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Thursday, March 1, 2012


Lofthouse Style Soft Sugar Cookies

I have gotten a few questions from friends and readers about the absence of cookies on our blog. I haven’t posted a cookie recipe since December-gasp! I think that is a record. No, I am not mad at cookies, I was just giving everyone a little time to detox from cookie overload in December. I am back today with my all time favorite sugar cookie recipe. These soft sugar cookies are a copycat of the popular Lofthouse Sugar Cookies that you can buy at the store. Homemade cookies are always best, so skip a trip to the store and make a batch of sugar cookies at home.
These sugar cookies are easy to make. You do have to chill the dough, so make sure you plan ahead. There is sour cream in the recipe which keeps the cookies moist and soft. You can cut the cookies in whatever shapes you like, I chose hearts because Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. The buttercream frosting is fluffy and compliments the cookies nicely. I made pink frosting and added Valentine sprinkles to dazzle up my heart shaped cookies.
These super soft sugar cookies are perfect for any occasion. I usually make them for Christmas and Valentine’s Day. If you like the Lofthouse Sugar Cookies, you will love these.  And remember Valentine’s Day is coming up, I am sure your sweetheart would love a big, soft, fluffy sugar cookie on the day of love. Cookies always make the heart grow fonder:)
lofthouse-style-sugar-cookies1
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Lofthouse Style Soft Sugar Cookies

Yield: 5-6 dozen sugar cookies
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes
Lofthouse sugar cookies with buttercream frosting. These soft and fluffy sugar cookies are perfect for Christmas, Valentine's Day, or any occasion.

ingredients:

For the Cookies:
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1½ cups sour cream
For the Buttercream Frosting:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
6 tablespoons heavy cream
Food coloring, optional
Sprinkles, optional

directions:

1. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and sour cream and beat at low speed until combined.
3. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, scraping down the bowl as needed. Dough will be a little sticky and that is ok. Divide dough into two sections. Flatten into rectangles about 1½ inches thick, then wrap with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator overnight or for at least two hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats; set aside.
5. Lightly flour the countertop and the top of the dough. With a rolling pin, roll the dough out to ¼-inch thickness. Using cookie cutters, cut out the cookies and place on prepared baking sheets. Bake for 7 minutes, until cookies are slightly golden around the edges. Immediately transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool. Cook cookies completely before frosting.
6. To make the frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and vanilla extract. Slowly beat in powdered sugar and the pinch of salt. Once smooth and creamy, add in heavy cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, then beat at medium-high speed for a minute or two until light and fluffy. Add food coloring, if desired, and beat until combined.
7. Once cookies have cooled completely, frost and add sprinkles, if desired. Allow frosting to set, then store in an air-tight container.
Adapted from RecipeSecrets.net

Friday, February 17, 2012


The 45 Most Powerful Images Of 2011

What a year! Here's to 2012 being a more quiet and less destructive year.

