December 17, 2011

i wish i was wearing

Marc Jacobs top
Diane von Furstenberg pants
L'Agence shearling jacket
Proenza Schouler bag
Marc by Marc Jacobs bangle
Lanvin flats

This bag again - but it really is the best. I like the pop of yellow a lot, too.
 

December 16, 2011

gingerbread cookies


/royal icing and crunched mint candy cookie/

 

Gingerbread cookies
(from Martha Stewart) 

Ingredients (makes about 80 5-cm cookies)
  • 6 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt 
  • 5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 5 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 2 teaspoons ground cloves
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 230 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
  • 1 cup molasses
Directions:
1.  Sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder.
2.  Put butter and sugar in a bowl, mix until fluffy. Add all of the spices and salt, mix until combined. Add molasses and eggs, whisk until combined. 
3. Add the flour mixture, adding three times. The dough will be very dense so you may want to work with your hands instead of a whisk at this point.
4. Preheat the oven to 180*C. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. 
5. Roll out the dough until about 5 mm thick. Using a cookie cutter or a round glass, cut cookies. Collect the remaing dough and roll out again, repeat until all of the dough is used. 
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes, let cool. The cookies will be soft straight out of the oven.
 
/red sugar cookie/

You can dust warm cookies with confectioners' sugar, it will stick to the cookies as they cool. You can also ice them and dust with any kind of sprinkles. I used crunched mint candy and red sugar. Here is the recipe for icing:

Ingredients (makes enough for 80 5-cm cookies)
  • 1 egg white
  • 300 g confectioners' sugar
  • 4 tablespoons water or lemon juice
  • food coloring, if desired. 
Directions:
1.  Whisk sugar and egg white until very thick and opaque. It should take about 3 minutes.
2. Gradually add the juice or water. Check the texture after each addition, don't continue if it spreads nicely.
3. Add coloring. Decorate cookies as you wish!
 

 
/snowflake cookie/
 
/more cookies!/

December 15, 2011

christmas

source: mostly Martha Stewart, all found on pinterest.com


Candles, no table cloths, red plates, pine, touches of gold - so festive and cosy. I can't wait for Christmas!

December 10, 2011

white chocolate pomegranate cookies

As the days become shorter and colder, I find kitchen to be more comforting than ever, and baking becomes therapeutic. The more work there is to be done for school, the more time I spend looking for great recipes. It just feels more important, not to mention more pleasurable. Cookies are great when I have a lot of other duties to fullfill, because they are so little work. The ones with pomegranate took a teeny more effort, but they look so festive and taste really nice, too, that it was definately worth it.
Btw, the Two Peas and Their Pod is an amazing, inspiring blog, and their photos of cookies make me feel so bad about mine. I always have a hard time taking shots of these.


Whie chocolate pomegranate cookies:
(adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod) 

Ingredients (makes about 24 cookies)
  • 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 1  egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
  • 1 cup oats/wheat bran
  • 100 g white chocolate, cut into chunks
  • arils of 1 pomegranate

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 190*C. Line two flat tins with baking parchment.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a bowl.
3. Whisk the butter with both sugars until very light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. 
4. Add vanilla extract and the egg, beat until combined. 
5. Add dry ingredients in the addings. The dough will be stiff, so you may want to stop using mixer at this point.
6. Mix in the oats/bran alongside with the chocolate chunks. 
7. Make dough balls using a tablespoon, adding 8-10 arils of pomegranate to each ball. 
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown. Straight out of the oven, the cookies will be soft. They will become cripsy as they cool down. You can put them on the rack after 15 minutes. 



December 5, 2011

i wish i was wearing

 Isabel Marant knit
Topshop jeans shirt
Proenza Schouler bag
Michael Kors watch
Dolce Vita booties
These colors look so good together, and I like that tomboy feel.