Fall

Flinsen (Or Pflinzen)

Flinsen

In honor of Father’s Day, Jonah and I made flinsen. Whenever we see Jonah’s dad, Randy, he makes us flinsen. Randy will stand at the stove and make these pancakes, handing them out one at a time, hot off the stove, until everyone is full. Then he will sit down and eat. What a caring dad, right? I love Randy. (Another awesome thing about Randy is that he makes cheese, and good cheese at that!)

Flinsen

Ingredients

1 egg per person
1/2 cup flour per person
milk

Toppings for serving: yogurt, maple syrup, jam, sliced fruit, butter, and cinnamon sugar are all good options!

Instructions

Flinsen are easy. Put one egg per person that will be eating in a bowl and scramble them. Now add 1/2 cup flour per person. Now add milk until it’s the right consistency. “Wow, Annie,” you must be thinking, “That’s a great instruction.” I know, I know. You want it to be like really thin pancake batter. Think crepes.

Throw a slab of butter into a 10 inch fry pan over medium heat. Spread the melty butter around, and take about a 1/4 cup measure full of batter, and dump it into the pan. Here’s the tricky part. While you’re pouring the batter into the pan, you need to pick up the pan and swirl it around so the batter makes a thin layer over the whole pan. It may take a couple tries to get the hang of it, but you can do it! Pile them on a plate (or a pan and put them in a low oven to keep them warm).

Now comes filling time. You can put whatever you want inside, kind of like a crepe. Jonah’s got me hooked on greek yogurt and a drizzle of syrup. Jam is also good, sliced fruit is too, and even plain ol’ butter and cinnamon sugar. Enjoy!

Coconut Curried Fried Rice

Fried Rice

Fried rice

Wow. So this recipe happened a long time ago. I’ve recently started rehearsals for a show (my first professional show) in Portland – The Sound of Music! I’m a nun. I know, silly silly. But oh well. So between work, nannying, social media, and rehearsals, I have been a bit fried. Kind of like this rice. So it’s all very fitting.

This rice is easy and delicious. What else do I need to say? I found the recipe on A Cozy Kitchen, a blog I really enjoy. I’ve adjusted it a bit to include things I really like in my fried rice.

Coconut Curried Fried Rice

Ingredients

Turmeric Coconut Rice

1 1/4 cups water
1 cup basmati or jasmine rice
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 piece cinnamon stick

Curry Fried Rice

1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tablespoon green or red Thai curry paste
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
3/4 cup frozen peas
1 can pineapple chunks
1 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 firm or extra firm tofu, chicken, or other protein (optional)
soy sauce

Instructions

Turmeric Coconut Rice

Combine all ingredients in a rice cooker or a pot and cook. When rice is ready, remove the cinnamon stick and either use immediately or you can refrigerate for a few days until you’re ready to make the fried rice.

Curry Fried Rice

Have all of your ingredients prepped and ready to go when you start as the process moves a little quickly. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet or wok. Add the eggs and cook on medium-high heat. When the edges of the eggs begin to set, gently flip them over or just scramble them, if that’s easier for you. Once the eggs are cooked, remove them from the pan and cut into pieces or strips (that step isn’t necessary if you scrambled them). Wipe the wok clean with a paper towel.

Heat the rest of the oil on medium heat. Add the carrot and cook for a minute, then add the garlic and curry paste and cook for a minute, stirring constantly. Add the rice, peas, and pineapple and cook until heated through. Stir in the egg strips, soy sauce and lime juice.

Meanwhile, slice up your tofu (or chicken or other protein) and cook it to your liking in some Asian influenced sauces. I like to do a little soy sauce and fish sauce or hoisin sauce… the possibilities are endless.

Serve the rice with the tofu, and season with soy sauce and sriracha if you like it hot!

Thai-Style Steak Salad

Salad

Salad

Life has been crazy busy. I know I keep saying that, but then it keeps getting busier. Maybe I’m jinxing it. Anyway, cooking has definitely been put on the back burner, which is a bummer. Mostly because I love good food and I love cooking it. But it’s hard when you come home and you’re tired and you have to look for recipes and then go to the store, etc. Lately, Jonah and I have been all for quick, light meals. I found a bunch of delicious looking main dish salads on Martha Stewart’s website. This is the Thai-Style Steak Salad. We halved it but I’ll give you the original recipe, which serves 4.

