Friday, September 26, 2008

Hostess gift


We had a couple of parties to attend last weekend, so I put to use my baking and stamping skills. I made these wine crackers and put a baker's dozen in a cello bag and stamped the label for the enclosure. Here's a picture of the final products:
Recipe.....Wine Biscuits with Cracked Black Pepper
Makes 3 dozen

½ cup red wine
1 cup bread flour
3 T. sugar
1 t. ground black pepper
1 t. minced fresh rosemary
½ t. salt
½ t. baking powder
3 T. extra-virgin olive oil

Bring wine to boil over medium-high heat in a small saucepan. Continue to boil until wine is reduced by half, 2 – 3 minutes. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 325 degrees, and process flour, sugar, pepper, rosemary, salt, and baking powder in a food processor to combine (or use a hand held mixer).

Mix wine and oil; add to dry ingredients and process until dough just comes together. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface; roll to a generous 1/8- inch thickness. Using a 1 ½ inch cookie cutter (or screw-cap from vegetable oil or similar bottle) cut out dough rounds and place on a parchment- or silpat-lined cookie sheet, rolling scraps once or twice more to make 3 dozen rounds.

Bake until golden and crisp, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Can be stored in an airtight tin for up to a month.

Yummy with a little goat cheese on top!

From Pam Anderson’s “Perfect Recipes for Losing Weight and Eating Great”
These crackers along with a bottle of Danza Roja from Stevenot Winery made a very nice hostess gift for Elizabeth and for Mimi!

Welcome to Life on Crossridge Road




Welcome!!! I've started this blog to actually log all of the cooking, baking, and entertaining John and I do here on Crossridge Road. I started a print journal last year, trying to keep track of menus/guests, but think it'll be much easier to manage online.....welcome to our life!