Unintentional Pairings: White Warmth

adas art filled apartment therapy

I have been drawn to these images and I couldn't figure out why. But when I pulled them all together, it hit me. There is a common theme of a varied coral hues, spikey flowers, vintage charm, competing textures, natural themes and lots of casual muted white backgrounds. Almost a natural history type of flair, with a bit of eccentric fun thrown in.

It's amazing to see how fashion, flowers, treats, books and interior design can be combined to resemble one another in such an obscure and unintentional way.

brooke white & summer bellessa. the girls with glasses show

glitter cookies recipe via the  purl bee

jcrew 2010

portrait by Emma Corcoran of blue day designs. Emma turns child portraits into edgy works of art.

indoor teepee via moozle home

Sweet Treats: Perfect Vegan Sugar Cookie Recipe

 These fall inspired sugar cookies are from the cheerful Dainty Squid. Seriously, isn't that one adorable acorn? She used this vegan recipe by John and Kristie.

"The cookies were just hard enough to keep their shape, but soft when bitten. They tasted buttery and melted in your mouth. The icing was glossy, smooth and sweet. Like the cookies, the icing was just hard enough to allow stacking, but soft to bite. They were a hit at the party! And surprise, they were vegan!"

PERFECT VEGAN SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE
This makes about 36 cookies. We made two batches.

1 cup margarine	3 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar	2 teaspoons baking powder
2 whole egg replacements (Ener-G)	1/4 cup tofu cream cheese (Tofutti)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1.	In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar. Stir in the egg replacements and vanilla. Gradually add the flour, baking powder and tofu cream cheese. You may have to use your hands at this point to finish the mixing. Form the dough into a long loaf and wrap in cellophane. Refrigerate for a couple hours.
2.	Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease the cookie sheets or use a non-stick foil.
3.	On a lightly floured surface (we taped down a sheet of non-stick foil to our countertop instead), roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place about 1 inch apart cookie on sheets.
4.	Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, until bottoms and edges just start to get light brown. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

PERFECT VEGAN ICING RECIPE
Each batch is enough to easily coat 24 cookies. We made four batches, one for each color.

2 cups confectioners' sugar	1/2 teaspoon of almond extract
6-8 teaspoons of soy milk (Silk Vanilla)	Assorted food coloring
4 teaspoons of light corn syrup

Directions:

1.	In medium bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and soy milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
2.	Add food coloring to desired intensity. Dip cookies and allow to dry overnight.

Family Time: The Cookie Man

Allow me to introduce you to my husband's famous chocolate chip cookies. He has been making me these since we were newlyweds. He and I both follow the same recipe on the chocolate chip bag,  but mine always turn out small, round, regulation sized thinness, but always a little too hard. Something seems to be missing from my cookies.

His, turn out crazy thick (sometimes an inch or more in the middle), dollar pancake sized, never "cookie shape" round.... But, oh, they are glorious. They have the perfect softness, perfect size for sharing, perfect for milk dipping. The chocolate chips are never too gooey, and never too hard (like mine are).

Let's just say, he is the designated cookie man 'round these parts. And it makes us all happy.