Naturally,Charlie Blog Tour

 

Welcome To The Naturally Charlie Blog Tour with S.L Scott!

We gals at S,E,R's Awesomness are pleased to have Author S.L Scott our blog today,and here she is with a little snippet about her self and a recipe she would like to share. Enjoy!

 S.L Scott:

 I’m a shy person, but I don’t think anyone else would agree with me. I think it’s time to face the fact that I’m not. 

   With that said, here’s more than you ever wanted to know about me: I’m a mom to two awesome kiddos, a wife to my personal Forever and a Day, a writer held hostage by her characters until their story is told, a would be surfer if I wasn’t landlocked, a daydreamer, guacamole lover, and a ‘wish I had more time to bake’ baker. I love rom-com’s, fixate on phrases then run them into the ground, enjoy an iced flavored coffee almost every day, love Austen, Kinsella, Fielding. I have twenty-four Fitz & Floyd teapots on display in my dining room, fifteen Dept 56 Snow Village Christmas pieces, and an affinity for first edition books of any sort.

Too much information? Sorry about that. I got carried away.

Instead of itemizing my life, I’d love to share an amazing experience I had in September 2011. I went to Vegas with my sister to celebrate my birthday. We have always been lovers of roller coasters, never had a problem with heights, and had sky-diving on both of our bucket lists. Vegas. Birthday. Girls trip. Yep, this all added up to an adventure tailor made for us.

My sister asked if I wanted to skydive on my birthday or before or after. I said the day before. I didn’t want the anticipation and anxiety to ruin the trip and she agreed. BUT, I also had an ulterior motive. I always think it’s more tragic when people die on the same day as their birthday, soooooo….. well, you know where I’m going with this. I settled on the day before, just in case something tragic happened, I would still be a year (even though only by a day) younger. I’m seriously cracking myself up right now about how narcissistic that is to admit. Haha.

I have to get back on track here. I actually learned something about myself. We were in the plane taking off and my sister had to sit on the floor because she was the first one out the door on our skydiving adventure. I was going to be second. To this day, we haven’t decided if it was better to go first or second, both have their pros and their cons.

The plane is climbing in altitude and I can see my sister is nervous, but you can’t hear anything because of the loud engine. We mouth our— I love you’s—as you do before flinging yourself

willingly out of a plane. The guy I’m skydiving tandem with straps me to him. *coughs* If you’ve never done this… ummm… hope for someone strong, safety-minded, and cute because you are about to get really close to this person as well as relying on them to land you safely back on earth.

I’m buckled to him, sitting on his lap, and he says, “I think you’re calmer than me.”

That’s when I realized it. It’s something I feel I’ve always been good at—I work well under pressure. This was happening. There was no use fighting against it. I was going to be going out that plane door. I wanted to do this and even though I was scared for my life, I was resolved that

I could do this. So my mindset was focused. Let’s do this. Let’s survive and let’s have fun while flying through the air. I felt powerful and even though I wasn’t, I felt like I was in control of my destiny. I would land safely and as you can see by me writing this post today, I did.

It was a real boost in confidence, I must say, and exhilarating, but I don’t ever, and I mean never, need to do that again. LOL.

Oh, to cap off this most random information about me and what I like, I thought I’d share a cupcake recipe. In Naturally, Charlie—Charlie girl loves to bake cupcakes. I love cupcakes. Who doesn’t love cupcakes?! One of my favorite cocktails is a Margarita, so I had Charlie bake Margarita cupcakes in the book. Here is a great recipe for that cocktail-inspired baked goody created by my author and professional baker friend J. Parker—she’s sharing her secret recipe with us.

 

Margarita Cupcakes

1.5 cups all purpose flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, room temperature, unsalted

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs, room temp

2 limes, zested and juiced

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk, room temp

1-2 TBSP tequila 

Preheat oven to 325. Line tins with wrappers.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together. In bowl of your mixer, with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on med speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, stopping to scrape down as necessary. Mix in the lime zest, juices, and vanilla (may look curdled). With mixer on low, add dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with buttermilk, starting and ending with dry ingredients. Beat until just incorporated.

Divide into liners, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake 20ish minutes, but check around the 15-18 minute mark. Cupcakes should spring back when pressed and toothpick comes out clean with just a few moist crumbs attached. Transfer pan to wire rack to cool. Poke holes in tops of cupcakes and drizzle with tequila. Let rest for about 5 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool completely.

Tequila Lime Frosting

1 cup butter unsalted, cool but not cold

2 3/4 - 3 cups powdered sugar

1.5 TBSP freshly squeezed lime juice

1-2 TBSP tequila 

pinch of salt

Beat butter until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar until incorporated and smooth.  Scrape down sides and add lime juice, tequila, and salt. Mix until fluffy. Taste and see if it needs more tequila, add little by little... no more than a tsp at a time. 

Frost cupcakes and then garnish with course sea salt and a lime wedge. You can do some without salt for those who don't like their margaritas salted.  Find her on Twitter at @JParkerWrites.

Thank you so much for hosting me here on your blog. I had a blast writing this post and hope you enjoy my book Naturally, Charlie.

XO,

S.L. 

 Grace's Review Of Naturally,Charlie:  http://samsawesomness.blogspot.com/2012/10/naturallycharlie-by-sl-scott.html?zx=e1c8944fb00d34ec