Baking for an Amy Atlas Dessert Table

Cherry pie fun! About a month before Amy Atlas was scheduled to visit Williams-Sonoma, I came up with a plan for putting her dessert table together. Part of the preparation involved a bit of baking. These cherry pies were included and I decided to test out a pie pan a few weeks prior to get the hang of using it. The pies were so adorable I had to have a little styling fun and as a result, a mini photo shoot.

In this post I’ll share with you more behind-the-scenes prep and tips for successful baking. I’ve also included a cookie recipe at the end that I like using.

Dessert Menu for the Picnic in the Park Table:

Cherry Pies
Dried Cherry and Almond Cupcakes
PB & J Cookies
Strawberry Trifle

About 3 hours before the event, here are all the sweets ready to be plated on the table.

The cherry pies bursting with filling

Experimenting with the Mini Pie Cup Set. The ones I ended up doing for the event had a fluted lattice whereas these are straight-edged. The set comes with a double-sided cutter so you can get the right size for the bottom and top crusts. The lattice I did by hand using a pastry wheel. I found it easier to do the lattice on a silpat and then place it on the pie. It can be a little tricky but I found it less messy than doing the lattice directly on the pie.

At the top are the lattice pies and the bottom are the cut-out pies which you can achieve using the cutter that comes with the set. I crimped the edges with a fork to seal the top and bottom crusts. Next I chilled the pies for about 30 minutes, then brushed with a beaten egg and sprinkled with sanding sugar before baking in the oven till an even golden brown.

Inspired by the coral/pink tones of the Picnic in the Park table, I found this beautiful striped Busatti napkin at Williams-Sonoma to use as my backdrop. The plate is an Apilco Porcelain Appetizer Plate.

Nine golden bread sandwiches ready for filling. I made the sugar cookies using a recipe that you can find at the end of this post. It is a great recipe for shaped cookies because its easy to work with when you need to do cut outs. If you have ever used one of the Williams-Sonoma character cookie sets like Star Wars or Marvel, this is the perfect recipe.

Tip: Chill the cut outs for 30 minutes before baking and they will not spread at all in the oven.

The cookies baked for 10-12 minutes or until the edges got a little brown to look like the crust on actual white sandwich bread.

The filling is Blackberry Farm Peanut Butter and Blackberry Jam.

I baked the cookies two days ahead and put them in an air tight container. The day of I put the filling in. If you like a really crisp cookie I would use the same prep plan. However flavor wise I personally liked the taste the next day. The cookie absorbed a little bit of the moisture from the filling but still maintained a decently crisp texture and I just thought they tasted much better than the day of. So if you want to make it easier on yourself, bake and assemble a day ahead.

Here are the dried cherry and almond cupcakes. Chopped dried cherries and blanched slivered almonds are folded into the batter. The glaze is simply powdered sugar, water and almond extract. Careful when adding the almond extract. It is really strong. I added just 1/4 teaspoon.

Tip: To get a nice even drizzle, start your drizzle about 6″ above the cupcake. It will allow the glaze more time to get to a thin line when it hits the cupcake rather than a glob going on the top.

The strawberry trifle was the one recipe that had to be done the day of. The strawberries were sliced about 3 hours prior and soaked in the sugar, lemon juice and orange zest mixture. Pound cake was cut into 1″ cubes and covered with plastic wrap. I used Costco pound cake, which by the way is delicious coming from someone who is in pastry school. Then 1 hour before serving, I whipped the cream and assembled the trifle.

Then up goes the bunting….

And finishing touches by Lisa, Amy’s Commander in Sweets…

Then show time! Ready for Amy Atlas.

Sugar Cookies Recipe (I used this for the PB & J sandwich cookies)
from the Williams-Sonoma Kitchen

Amy’s Tip: Sugar cookies along with brownies, cupcakes and rice krispie treats are her picks for most versatile dessert recipes because you have a surface to decorate and you can more easily turn them into your color palette or theme.