Introducing Sweet Amanda Leigh

You never know who you're going to meet, as this theory truly came into play when I met with Marc, one of my co-workers about something completely non-food related.  We got to chatting about our interests and I found out he's related to the talented Sweet Amanda Leigh of Astoria.  "How amazing and what a small world!," I thought, as I couldn't believe there was an Astoria connection between us.  

In no time, Marc connected me to Amanda and off we went, exploring our common likes for sweet treats.  I was so intrigued that we set up a little tasting at Mackenzi's SITE, and Amanda gave us each a generous box of her signature treats.  But before I get into some of my faves, here's a little bit of info about Sweet Amanda Leigh.

About Sweet Amanda Leigh
Specializing in custom cakes, Amanda is known for some pretty amazing designs, which span from whimsy, kid oriented themes to romantic wedding cakes.  I love that everything is made from scratch and Amanda uses premium quality ingredients, which really shine in her sweet goodies.  

Amanda's background lies in art & design, hence her creative touch to each confection, but her baking expertise comes from NY's ICE Culinary.  Needless to say, this talented lady is legit and she's even worked with the amazing, George McKirdy of Astor Bake Shop.  Her attention to detail and professionalism shines in every treat from a full blown cake to the smallest cookie.

Sweet Treats
Besides her signature cakes, Amanda also excels in baking cookies, cupcakes, brownies and everything in between.  I was happy to see that our box of samples included a few different things.  While I was pretty much in love with it all, here are a few things that were total home runs.

Lavender lemon cookie - An elegant, sophisticated treat, this cookie was not only surprising for the senses, it was also really light.  Boasting the most amazing buttery, crumbly texture, each bite was the perfect combination of earthy and zesty.  The lavender was apparent but not overbearing, whereas the lemon presented a beautifully clean flavor.  I can see enjoying this with a piping hot cup of herbal tea.

Rainbow cookie - Everyone has a soft spot for a good old fashioned rainbow cookie, and this one totally ruled.  I appreciated its soft colors, which indicated to me that Amanda went light on food coloring (a good sign).  The binder for its three signature layers tasted of apricot jam, which was amazing, while the cake itself was nice and almondy.

Classic vanilla cupcake - Even though there were fancier things in the box than this, simplicity is always appreciated in my book.  The vanilla dough was flavorful and had a lovely, moist texture, while the frosting was absolutely delectable.   Made with semi-sweet chocolate, it wasn't too overpowering and did a great job at dressing the cupcake instead of stealing the show.

To further explore Amanda's delicious treats, check out her site, and let her know who sent you.

Creative Snacking Inspired by Casellula

This really easy dish was inspired by an awesome visit I recently took with Kimberly to Casellula, a quaint wine and cheese bar in Midtown Manhattan.  But besides the usual suspects, Kimberly and I also ordered the most delicious snack of lavender rosemary popcorn.  The combination was so stupendous that it's been on my mind ever since, and I craved to recreate it at home.

I did a bit of research and found a similar recipe on the Healthy Green Kitchen blog, which I altered a little bit.  Their recipe called for butter, which I chose to omit, instead just using the maple syrup and diluting it with a bit of water.  Unfortunately, I didn't have any lavender on hand, so I had to omit it, but it still came out really good and so crunchy.  Instead, I topped the popcorn with generous amounts of truffle salt, which definitely did the trick.

Take a look at this awesome recipe and try it at home - Dan and I loved snacking on it on a random Sunday night, while we watched Puss in Boots.  Crunch on that.