Baking with Beer

For Mother’s Day my bestie and I took her mom to a cooking class at Shipyard Brewery here in Orlando. Yes we took momma for Mother’s day, but this class was really for us. The class was taught by the wonderful Emily Ellyn (from the Food Network) who happens to live here in Orlando. We were SO excited!

We started out with lunch at BurgerFi (which is right up the street). Unfortunately Rollins College (which is also right up the street) had their graduation that day and things were a little crazy. We had a really hard time parking but thankfully we made it to the restaurant before the mad after graduation rush. We enjoyed a yummy lunch and even had time to check out Rocket Fizz before heading over to Shipyard for the class.

It was more of a cooking demonstration than a class, but it was still super fun. We were greeted by Emily who is just as cute and amazing in person as she seems on tv. She was SO nice. It is always a good sign when the first thing someone does upon meeting you is hand  you some alcohol. She made an AWESOME spritzer from two different types of beer. Thankfully we got recipes for everything she made that day so I can try and make it at home some time. You could seriously get yourself a buzz with that stuff.

We all sat at a long table in front of her cooking station and got to sample everything as she talked about it. Man were we full by the time the class was over. We even got to sample all of the beers that she used in the various recipes. She used my favorite Shipyard beer, Applehead, in an amazing caramel. We even got to take some home in a little Le Creuset pot (mine was red of course to match my kitchen).

After the class my bestie was hoping to get a picture of Emily with one of her cupcakes. So after getting her to take some pictures with us I asked if she would mind taking some pictures with a cupcake. She said yes! She was super cute while I was taking the pictures and next thing we knew she was taking off the wrapper and taking a bite. It was awesome! She even wrapped it up to take it with her because she was too full to eat it then but wanted to finish it. My bestie couldn’t wipe the smile off her face for the rest of the day.

We really enjoyed the class, enjoyed meeting Emily, and spending the day together. I’ve gotten to see a lot more of my bestie recently and it has been awesome. Due to a last minute change in plans I’m going to be able to see her next weekend when she is in town and I’m really looking forward to it.