I know, right? Now tell your friends!
The 45 Most Powerful Images Of 2011
Matt Stopera
1.
Robert Peraza, who lost his son Robert David Peraza in 9/11, pauses at his son’s name at the North Pool of the 9/11 Memorial.
(Getty Images / Justin Lane)
2.
A whirpool forms off the Japanese coast after the tsunami on March 11.
(Reuters / Kyodo )
3.
This sightseeing boat, Hama Yuri, was pulled 1300 feet from the coast and somehow balanced itself on a two story house during the tsunami in Japan.
4.
Members of the national security team receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House on May 1.
(Reuters / HANDOUT)
5.
Two lights from the former site of the World Trade Centers shine for the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
(Reuters / GARY HERSHORN)
6.
Phyllis Siegel, 76, left, and Connie Kopelov, 84, both of New York, embrace after becoming the first same-sex couple to get married at the Manhattan City Clerk's office.
(Getty Images / STAN HONDA)
7.
A protester gets sprayed in the face with pepper spray at an Occupy Portland protest. (Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oregonian)
8.
A before and after shot of Joplin, Missouri after a massive tornado on May 22.
9.
Friends and loved ones gather at the Oslo cathedral to mourn 93 victims killed in twin terror attacks from a bombing in downtown Oslo and a mass shooting on Utoya island on July 22.
(Getty Images / Paula Bronstein)
10.
A monstrous dust storm (Haboob) roared through Phoenix, Arizona in July.
Source: dbryant
11.
A policeman detains an opposition activist in Baku on March 12. Azerbaijan police detained more than 30 activists of the opposition Musavat Party when its members took to the street of Baku to protest against the ruling elite following a similar rally a day before. (Reuters)
12.
Christians protect Muslims during prayer in Cairo, Egypt.
Source: @NevineZaki
13.
An aerial shot of the damage immediately following the Japanese tsunami.
(Reuters / KYODO)
14.
A girl in isolation for radiation screening looks at her dog through a window in Nihonmatsu, Japan on March 14.
(Reuters / Yuriko Nakao)
15.
A man sits in front of a destroyed apartment building following the Joplin, Missouri tornado. (Reuters)
16.
A University of California Davis police officer pepper-sprays students during their sit-in at an "Occupy UCD" demonstration in Davis, California. (Jasna Hodzic)
17.
A mother comforts her son in Concord, Alabama, near his house which was completely destroyed by a tornado in April.
(AP / Jeff Roberts)
18.
Chile's Puyehue volcano erupts, causing air traffic cancellations across South America, New Zealand, Australia and forcing over 3,000 people to evacuate. (Reuters)
19.
Firefighters of Ladder Company 4 — which lost seven men on 9/11 — perched together on their aerial ladder, watching a news bulletin in Times Square declaring that Osama bin Laden was dead on May 2.
20.
Slain Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson's dog "Hawkeye" lies next to his casket during funeral services in Rockford, Iowa. Tumilson was one of 30 American soldiers killed in Afghanistan on August 6 when their helicopter was shot down during a mission to help fellow troops who had come under fire.
21.
A boy looks at a figure of Steve Jobs next to flowers laid in his tribute at an Apple store in Hong Kong, China.
(AP / Kin Cheung)
22.
Cars are abandoned on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive during the "Snowpocalypse" in February.
23.
Facebook played an extremely important role in the uprisings throughout the Middle East.
24.
84-year-old Dorli Rainey was pepper sprayed during a peaceful march in Seattle, Washington. She would have been thrown to the ground and trampled, but luckily a fellow protester and Iraq vet was there to save her. (Joshua Trujillo / seattlepi.com)
25.
Australian Scott Jones kisses his Canadian girlfriend Alex Thomas after she was knocked to the ground by a police officer's riot shield in Vancouver, British Columbia. Canadians rioted after the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanley Cup to the Boston Bruins.
(Getty Images / Rich Lam)
26.
Hurricane Irene approaches the east coast.
27.
Billy Stinson comforts his daughter Erin Stinson as they sit on the steps where their cottage once stood on August 28 in Nags Head, N.C. The cottage, built in 1903 and destroyed by Hurricane Irene, was one of the first vacation cottages built on Albemarle Sound in Nags Head.
(Getty Images / Scott Olson)
28.
Flowers and tributes are seen outside the home of Amy Winehouse in London on July 24.
(Reuters / STEFAN WERMUTH)
29.
Office workers gather on the sidewalk in downtown Washington, D.C., moments after a 5.9-magnitude earthquake shook the nation's capital. The earthquake was centered northwest of Richmond, Va., but could be felt from North Carolina to Massachusetts.
(AP / J. Scott Applewhite)
30.
Mihag Gedi Farah, a seven-month-old child, is held by his mother in a field hospital of the International Rescue Committee in the town of Dadaab, Kenya. The baby has since made a full recovery.
(AP / Schalk Van Zuydam)
31.
A woman jumps from a burning building during the London riots in August. (Amy Weston / WENN.com)
32.
Office workers look for a way out of a high rise building in central Christchurch, New Zealand on February 22. A strong earthquake killed at least 180 people.
(Reuters / Simon Baker)
33.
A woman cries while sitting on a road amid the destroyed city of Natori, Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan after the massive earthquake and tsunami.
(Reuters / ASAHI SHIMBUN)
34.
A demonstrator shows his bottom to riot police during a protest by European workers and trade union representatives to demand better job protection in the European Union countries in Brussels on March 24.
(Reuters / Thierry Roge)
35.
A woman rebel fighter supporter fires an AK-47 rifle as she reacts to the news of the withdrawal of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces from Benghazi on March 19.
(Reuters / GORAN TOMASEVIC)
36.
Police spray Ugandan opposition party leaders with colored water during demonstrations in the capital Kampala on May 10.
(Reuters / James Akena)
37.
A student is punched in the face by a police officer in Chile. Students in Chile are demanding a new framework for education.
(Reuters / VICTOR RUIZ CABALLERO)
38.
An aid worker using an iPad captures an image of a dead cow's decomposing carcass in Wajir near the Kenya-Somalia border on July 23.
(Reuters / STRINGER)
39.
A Libyan rebel is pictured with Gadhafi's golden gun.
(Getty Images / Philippe Desmazes)
40.
Harold Camping speaks about the end of the world. The world was supposed to end on May 22 of this year.
(AP / Marcio Jose Sanchez)
41.
A phone hangs off the hook on Wall Street.
(Reuters / LUCAS JACKSON)
42.
US gay service members march in a gay pride parade for the first time ever.
(Getty Images / Sandy Huffaker)
43.
A woman hangs onto a street sign in chest deep water along the flooded streets in Rangsit on the outskirts of Bangkok on October 24.
(Getty Images / Paula Bronstein)
44.
A distressed bride attempts suicide in China after her fiance abruptly called off their marriage. Still in her wedding gown, she tried to kill herself by jumping out of a window of a seventh floor building. Right as she jumped, a man managed to catch and save her.
(Reuters / CHINA DAILY)
45.
A U.S. Army soldier takes five with an Afghan boy during a patrol in Pul-e Alam, a town in Logar province, eastern Afghanistan.
(Reuters / Umit Bektas)
 

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Hair and beauty :Braids

THE LONG + THE SHORT OF IT

photos: justin coit + thebeautydepartment.com post designed by kristin ess
Remember when Lauren’s go-to hairstyle was the bang braid? Well, lately this little lady’s had a new favorite. Check out this gem. It works on literally any hair type – short, long, curly, pin straight, anything! It’s so great for those mornings when you’re in a rush, but need something to pull your look together. Think of it as a french braid, but you only add in new hair from one side (the top). Follow these steps + be patient! You’ll get it…
  • we like to part slightly off-center for this. on the heavier side, grab a section at your hairline. split it into three.
  • start it just like you would a regular french braid.
  • next add in a piece of hair from the top, still like a regular french braid.
  • now skip the part where you’d grab a new piece from the bottom + keep braiding instead.
  • then take another piece from the top + add it in.
  • continue with this pattern until you have 5-7 sections added in.
  • once you’re just past the ear, stop adding in new hair. Just do a regular braid + tie it off with a clear elastic like Lauren’s in the top picture.
How are you guys doing with ALL these BRAIDS?? Once you get the hang of this one, tweet it to @TBDofficial and I’ll retweet the best ones!
Xx Kristin