The Food Network, The Cooking Channel. Not sure what I would do without my cooking shows. And I love all the food competitions on TV as well: Iron Chef, Top Chef, The Next Food Network Star and Cupcake Wars, just to name a few. I love the challenges, the time pressure and realness of it all.
So, when I was asked to read through and review The Dollop Book of Frosting by Heather Saffer, a Cupcake Wars winner, I was totally excited. And there are more than just frosting and icing recipes in here. When I first opened the cookbook, I was very pleased to see both sweet and savory recipes. Heather did this right. With recipes like Ultimate Dude Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Cupcakes, S’mores Push-Pop Parfaits, Salted Triple Chocolate Brownie Batter Cookies, Margarita Crispy Rice Treats, and Sriracha Brownies (yup, you read that right), this is not your regular dessert and sweet treats cookbook.
This is more.
I love that Heather was inventive and just went for it. I literally want to make over 30 recipes in this cookbook. And the frostings?! I seriously don’t think I’ll ever need another frosting recipe because they are all here. Even the ones I never knew I wanted to try. Heather has all the classics, like Vanilla and Chocolate Buttercream but what she also has is: Brownie Batter frosting, Lemon Glaze, Peanut Butter Buttercream, Peppermint, S’more Frosting, Toffee Honey Frosting, Hazelnut Coffee Frosting, Strawberry Champagne Frosting, Honey Brie Frosting. Strawberry Balsamic Goat Cheese frosting and Cheddar Bacon Frosting (with Cheddar Beer-Boiled Pretzels). What?!
I want this now.
So, when it came time to decide which recipe I was going to try first. I simply could not decide. For like 3 days. But then I had some cardamom . .
And decided on the Orange Cut-Out Cookies with Orange Cardamom Icing.
I really really enjoyed these cookies. I loved the orange zest with the hint of cardamom. These cookies were perfect. Not too sweet and had a little something special. My only note with Heather’s Orange Cut-Out Cookie recipe: and this could just be that I don’t have enough experience rolling out partially frozen cookie dough; I needed to allow time for the cookie dough to soften a bit before trying to roll it out. I honestly have no idea how someone is able to do this after directly taking out the dough from the freezer after an hour. Can someone please shed some light here?
Also, I wanted to give you guys some baking tips that you might find useful:
Lightly flour your work surface with confectioner’s sugar so your dough doesn’t stick while rolling. A nonstick Silpat baking mat is also a great surface to roll cookie dough on. And if it’s still sticking, you can try rolling out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap or two Silpat mats. Hope these tips help you! I think the confectioner’s sugar is brilliant.
So, click on over to Cooks and Books and Recipes for THIS recipe. I hope you enjoy! And if you’re a frosting lover, you need this cookbook.
