Did I tell you that I met Heidi Swanson, you know, 101 Cookbooks Heidi, Super Natural Everyday Heidi Swanson?

VIA the Spare room - check out other pictures from the night

Yep, we shook hands, smiled, exchanged a few brief words, my cheeks turned red, so red it looked liked I used beets as blush but she still signed a book for me and one for a sweet friend of mine. I resisted the urge, I wanted to buy a book for all my friends, but apparently I am still unemployed and not everyone is as fond of cookbooks as I seem to be these days.
 
The Spare Room is an absolutely beautiful studio, we all gathered on a sunny Seattle Saturday afternoon, I wore one of my favorite black dresses and walked as if I was 10 feet tall. I met a few new friends, Tara waved me down and said hello, making my night shine, I ran into an old friend from Bellingham and ate a few doughnut truffles from Lara and sipped on a little bubbly. 

Priceless experience and incredibly inspiring. Heidi makes cooking, photography and living in general all seem effortless. With the talent she poses, life probably is. She makes eating a vegetarian diet easy and incredibly satisfying. I am on the Super Natural Everyday band wagon, the simple approachable easy cooking and eating that leaves me feeling good about myself and the work I do to create it. Heidi has single-handily inspired me to get in the kitchen and make food that I enjoy eating as much as making.

Along came these oatmeal crackers on Heidi's award winning and beautiful blog, 101 Cookbooks. Why was I drawn to making crackers, an item that is so over produced that an entire isle is designated to boxed crunch, an item that takes time to make and easy to pick up at the super market. Crackers are my weakness and let it be known that I should not be left at home with a box of crackers, some people will tear through the sweets at their disposal, me I reach for crunchy salty crackers or chips. I like *love* crackers but I do not like crazy wonky fats and I want a little control of what kind of flour goes into these crunchy snacks.

To create my own perfect cracker is a beautiful of experience in my little black book and apparently just as important to Heidi. These crackers are worth a little time and effort. They store beautifully in an airtight jar and are a great way to scoop up this hummus, add it to a snack as part of the Meatless Monday Campaign, or to give away as a a healthy little treat to friends and family.

Oatmeal Crackers

Only so slightly adapted from 101 Cookbooks and The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas.

Enjoy the smell of cooking oats in rich creamy milk, there is nothing as sweet as that smell.

1 cup / 3 oz / 85 g rolled oats
1 1/4 cups / 300 ml whole milk or half and half, heated just to boiling
1/4 cup / 2 oz / 55g room-temperature unsalted butter
4 tablespoons natural cane sugar
3 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 1/4 cup / 5.5 oz / 155g dark rye flour
1 1/2 cups / 6.75 oz / 190g all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
more salt for sprinkling (flakier salt)

In a large bowl combine the rolled oats and boiling milk. Let stand until cool. To speed this up, place the bowl in the freezer for about 35 minutes.

When cool, stir in the butter, sugar, baking powder, salt, and rye flour. Stir in the all-purpose flour, a bit at a time, until a stiff dough forms. Turn out onto a counter top and knead until the dough comes together and is uniform.

Heat the oven to 425F / 245C with racks in top and bottom thirds.

Divide the dough into three parts, you want to have a manageable amount to work with so you can roll the dough out very thin - 1/8th-inch. The crackers will have snap and will bake evenly if they are thin and the same thickness. 

Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheets [they don't spread much), and sprinkle with a bit more salt - flaky salt if you have it. Bake for roughly 14 minutes, but here's the trick. When the cracker bottoms are deeply golden, roughly 9 minutes in, flip each cracker, and brown the flip side as well. Use your best judgement and remove when well done, watch out, they burn fast.

Cool completely before storing in large air-tight jars.

Repeat with the remaining dough, and cut the scraps into tiny soup crackers.

Makes dozens of crackers, depending on how large or small you cut them.


Prep time: 45 min - Cook time: 15 min

TARALLI PUGLIESI

I woke up to snow again this morning.

I moved to the desert, this was not in the cards. It is not like we moved to Summit County, at least not yet. There is a supposed 300 days of sunshine here in the south east corner of Washington. I think they are just trying to get people to move here.

Everyone in their right mind gets excited form snow and then makes a mad dash for the mountains.  It seems like a great way to spend the endless dark days between fall and spring. Mountains of any kind are good for the soul, anytime of year. The thought of sliding down a hillside scares me, my hair stands on end. Really, seriously. I am scared stiff to ski. I might be the only person in the world to feel this way.

I comfort myself with baked goods and a healthy dose of yoga. It is nice.

My camera (my fantastic early Christmas present, thanks J!) is keeping me busy!

Instead I pass the winter squirreled away in my humble little abode. I craft, write, read, and bake. I channel my Grandma. I love it. The time slips away, my mind spins with possibilities and I learn. I am learning to follow directions, learn that if I am actually going to have true success baking I must use a digital scale when baking, I learn patience and the value of quality ingredients.

A quality olive oil will make these nibbles shine.

On this snow chilled weekend I found self on Ilva's blog, Lucullian Delights, a fellow baker, who is part of an on line collective called Bread Baking Babes. This month's challenge were an Italian treat called taralli pugliesi.

Fennel is key. I would use at least 2 teaspoons salt next time.

Lets be honest.

I have no idea how to pronounce these little nibbles, I have never had them before, I have never even heard of them. It was a challenge that took a better part of a day to say the least. I followed through and rolled out every last cracker circle thingy, boiled them and then baked them to a crisp. I was skeptical the entire time, thinking I was spending this huge amount of time and nothing felt right - I had no idea what right was supposed to be.

