Amy Atlas Book Signing

Yesterday at Williams-Sonoma located at Lenox Mall in Atlanta Georgia I had the pleasure attending Amy Atlas book signing for Sweet Designs. 

Amy is known for her wonderful creations in baking and especially dessert table displays. Amy is so sweet and totally cool.   I was so in awe she remembered my name, from winning her giveway of the Jacques Torres chocolate.

I learned so much from her tips. Her book Sweet Designs do not just include tips on how to coordinate but also wonderful recipes I cannot wait to try. She stressed about she wanted to create a “bible" that explains how to craft it, bake it and style it, but most importantly the recipes are the work of the book. 

 Amy recreated “A Picnic in the Park” for us at her book signing.  We were served some wonderful treats from her book like the Red Zinger Iced tea and Strawberry Trifle, that has Grand Marnier in it.  OMG, yum.

Some also other wonderful ladies stopped in to show their support. The one and only cake pop lady Angie Dudley from Bakerella and the Atlanta socialite Tamie Reed from Talking with Tami.

I had such a blast.  The staff and the audience was welcoming and I can't wait to start my first dessert table.  I think I will start with my three year old daughter Rock & Roll party in three weeks.

Blogging

Hi There.  This is not my regular dessert post, but I wanted to share something I found about, if you are new to blogging. 

I am getting my foot in about blogging and would love to learn more. Do you know you can earn money from blogging? I don't mean just the regular side ads.  Well, ALT Design Classes provides online classes from Photoshop, blogging 101 and down to Pinterest. I am interested in these classes and I have read other members really enjoyed the classes.  Most of the classes are $15.00 each, which is not bad at all. 

Go and check out the July classes that are currently running here.  You also can get the opportunity to sample classes for free, which I am doing also here.  Thanks go out to Bing (#thanksbing) for sharing this opportunity.

Fried Chicken & Cupcake

Yesterday was National Fried Chicken Day.  Living in the South a juicy piece of fried chicken that graces a plate at any dining establishment is a big hit, like the famous Gladys Knight and Ron Chicken and Waffles. 

The trick to a juicy succulent fried chicken is preparation.  Marinating the chicken in spices overnight keeps it moist and tender.  In my home we hardly eat anything fried, gosh I can’t remember the last dish I made fried. 

This month challenge at Crazy Cooking Challenge is about fried chicken.  This is my first time entering the cooking challenge. 

The hard part for me is I had to find a recipe for fried chicken.  You must be asking why is that hard for you.    When it comes to cooking I find it hard to follow a recipe because I like to add my special touch and plus I already had a wonderful recipe I made in the past all the time for fried chicken.  So I had to score the internet for the closest recipe to mines.  Even though it is not exact, it came out pretty darn good.

As you already know I love making desserts, so I decided to kick it up and add fried chicken to everyone’s favorite dessert – cupcake. Before you start making up your face these savory cupcakes is the same thing as having fried chicken and waffles.  The only difference it sweeter and all in one dish.  Buttermilk, fried chicken, maple syrup, pepper sauce, and amaretto, makes this a winner in my books.  

So what you think would you try?

Buttermilk Fried Chicken
Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients

• 2 cups buttermilk
• 6 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup assorted chopped fresh herbs (such as flat-leaf parsley, tarragon, and thyme)
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 4 1/2-pound fryer chicken, cut into 8 pieces
• 3 cups vegetable shortening
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

• Whisk first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Add chicken; cover and chill for at least 8 hours or overnight.
• Melt vegetable shortening in a large cast-iron skillet. Arrange a deep-fry thermometer in skillet so bulb is submerged. Heat over medium heat until shortening reaches 325°.
• Meanwhile, mix flour, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne in a large brown paper bag. Drain chicken, leaving some herbs still clinging. Season generously with salt and pepper. Working in 2 batches, add chicken to bag, roll top over to seal, and shake well to coat chicken. Let chicken stand in bag 1 minute; shake again.
• Fry chicken in skillet until golden brown and cooked through, 10–15 minutes per side. Sprinkle with additional salt, if desired. Repeat with second batch of chicken.

Bacon-Hazelnut Buttermilk Cupcakes
Makes about 14 standard cupcakes

Ingredients

1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon (5 ml)vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (180 grams) cake flour
3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick or 113 grams) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces and at room temperature

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (180 C). Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla until combined; set aside.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low, add the butter pieces, one at a time, then increase mixer speed to medium low. Once the butter is fully incorporated, increase speed to medium and beat until well combined (about 30 seconds).

Reduce mixer speed to low and add half of the buttermilk mixture. Mix until just combined, then increase speed to medium high for about 30 seconds. Repeat with the remaining buttermilk mixture. Batter should be fully incorporated with some small lumps; do not overmix.

Fill each cupcake liner with three tablespoons of batter. Bake for 18 minutes, or until the edges are light golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a crumb or two clinging to it.

Transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely.  Core cupcakes and stuff with fried chicken and top with frosting and your favorite pepper sauce.

Amaretto Maple Buttercream
Makes about 24 ounces

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks or 226 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 pound (about 4 cups or 500 grams) confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoon (15 ml) amaretto
1 tablespoon (15 ml) heavy cream

Beat the butter on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in half of the sugar until combined. Stir in the vanilla and syrup. Beat in the remaining sugar. Add the heavy cream and amaretto, whisk on high for 6 minutes. 

Recipe adapted from Bakingdom

All American Daiquiri Poptail

Happy July 1^st to everyone.  This is my favorite month of the year.  Why?  Because it’s my birthday month.  My birthday is just a few days away, and I am looking forward to my 31^st.  I am not scared of my age.  I see it as a growing and changing time of my life.  Plus I do not look thirty-one.  If you see me you might think I am just turning twenty.

Since July 4^th is only two days away I wanted to create a poptail for you.  You must be asking what is a poptail.  DO you like popsicles?  What about cocktails? Well there you have it, just combine the two and you got yourself a poptail.  The first time I saw poptails is by Naomi at Baker Royale.  She has some awesome recipes for poptails that I plan on trying.  I love a good drink and if it comes frozen I think it is even better.

If you not a lover of alcohol this is definitely not for you.  But if you are, go ahead and whip up this poptail and let me know what you think.

If you not a lover of alcohol, feel free to omit the alcohol.  But if you are, go ahead and whip up this poptail and let me know what you think.

All American Daiquiri Poptail

Ingredients

Strawberry Layer

3 cups strawberries

4 ounces sugar

2 tablespoon dark rum

Cream Layer

1 ½ cups Greek Yogurt

3 Tbsp. heavy cream

3 Tbsp. Honey

Blueberry Layer

3 cups blueberries

2 tsp. lime juice

4 ounces sugar

2 tablespoon dark rum

Preparation

Wash, dice and pit the white part out of the strawberries and puree with sugar and dark rum in a blender or food processor.  Set aside.  Repeat the same step with the blueberries by picking out any stems or leaves from the blueberries.  You can use frozen berries but I liked using fresh berries.

Combine all the ingredients for the cream layer.  The heavy cream is used to thin out the Greek yogurt so you can have a pouring consistency. And the honey is to sweeten the yogurt so it balances out the taste with the berries.

Assembly

Simply pour alternating the layers starting with the strawberry layer and ending with the blueberry layer into your popsicle mold.  Allow each layer to freeze for at least 30 minutes before pouring the other layer.  When you are 2/3 of the way done you can add the popsicle stick.  I added mines after the cream layer when it was semi-frozen.