Lemon Poppyseed Cookies

Whenever I go to Larissa's mother's house she always has some amazing baked good for me to try. Shereen is just the best baker ever, but she lives in Thunder Bay so I never get to eat her cookies. So I decided to try one of her recipes once a month, and Shereen was nice enough to let me share them on my blog. So to start I tried this lemon poppyseed cookie, and it was delicious. After I was finished baking them Jon and I went to Greg's Icecream and we bought vanilla ice cream to make icecream cookies out of them. They were absolutely delicious. I have to apologize for the dark image of the cookies, I took them with my new Diana mini, and I'm an amateur to say the least. Most of my pictured turned out either all black or all white. Needless to say I need a little practice, and she maybe read through the directions a bit better. But don't let the pictures fool you, they were the cookies were delicious.

 

lemon poppyseed cookie

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice plus 3 1/2 teas. grated lemon zest

1 cup butter (room temp)

3 cups flour

1 teas. baking powder

1/2 teas salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 egg

2 teas. vanilla

1 teas. poppy seeds plus more for sprinkling

 

1. preheat oven to 350.

In small saucepan simmer lemon juice over medium heat til reduced by half.

Add 1/2 cup butter, stir til melted. let cool a bit.

2.whisk tog. flour, baking powder and salt. Cream remaining 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup sugar on med. speed in bowl of electric mixer

mix in egg and lemon butter. Mix til pale coloured about 3 min. Mix in vanilla and 2 teas. zest. mix in flour mixture and poppy seeds.

3. Stir tog remaining 1/2 cup sugar and 1 1/2 teas. zest. Roll spoonfuls of dough into 1 1/4 inch balls, roll them in sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. dip a flat bottomed glass in sugar mixture and press to 1/4 inch thickness. sprinkle with seeds.

4. bake til just slightly browned around edges about 10 min. Transfer to wire rack, cool completely.store airtight 1 week.
 

Shereen's Advice: 

This recipe is an old cookie of the month from Martha Stewart magazine. In the original it is only 2 cups of flour. I found the dough to be too wet but you can start with 2 cups and add more if necessary. I also  press mine with a metal measuring cup. I find it works to dip and press a few times for each cookie, you will get the feel of it. It's important not to overbake this cookie, it is just lightly browned. Also, don't try to remove from the pan too quickly, let them cool a bit, because they are delicate.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

 

Spring Time

I had the loveliest weekend that started with waking up to the sun shining into my bedroom. Since the weather was so nice Jon and I decided to walk to Madeleines for breakfast where I had a scone and he had a meat pie. Then I went and got an absolutely terrible haircut, but I was determined not to let it ruin my day-- and when the weather is so beautiful it's almost impossible to be discontent. Anyway, my friend Emma came over after to console me and we made lemon poppyseed muffins (of which I plan on posting the recipe for later this week because they were delicious). Afterwards we went for Thai food and I spent the rest of the evening walking around Toronto with Jon. Today it's cloudy and a thunder storm seems to be coming on, making it a perfect day for doing a bit of sewing and reading and just generally staying inside my apartment. Hopefully I'll be able to show off the skirts that I've been making soon. Oh and this is a picture of me as a girl playing in the spring time in Thunder Bay (where I grew up). As you can see my mother let me dress myself and she always provided me with lovely dresses both vintage and hand made to create them.

Singers

Larissa sent me this amazing sound and light performance piece by Canadian artist Martin Messier called Sewing Machine Orchestra that was featured on Christopher Jobson's blog,  Colossal. I'll have to quote Jobson's description of the piece as it is a bit technical for me: "the eight 1940-1950s Singer sewing machines are interlinked with a micro-controller system without need for human interaction." I think the sounds are really amazing, and it makes a visually beautiful piece as well.

Sewing Machine Orchestra from Martin Messier on Vimeo.

Just a few things

 I thought I would share a few things that I have acquired lately with the intention of bringing on spring. This is a mask that I made this Saturday for my friend Julia's masquerade ball. I thought the mask was alright, but I was still a bit nervous to see what everyone else made (you had to make your own). As usual my mask was the only one that was pretty instead of funny. I wish I could combine the two things because I always end up feeling a bit vapid. Oh well, maybe next time I'll be able to create a pretty and witty mask.

I also bought this amazing perfume from Anthropologie that has a pin cushion for a lid! When I saw it I knew I didn't stand a chance. It smells like a flower garden with a hint of old fashioned glamorous woman. I love it, and I haven't had a perfume since I bought Tommy Girl in grade 10, so I'm pretty excited about it. The cards in this photograph are also from Anthropolgie, they're a reprint of cards from 1861 and have suits of roses, pinks, violets and heart's-ease. I love them, but I think it would be very difficult and confusing to play with them. But maybe when I have a daughter we can play go fish with them.

Francine brought this book along with some Madeleine's from today which was very nice of her because I was not feeling very well. The book is called Daughters of Painted Ladies and is about redecorated Victorian homes. I can't wait to take a better look at all the houses in it. Oh, I'm also wearing a new lipstick that I bought for spring from m.a.c. called Luckable. I really like it because it's definitely bright and daring, but still a somewhat natural tone. Now then, I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

The Blue Fairy Book

 After following From Me to You, Francine  and I decided that it would be a good idea to make a gif (pronounced with either a soft or hard g, not sure which one). This, however, turned out to be a very difficult task due to google not really liking gif's. Anyway, after about 50 emails and much perseverance we (and by "we" I mean Francine) figured it out. My first idea for the gif was to have a book turning its pages on its own to look like magic. In my mind this looked beautiful and I thought it could be accomplished until I sat there posing for Francine and realized that something was going to have to move the pages of the book. Maybe it's just because I'm the person moving the book in this photograph, but I get a little bit tired when looking at myself move the pages over and over. However, I am not disillusioned with the whole gif thing, and I actually really love the result.

The Blue Fairy Book is one of my most treasured gifts from my late Grandfather. It is edited by Andrew Lang with illustrations by Charles van Sandwyk and was first published in 1889. The compilation includes some stories that we are familiar with such as "Little Red Riding Hood" while others seem rather obscure, with names like "The Brave Little Tailor." Interestingly, most of the stories have been translated by women. I wonder if that was a common form of work for women in the late nineteenth century? I should ask my friend Larissa, whose a bit of an expert at these types of things. I really enjoy just sitting and looking through the pages of this beautiful book, all the while thinking of my wonderful Grandfather. 

I'm wearing a lovely Nadinoo blouse in one of my favourite prints by Liberty of London and a black kilt by aa. The idea of the outfit, however, came from this amazing bow that I saw on Francine the other day. I basically told her immediately that I needed it for a shoot. Thankfully she was generous enough to lend it to me, and then take the photographs.
And I suppose that's all I have to say for today. Have a lovely weekend.