Thai-Style Steak Salad

Ingredients

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 boneless rib-eye steaks (each 8 ounces and 3/4 inch thick)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 pound carrots (3 to 4 medium)
1 medium head romaine lettuce, cut crosswise into 1-inch ribbons
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
1/3 cup salted peanuts, chopped (optional)
Peanut sauce (optional)

Instructions

First, make the marinade by whisking the lime juice, soy sauce, sugar, red pepper flakes, and oil in a bowl. Season the steaks with a bit of salt and pepper, place them in a dish, and pour 1/4 of the marinade over the steaks (save the rest of the marinade in a bowl). Turn the steaks to coat and let them marinate for 30 minutes.

In a large skillet, cook the steaks on medium-high heat. Cook it 2-3 minutes per side for it to be medium-rare. Cook it more if you want. Transfer the meat to a cutting board, tent it with aluminum foil, and let it rest for 5-10 minutes. Slice the steaks nice and thin, preferably 1/4 inch-thick. If they’re too long, you can halve the slices crosswise. Transfer the meat back to the bowl with the marinade and toss it to coat.

While the meat is resting (or marinating, for that matter), peel the carrots into ribbons with a peeler. Chop the peanuts too, while you’re at it. Add the carrots to the bowl with the steak, as well as the lettuce and the mint, and toss to combine. Divide evenly into shallow bowls, sprinkle with the peanuts (and peanut sauce if you want), and serve!

Thai Beef and Basil Stir Fry

Stir fry

Stir fry

Wow you guys. Life has been crazy and a half. After being laid off at the end of February, I just started a new job and I’m totally in love with it. I’m just an assistant really, but the woman I’m assisting is the CEO of this start-up company and she’s super smart, creative, fun, and kind. I’ve been working with her now for two weeks and I’m having such a blast and learning lots. Also, it’s at the same place where Jonah works, so we get to drive to work together (and then not really see each other all day because he’s in the studio and I’m at the CEO’s desk) and then go home! I’ll admit, I was a little worried about it, but it’s really fun, actually. So that’s a little update on my life and perhaps a bit of an excuse as to why it’s been almost a week since I’ve posted. I was so not used to working a full time job that at the end of each day, I was so tired that I didn’t want to cook. But I’m now getting used to the new schedule and getting back in the kitchen.

This stir fry is the most delicious stir fry that I’ve maybe ever had. I found it while surfing food52, one of my new favorite food blog things. It’s really different than a lot of stir fry or Asian-influenced dishes and super flavorful. And pretty dang easy. This recipe serves 2, so if you’re feeding more than that, multiply. I’ve adapted a little bit.

Thai Beef and Basil Stir Fry

Ingredients

Fish Chili Sauce

1/2-1 serrano pepper, chopped
1 Tbl fish sauce
1/4 cup water
1 clove garlic, chopped

Stir Fry

1 Tbl vegetable oil
2/3 lb. ground beef
1 red onion, sliced thinly
1 serrano pepper, chopped (more if you want it spicier)
3-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 Tbl soy sauce, plus some for finishing
1 Tbl fish sauce, plus some for finishing
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 cup thai basil leaves, packed (I just used regular basil… It was fine)
1 fried egg per person

Rice for serving

Instructions

First, make the chili sauce by combining the four ingredients in a bowl, stir, and set it aside.

Start cooking your rice! It’s always good to do a 2:1 water to rice ratio, bring it to a boil, and then turn down the heat to a simmer, and let it cook, covered. Check it occasionally and when it’s done, turn off the heat. Heat the wok or a fry pan with oil. When the oil starts to smoke, add the garlic, chili, sugar and onion. Cook until the onions have softened and become a golden brown.

Add the meat and cook for about 5 minutes, then add the soy sauce and fish sauce. Fry until the meat is thoroughly cooked, another 2-3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the basil leaves, mixing them in until they’re wilted. Put the stir fry in bowls over rice and fry an egg per person. Put the egg on the stir fry and you’re done! Accompany with fish sauce and say sauce to taste!

Pistachio Butter Cups

Pistachio Butter Cups
Pistachio Butter Cups

Pistachio Butter Cups

Another recipe brought to you by food52. The same day I made that scallops dinner for Jonah, I also made him these pistachio chocolates (think Reeses cups but with pistachio filling). What can I say, I was feeling loving and ambitious. This was the first time I’ve ever made a candy/chocolate thing, so I was a little scared and often felt like “am I doing this right?” but it all worked out. And actually, now that I’ve done it, I can confidently say that it was pretty easy! But I would definitely advise reading through the whole recipe before you get started (I actually always advise that, but especially in this case).

