Friday, August 24, 2012

Shabby Nightstand with Blue Interior



I've had the twin nightstand to the one I painted earlier this summer just waiting for me to decide what to do. I finally found a great inspiration picture on Pinterest and set about making mine just as fun.


This stand needed more repairs than the other one. The pins at the base of the front door were missing and a chunk of wood in the front right corner needed to be repaired. I used some wood filler resin (2 part putty) to fill in the missing wood and hit my local Ace Hardware for the small pins (my Ace has a wall of bits and bobs that you can buy just one at a time, including hardware for furniture). I lightly sanded all the surfaces before priming it with one coat of Kilz.


I painted the interior of the drawer and cabinet Aqua Smoke from Home Depot, still from the sample can from the previous project. The outside is crisp white-also a Behr Ultra Premium sample, just no color added. I distressed it a bit with my palm sander and finished it with a coat of wax. Glass knobs from Hobby Lobby fancy it up. (I'm still thinking about what to do with the super fun fabric I found at HobLob while picking up the knobs).









Thursday, August 16, 2012

Black and White Cookies

 

I have a good friend who works in a bakery, and sometimes she brings me home a black and white cookie--so delicious!  I don't often make cookies that require frosting, but when I saw these on the cover of Cook's Country magazine, I knew I'd be trying them out.  So glad I did!

According to the magazine,the traditional B/W cookie is lemon flavored, but they did a vanilla version and I really loved it (because as much as I like chocolate frosting, I don't love lemon/chocolate).  So, here is the recipe

Cook's Country, March 2012, pg 22

Cookies
1 3/4 C. all purpose flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1/8 t. salt
10 T. unsalted butter, softened
1 C. sugar
1 lg egg
2 t. vanilla (the good stuff)
1/3 C. sour cream

Glaze (I made half a batch of glaze and it was just enough for a full batch of cookies)

5 C. powdered sugar, sifted
7 T. whole milk (divided)
2 T. corn syrup
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. salt
3 T. cocoa powder

For the cookies:  Preheat to 350.  In a bowl, sift the dry ingredients together.  In a stand mixer, use the paddle to cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, the add the egg and vanilla.  Alternate adding some of the dry mix then the sour cream to the mixer.

Use a 1/4 c. measure to make drop cookies (note:  I did not use that big a scoop, I used my regular cookie scoop, which is about 1 1/2 T.) onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake 15-18 minutes until the edges are lightly golden (turn the cookie sheet around after about 7 minutes).  Cool on a rack.


For the glaze:  In a bowl, whisk the sugar, 6 T. of the milk, corn syrup, vanilla and salt until smooth.  Transfer 1 C. of the mix to another bowl.  In the remaining glaze, add the rest of the milk and the cocoa powder.  Now you have both the vanilla and the chocolate glaze.

To glaze the cookie:  Frost with the vanilla first using an offset spatula to smooth it to the edge.  Place in the fridge or freezer for a few minute to set the glaze, then frost with the chocolate.


I froze some of the leftovers, and while they tasted delicious, the chocolate glaze changed color-so keep that in mind if you are making them in advance.