Fresh cracked pepper to add a bit of bite. Go for it, grind and combine!

These are no cinch to whip out but once they cool and you find yourself eating handfuls, I see where they get their appeal.

There is still time to play along with the Bread Baking Babes. Give it a whirl!

TARALLI PUGLIESI

Copied from Lucullian Delights

adapted from Anna Maria Gostti Della Salda's monumental food bible Le ricette regionali italiane

1 kg/ 2,2 lb flour, I think she intends AP flour
200 g/ 7 oz extra-virgin olive oil
tepid water
50 g/ 1,75 oz fennel seeds, optional as you already know
12,5 g/ 0,45 oz (or more if it is cold in your kitchen) fresh yeast and about 5 g/ 0,176 oz instant yeast (they say)
1 tsp salt
2 eggs or the equivalent of dry white wine

Dissolve the yeast in 2 tblsp of tepid water. Mix the yeast water with the lightly whisked eggs and the olive oil.

Mix flour, fennel seeds and salt and then add the liquid. Start working the dough and continue to add small amounts of tepid water until you have a firm but pliable dough.

Start rolling 10-12 cm/ 2-2,5 in long ropes that are as thick as your little finger and pinch the ends together to make an oval. Put the taralli on a parchment paper, cover with a towel and leave them to rest about 20 minutes.

Turn on the oven to 200°C/390°F.

While the taralli rest, bring a biggish pan with water to the boil.

Dump 3-4 taralli at a time in the simmering water and when they surface, take them up and put them to dry on a kitchen towel or a rack.

Put them on baking sheets covered with parchment paper and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes but it is best to try them so that they are properly baked, we don't want them to be soft in the middle!

Read more: http://www.luculliandelights.com/2010/12/bread-baking-babes-in-december-taralli.html#ixzz18c9DRSzm

Also featured in Yeast Spotting. Check it out!

Parmesan Cheese CRACK(ers)

Ya'll might remember me raving about the wonders of cheese straws (mouse your way back to it, totally worth a whirl). Remember now?

Were you the one that ate half of the platter when I took them to a friend's birthday?

They go fast. I have warned you! To make up for it, they are just as fast to make. We all win.

Even before Cheese crackers are baked, the dough smells heavenly and yes it is worth nibbling on. Go ahead, just see for yourself. When they are baking - you will get the munchies - no drugs required.

Baked cheese.....

As with so many easy and simple Mark Bittman recipes, crackers require a few simple ingredients that you will most likely have in your kitchen. The crackers in this post require the same ingredients the presentation is slightly different, they are rolled then cut into little squares as opposed to long "straws."

I use whatever cheese we have on hand, even a combination. The most ideal is sharp white cheddar, but really, I live in a conservative rural area, most people think cheddar should be yellow/orange and I don't think I could find white cheddar at the store. White cheddar seems purely aesthetic for this recipe (well I am sure it probably tastes a little better). If using white cheddar, the final product won't be speckled with yellow flecks of cheese. It is ok. I have used anything from pepper jack, Parmesan and sharp cheddar and a combination of all. What ever is fine, use your imagination and discretion. 

I utilize the milk product on hand as well. I recommend at least half and half, this batched I splurged for cream. The final product was far superior using cream. Splurge! Cream it is!

See Jonny is turning 90. Not many people turn 90. We should all be working on it. Jonny works on it. She still lives on her own in a rural Tennessee (she probably couldn't find white cheddar either so it is ok), oh yeah - she still has a horse she looks after.

Jonny is J's Grandma. I heard that she once skated through the house on her roller skates just to turn some heads. She still pulls tricks out of her bag to get attention. Jonny lets us stay at her house for as long as we want. She also has made the best cornbread I have ever ate. I still crave it from time to time but never seem to come across a recipe.

When J and I were trying to figure out a few shippable treats for his dear Grandma Jonny, cheese straws were the first thing that popped into my head. She likes to snack on crackers, so do we. I made a double batch one afternoon and we skipped dinner that night. CRACK(ers). You know what happened there!

They are best the first day but I know once they get there they won't last long.

Oh Nibble NIBBLE!

I had to make cute little crackers for a cute little lady!

Jonny with two of her grandkids, JMS and CBS Thanksgiving 2010

Parmesan Cream Crackers
Adapted from Mark Bittman



Rolling the dough 1/4-inch thick, yields 30 1 1/2-inch square cookies that shrank slightly and puffed to 3/8-inch thick

1 cup all-purpose flour, more as needed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup cream or half-and-half, more as needed
Coarse salt, pepper, or whatever you like for sprinkling (optional).

Heat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly dust with flour. Put flour, salt, cheese and butter in bowl of a food processor. Pulse until flour and butter are combined. Add about 1/4 cup cream or half-and-half and let machine run for a bit until a dough forms. If it does not come together, add more liquid a teaspoon at a time, until mixture holds together but is not sticky.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface until 1/4-inch thick or even thinner, adding flour as needed. From here, you can either form them into individual crackers (I went for 1 1/2-inch squares cut with a fluted pastry wheel) and bake them an inch apart on your baking sheet (the method I used) or transfer the entire rolled-out sheet to your baking sheet (draping it over the rolling pin will make it easier) and score them lightly with a knife, pizza or pastry wheel to break into crackers after they are baked. For either method, dock all over with a fork and sprinkle with salt or any other toppings you are using.

Bake until moderately browned, about 12 minutes. Cool on a rack; serve warm or at room temperature or store in a tin for a few days.

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