Lilac Blossom Biscotti

These biscotti are loaded with lilac flavour and scent. Lilac petals are incorporated into the biscotti dough which has been sweetened with homemade lilac sugar. Glazed and topped with more lilacs, these Lilac Blossom Biscotti are light, airy, and delicious! Super easy to make, and with their cheerful inclination, no one could resist! Treat yourself to one of these with a hot tea on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

It’s lilac season, so it’s time to make the most of them, because, let’s face it – the season is super short! Sure, you can pile them into vases and set them in every room in your home, but did you know you can also bake with them? Lilacs are great baked into desserts like these Lilac Blossom Biscotti! Don’t believe me? Bake some and try to prove me wrong!

I’m not a big lover of sugary sweet desserts, which is why these particular biscotti is perfect for someone like me. The dominant flavour in these is lilac, and the sugary sweetness that you are likely to find in other biscotti is nowhere to be found!

Don’t mistake me – this biscotti is anything but bland! Sometimes, you just need to have something simple. There’s a time and a place for fancy desserts. And, most certainly, there’s a time and place for a homemade treat like biscotti. If you’re much like me, the best time to enjoy a biscotti is on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR THIS RECIPE

You will need Lilac Infused Sugar and Lilac Syrup to make this biscotti recipe. You can make the biscotti with regular sugar and you can even substitute the syrup with extract, but the result won’t be quite right. They will still taste delicious, but they won’t have the strong, aromatic lilac scent and flavour intended by the recipe as written. The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Butter – You can use salted or unsalted butter. Melt the butter in the microwave and allow it time to cool. It shouldn’t reharden but should be cool to the touch.
• Lilac Sugar – Making your own lilac sugar is easy to do. I have the instructions right here. It does take five days to make lilac sugar, so you can use regular granulated sugar if you must. The cake will still be delicious, but will not be as flavourful nor as scented as it should be. 
• Salt – This will offset the sweetness and balance the flavours.
• Lilac Syrup – Lilac syrup is very easy to make at home. Click here for the instructions. It only takes a few minutes to make and a few hours to steep and cool. If you don’t have any lilac syrup, you can vanilla extract. The lilac flavour and scent will be less than it should be, but the scone will still be delicious!
• Baking Powder – For leavening.
• Eggs – Be sure to remove your eggs from the fridge and allow them to warm up to room temperature before baking.
• Flour – All-purpose flour is used here. I have not tested this recipe with other types of flour.
• Lilac Petals
• White Chocolate Chips

HOW TO MAKE LILAC BLOSSOM BISCOTTI

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside. Next, in a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, lilac sugar, salt, lilac syrup, and baking powder until well combined and creamy. Add the eggs and beat them into the batter until well mixed.

Now, add the flour and lilac petals. Beat in until just combined. The dough will be sticky. Turn the dough out onto the prepared baking sheet and form it into a log. (Dust your hands with flour if the dough is too sticky.) Form a log into a rectangle shape that is roughly 4″ wide and 12″ long.

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and place the baking sheet on a wire cooling rack so that air can circulate around the baking sheet. Allow to cool for 5 minutes. In the meantime, reduce the heat to 325 degrees F. Using the parchment paper, slide the log onto a large cutting board. Slice into 3/4″ slices across the width of the log.

Place the slices back onto the baking sheet which has been lined with more parchment paper. Slices are cut side down. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven. Carefully turn the cookies over and bake for another 12 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. Transfer to wire cooling rack to finish cooling completely.

TO GLAZE THE BISCOTTI

Once the biscotti are completely cooled, melt the white chocolate and drizzle it over the surface of the biscotti. Immediately top the biscotti with more lilac petals so that they stick to the melted white chocolate before it hardens. Allow the chocolate to firm up before packaging the biscotti into a cookie tin or jar.

HOW TO GATHER LILACS

Use pruning sheers to snip clumps of lilacs from your tree. Fill your kitchen sink with cold water and dunk the lilac branches, one at a time. Gently shake the branch under the water and then lift it straight out. Do this several times. Transfer the branch and/or clump to a salad spinner and spin out the excess water. The lilacs may still be a bit damp, but they won’t be impossible to work with. Don’t be tempted to overwash and over-spin in the salad spinner. Lilacs are delicate, so treat them as such.

Here are the suggestions that I have followed. These are suggestions that I have read over the past few years from others who have prepared lilacs to eat. First, only use lilac petals from a tree that you know 100% has not been sprayed or treated with chemicals. Secondly, pick petals from trees that are not close to busy streets or highways. Those petals will be dirty with gas and diesel residue.

Please use pruning shears. Don’t break the branches with your hands or saw at them with a knife. This will damage the tree and you will want the tree to stay healthy for years to come. Oh, it’s also best to harvest the lilacs in the morning before it gets too hot. The petals have more moisture content in the morning.

SEPARATING THE PETALS FROM THE STEMS

So, I know that lilacs look gorgeous spilling out of large vases. And, every year, I have at least two large vases filled with them. But, they are great for baking too! Once you have cut and washed your lilacs, now comes to the tedious part. Removing the petals from the stems is certainly not hard work, but it’s tedious! This is how I do it.

With all of my washed lilac bunches in a large bowl, and a smaller bowl for collecting petals close by, I find a nice shady spot on our back deck. Next, I fetch a cold drink and get ready to harvest. Working with one bunch of lilacs at a time, hold the top of the petal and pull. The purplish-pink petal should be released from the stem. The idea is to leave behind all traces of green. If you get a few bits of green, it won’t do any harm. But, too much will throw off the taste of your recipe.

This process is long and labourious. To make this recipe, you will need one cup of lilac petals, plus another handful for decoration and garnish. That doesn’t seem like much, but it takes some time. You should learn from my mistakes too, because the first time I did this, I did not sit in the shade. I ended up getting a sunburn! When all is said and done, these Lilac Blossom Biscotti are beautifully fragrant and gently sweet.

QUESTIONS?

If I have not answered all of your questions in the text above, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! You can contact me by sending me a message in the comments section further down the page. I will try my best to answer as soon as possible! You might reach me even faster by following me on Facebook and sending me a private message. Scroll down below the recipe card to find my Follow Me on Social Media box and never miss another recipe!