Perfect New Year's Eve Noshes...

I've fallen madly in like with Lorraine Pascale!

Her new show 'Simply Baking' is on the Cooking Channel but episodes can also be found on youtube. This lovely lady charmed me into making her simple but delicious little apps...it may have been more of a trance because I found myself talking to the television, eyes sparkling and laughing along with her as if I was in her kitchen. Whatever it was I was with it enough to know that during the holiday season this was a must! 
Quick and easy...two of my favorite things!

Here is the link to the recipes  
Sundried Tomato Palmiers & Totally Lazy Mini Sausage Rolls

According to her you need the highest end puff pastry all butter if possible.  We picked up Pepperidge Farm, I think it was the only kind they had but it was yummy.  One box with two sheets in it was enough for us.  You take it out of the fridge and lay it on a flowered cutting board five minutes before you start working with it.  Then you roll it out.  She said puff pastry rises more than necessary so you want to pound it a little.  Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

For the palmiers you sprinkle the whole thing with sundried tomatoes that were chopped up into smaller pieces.  We used the jar that is packed in oil so we had to rinse and dry them so they weren’t so oily.  Then we sprinkled on fresh rosemary that we chopped up into smaller pieces. Salt and peppered then rolled it up from the long sides like a scroll, meeting in the middle.  Wrapped it in cling wrap and chilled in the fridge for 30 min.  

Then we started on the sausage rolls. You take your other rectangle of puff pastry and roll it out on a flowered cutting board.  Cut your sausages in half.  We used two packs of Aidell’s precooked smoked chicken sausages.  I think they were black pepper & fennel and an asiago & basil.  I liked the one with spices better than the one with cheese, it was a little sweet and the cheese oils come out when baking…they still tasted really good.

To measure the pastry you lay the half sausage down then take a pizza cutter and cut a strip the whole length of the pastry that wide then do it again next to it since they will all be roughly the same size.  We ended up with 4 long strips of pastry. Then you set the half of sausage at the top of the strip and roll it down until you get the right length that will allow the dough to overlap and cut across all 4 strips at that width.  I think we ended up with 16 which was perfect because there are 4 sausages per package and you cut them in half so we had 16 pieces of sausage.  It probably took you longer to read this than it actually takes ;)

Now you beat and egg, and get a brush.  Lay the sausage on the top of the mini rectangle at the other end you brush a little egg wash on the other end.  Sprinkle some fresh thyme in the middle, roll the sausage up, press the pastry down around it and repeat. You lay them on the cookie sheet (I lined it with parchment paper)and chill them for 20 minutes. 

Take the sausages out and she poked them with a fork to make it look cute.  I poked one kind and put a knife slash on the other so we could tell them apart later.  Brush the top of the roll with the egg wash, don’t get any on the sausage ends.  Then put them in the oven and pull out your palmier scroll.  The sausages take a little longer than they did on the show, but the recipe states 10-30minutes.  They swelled a lot and ended up touching maybe I didn’t pound the pastry enough (think Whac-A-Mole!).  Since they were touching the sides didn’t cook so I had to roll them on their sides about 20 minutes in. 
 

Anyway now that they are in you slice the palmiers as thin as you can get, she said 1cm thick. My knife was probably a little dull because I ended up smashing them down a bit and the sundried tomatoes are hard to slice through so some fell out.  It didn’t really matter cause you can stuff the loose stuff back in and the pastry puffs up so you can’t tell.  Lay them out on a parchment covered cookie sheet and brush the tops and sides with the egg wash. 

 By now you are probably ready to turn your sausages (if necessary). The palmiers take less time to cook then the sausages so you end up pulling them out about the same time.

I really think staring at them helped speed things along....

Your biggest challenge is going to be stopping yourself from turning a little taste testing into an unstoppable two handed hand to mouth conveyor belt scene reminiscent of Lucy & Ethel!

...which in turn would force you into the market for store bought treats on the way to your holiday party with the rest of your neighbors which no one wants to do.  One, taste one (of each of course).


Wow, that was wordy!.  You could catch all this in a 15 minute show.  She's absolutely darling.  Enjoy! Happy holidays!

Sinful Saltine Toffee (a poor girl's See's fix)

The Perfection of Pre-Payday Pinterest Perusing...

While doing some fingertip exercises on one of those fabulously lazy Sundays spent under covers with a cup of tea, my mac and a  mystery marathon rolling in the background I stumbled upon Budget Bytes on Pinterest.  If you haven't checked out Pinterest heed my warning, it's addictive!


 'Tis season and I've been spread a little thin with nieces & nephews galore, holiday traveling, cocktail parties and the fact that there has never been a Cirque Du Soleil show that I could resist!

...needless to say Budget Bytes was a real find!  Beth has a ton of great recipes for those without a money tree growing in the backyard.

Okay back to my epically lazy Sunday ~ I'm surrounded by guilty pleasures but missing one essential item...CHOCOLATE! Sure, cravings can be managed but why?  If you find yourself questioning this then you know that giving in to temptation is not far behind.  Eventually there comes a point when one allows oneself to become frantic with desire, this was one of those moments. I wanted a special treat and I wanted it now! The search was on when what to my wandering eyes should appear...Saltine Toffee Candy!



 

The very best part is that I had all the ingredients I needed in my pantry.  The second best is the instant gratification bonus, this whole thing took about 20 minutes.

I was so excited that I twittered and facebooked the results of my obsessive search (photo above) and got some great suggestions for tweaking and holidaying this beauty up!  My mom/mentor said she attempted saltine toffee off of another recipe and the butter burned so really pay attention to the time and temperatures below.  Don't worry the longest you have to pay attention at one time is 6 minutes and that's what oven timers are for.  This created a perfect batch the first time around.

Budget Bytes.blogspot.com presents Saltine Toffee Candy 

Ingredients

1 sleeve saltine crackers

1 cup of packed brown sugar

2 sticks of butter

1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips*

topping walnuts or shredded coconut*

*My lovely friend Ashley recommended a blend of white & milk chocolate chips and using crushed peppermint as a topping...yes, she is a genius!  I bet mint chocolate chips would be fantastic!

STEP 1: Line a baking sheet with foil. Arrange the saltine crackers in a single layer on the baking sheet. (break them in half to trim the edges if there is room on the sheet). Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

STEP 2: In a medium pot, melt the butter and brown sugar over medium heat. When the butter begins to melt, give it one stir to combine the brown sugar and butter. Continue to heat the mixture, without stirring, until it comes to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, set a timer and let it boil for 3 minutes.

STEP 3: After three minutes, carefully pour the mixture over the saltine crackers. If needed, gently spread the mixture with a butter knife until all of the crackers are covered. Place the toffee covered crackers in the oven and bake for 6 minutes.

STEP 4: After 6 minutes of baking, turn off the oven and carefully remove the baking sheet. Once the bubbles subside, sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the top. The heat from the toffee should begin to melt the chips. Place the baking sheet back in the warm oven for 1-2 minutes or until the chocolate chips are glossy (this means they are melted). Spread the melted chips over the surface with a spatula or butter knife.

 

STEP 5: If topping the chocolate with coconut or other nuts, sprinkle them over the melted chocolate and gently press them in. Allow the candy to cool at room temperature until hardened. (I had to put the tray into the fridge after it had cooled) Break the candy into pieces and EAT!

STOP! It's not okay to lick your computer monitor!