Butter + Cream + Joy the Baker

Before consuming Easter chocolate by the fistful and rocking and rolling through another LA earthquake, we spent a gorgeous day in the kitchen with our moms, BFF Jill, and the one and only Joy the Baker. Odds are that you already know Joy and her beautiful blog. If you don’t, mosey on over to her site and take a look.

Joy is gracious. And calm. And talented. And pretty. She was nice about it when I overdid it on the corn syrup in her vanilla glaze, and when our chocolate glaze set too early. In our downtime, Joy shared tips on food photography and this crazy awesome little world of blogging that we’ve just recently joined. She was a great teacher in every sense of the word, and to put it bluntly, her recipes kick ass. You should make them too.

If you want to see her in action, check out the On the Lamb cooking demo this Saturday at noon at Surfas in Culver City.

Lotsa pictures after the jump!

Our class was held at Ramekins in Sonoma. Their kitchen had some amazing tools, including the largest rolling pin I've ever seen.
We started by making an epic cookie mash-up: Red velvet cake-like cookies, with a black and white frosting combo.
Here's Joy with the moms at the mixer. Our moms had a good time too.
I must say, our cookies looked pretty great, despite an incident that may or may not have involved another group accidentally stealing our perfectly baked cookies, and leaving behind their slightly overbaked ones. The ladies of Butter + Cream do not hold grudges, we would just rather not talk about it.
I think that Mary won the creative points for the class.She created a black and white cookie that was full of all kinds of love:
We also made the most decadent, sugar-coma inducing goodness that I have ever had. Rice Krispie treats topped with a layer of peanut butter fudge, topped with a layer of chocolate fudge. Fudge. On Rice Krispie treats. I know, I just blew your mind.
If I had to pick a word for this dessert it would be: ridiculous.

Jill offered to press the Rice Krispie treats in to the pan. Jill is recently engaged and her ring is a stunner. I'm pretty sure she was just looking for an opportunity to show it off.

Along with the cookies and the Rice Krispie Treats, the class made lemon whoopie pies (a lemon lover's dream), pumpkin pie bars, and a batch of cinnamon roll muffins that were out of this world yummy.

Based on her talent and charm, it's no surprise that Joy is working on a cookbook. She is the real deal, and we have no doubt that she'll conquer the world, one cookie at a time. Joy, thanks for sharing your day with us! We wish you endless success!