Will Mini-Pies Take the Place of Cupcakes?

Competitive cooking queen and former bakery owner Julie Ann Hession has her first cookbook coming out this spring.

175 Best Mini-Pie Recipes: Sweet to Savory (Robert Rose, $24.95) covers the new trend of mini-pies. The cookbook includes step-by-step technique photos and easy-to-follow instructions. Look for an April debut. Amazon is already taking pre-orders here.

Hession has won more than $100,000 in cash and prizes in competitive cooking competitions. Her idol, Bobby Flay, awarded her top prize in Aetna's first-ever Healthy Food Fight cook-off. She also won the Food Network Ultimate Recipe Showdown competition, hosted by Guy Fieri, and took home the $25,000 for her Double Chocolate Malt Shop Cupcakes with Cherry Vanilla Buttercream. Her biggest win came in December 2011 when she landed a $40,000 prize for Sterling Vineyards' Ultimate Host competition. Finalists created a party from scratch on a budget. Hession created an après-ski themed event with homemade, custom sugar cookies, a "make your own S'mores" bar and a photo opportunity for guests to share their experience with friends online.

She closed her bakery in Henderson in 2007 to focus on Julie Anne's All Natural Granola, which is sold in Whole Foods stores and finds a home at breakfast spreads at Mandarin Oriental and the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
· All Coverage of Book Club [~ELV~]