sugar cookies

good morning! i should start off with a warning that i'm on day two of a three-day juice cleanse, and i'm feeling a little loopy. starting every morning with a shot of chlorophyll (easily the most foul thing i have ever tasted) is in no way a stand-in for a nice, hot cup of coffee. i'm not doing this to try to drop weight or anything - just to be clear - but, rather, because i've been drinking beer like a sorority girl on spring break in europe.

all that said, i'm going to torture myself a bit and post some cookies i made over the weekend. a friend just got engaged (congratulations sharon!) and asked me to make cookies for her engagement party. each one got wrapped up with a little note that said, "will you be my bridesmaid?" (or groomsman, depending.) i had a lot of fun decorating them, each a little differently.








i had a moment of panic when i woke up to make them, realizing that i have tons of sugar cookie recipes and wasn't sure which would be best for this kind of decorating; i decided to go with betty crocker, always reliable, and sure enough the dough was perfect. here's the (slightly modified) recipe:

1 stick unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 t raspberry flavor
a couple pinches ground vanilla beans
pinch of salt
1 egg
2 1/2 cups AP flour
1 t cream of tartar
1 t baking soda

a friend of sam's owns a company that makes and bottles natural flavorings, and when she heard i was a pastry chef she very generously bestowed me with a basket full of many of her offerings. i've been waiting for a chance to try them out - this summer seemed way too busy (and hot) for baking - so i subbed in raspberry flavor and ground vanilla beans. the flavor was so good that i used them in some macarons later that day, too - subtle, and REALLY raspberry, not some weird fake-tasting concoction. it can be so hard to find good, unusual flavors, and her shop has tons of them, and at super affordable prices. /end shill.

start the butter, sugar and flavor in your mixer; beat them together until nice and fluffy and white. add egg (preferably at room temperature) and mix just until combined, then add the flour, tartar and baking soda all at once until it comes together in a dough (mix as little as possible.) refrigerate for at least an hour, until the dough is nice and firm.

preheat oven to 37roll it out until the dough is about 1/4 inch thick - they'll puff up a little when they bake. i then decorated mine with fondant i dyed and some royal icing i made. voila!

hope everyone had a great weekend!

xo audrey

brown's pond house

(photos courtesy of mr. morgan mirvis and his fancy camera.)

sooo, a couple weekends ago sam and i spent the weekend with 9 friends in a big, beautiful house on brown's pond in upstate new york to celebrate my dear friend jared's birthday. it was absolutely gorgeous - still warm enough to sit outside in nothing but your flannel or a sweater, and all the leaves were at their brightest but still filling the trees. we spent most of the time drinking spiced cider, eating, or playing dorky word games, and it was one of the best weekends i'd had in a while. i brought the cake.




to say that jared is the biggest sally field fan i know isn't really saying much, but it is absolutely true, so i spent a little time at work the day before we left drawing ms. norah walker herself (anyone get that reference? no? you're better for it.) in chocolate on his devil's food cake.



tonight i attempt to deep fry turkey drumsticks. stay tuned.

xo audrey

pop cakes

i have a few email subscriptions that i can't quite bring myself to get rid of, but 99% of the time i delete them without reading; i do the grand majority of my email reading on an iphone, so it's gotta be good to get me to squint at that stupid screen. (i really need new glasses.) but this story on flavorpill caught my eye and i thought it was worth a quick link-up.

pop culture cakes! some really awesome, clever (and some pretty sloppy and uninspired) cakes derived from books, movies, music, tv, and art. a few of my favorites:

the hungry caterpillar & where the wild things are (and, if you follow the link, several very cute others):



andy warhol(another great cake goldmine):


damien hirst:


and a beautiful mondrian: