream
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margueritecore [at] gmail [dot] com
I don’t really like super sweet frostings so one of my favorites is just whipping heavy cream with a little vanilla extract! It’s a light and airy frosting option that doesn’t overpower!
My favorite frosting is vanilla! Thanks for the great giveaway! msmissy02 at gmail dot com
My favorite frosting is a nice chocolate buttercream, rich and delicious.