Pistachio Butter Cups

Ingredients

1 cup shelled pistachios
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
12 oz. dark chocolate, chopped

Special equipment: mini muffin liners

Instructions

I found I needed a little more chocolate than the recipe called for, but I think I used too much in the first step, which you’ll see below, and because of that the chocolate overwhelmed the pistachio filling a little bit.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until 75% of chunks are melted, and just stir to melt the rest. Set 24 mini muffin liners out (I did it on a baking sheet so they’d be easier to move and such. Add a spoonful (think maybe 1 1/2 – 2 teaspoons) of chocolate to each liner. Use the back of the spoon to push the chocolate up the sides of the liner. I pushed it up almost all the way to the top (see picture). Put the liners in the fridge for half an hour to cool until they’re solid.

While the chocolate is cooling, put the pistachios, salt, and butter into a food processor and process until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and 1-2 Tbl of water until you have a thick frosting consistency. Remove the chocolate-filled liners from the fridge. You’ll see that because you’ve pushed the chocolate up the sides, you’ve got a nice mini chocolate bowl. Add about 1/2 Tbl to each liner. How to go about this is tricky. I had to use my fingers to kind of smooth out the filling, as I wanted it to be flat (like a Reeses would be), but it stuck more to my fingers than to the chocolate. But I figured it out and it worked just fine.

Reheat the remaining chocolate (as you did above) and spoon it over the pistachio mixture until it’s thoroughly covered. You want the top layer of chocolate to meet the chocolate that was pushed up the sides of the liner so that the pistachio filling is encased in it. Allow to cool and enjoy!

Steak, Crispy Potatoes, and Watercress

steak

steak
steak

I found this recipe for steak with potatoes and watercress on Martha Stewart’s website and thought it would make a nice weeknight meal. It did! Unfortunately, my local grocery store didn’t have skirt steak, which was why I was drawn to the recipe in the first place. Some thinly sliced chuck steak did the job though.

I had never had watercress all by itself either – and had never even purchased it from the store before.  It was pretty bitter, but yummy with the dressing.

Steak, Crispy Potatoes, and Watercress

Ingredients

2 garlic cloves
salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds golf-ball-sized potatoes, sliced 1 inch thick
1 1/2 pounds skirt steak, cut into 4 equal pieces
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 bunches watercress, bottom of stems chopped off

Instructions

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Mince garlic, and sprinkle with salt. Transfer to a small bowl; stir in thyme and 1 tablespoon oil. On a baking sheet, toss potatoes with garlic mixture; bake until browned on underside, 20 to 25 minutes. I dribbled some more oil on the potatoes once they were laid out on the baking sheet.

Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan on high. Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper, and cook (in two batches if necessary) until medium-rare, 3 to 6 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate to rest.

While steaks rest, make salad: In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, Dijon, and remaining oil; season with salt and pepper. Add watercress, and toss to combine. Serve steaks with potatoes and salad.

Mom’s Mac and Cheese

Mom's Mac and Cheese
Mom's Mac and Cheese

Mom's Mac and Cheese

Jonah here. Mom, I hope you’re reading this.  Everyone else – let me give you a little background.  This was one of my favorite foods as a kid, not the Kraft Mac and Cheese, but the kind my mom would make from this simple recipe. When I was growing up, we usually had it with broccoli, or a salad.

I asked my mom for this recipe when I went off to college, so she wrote it on an index card and I made it many times throughout my 4 years of school. That index card was magneted to my fridge and now lives in Annie’s recipe box in our kitchen. It’s really easy to make, but really delicious. Thanks Mom, for a childhood of yummy dinners!

Susan’s Mac and Cheese

Ingredients

1 lb. pasta – I use penne
2 Tb. butter
Half of a white or yellow onion, diced
2 Tb. all-purpose flour
1/2 t garlic powder, or more to taste
1/2 t salt
1 cup milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese, packed in

Instructions

Fill a large pot with water, salt it, and bring it to a boil. Add penne and cook till it’s done; drain.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a pan. Add the chopped onions and cook until browned and soft.

Add the flour, mix until smooth, then sprinkle in garlic powder and salt (if you don’t have garlic powder, feel free to mince up some garlic and add it with the onion at the beginning). Add milk and let it heat up, then add the cheese and mix in until fully melted.

Return the drained pasta to the pot. Pour in cheese sauce and mix in thoroughly. Serve!

World Peace Cookies (or Extremely Chocolate Cookies)

Chocolate Cookies

Chocolate Cookies
Chocolate Cookies

One of my favorite care packages that I got in college was from my dad. It arrived the week before finals, and included all kinds of stuff to help get me through the very stressful time: chocolate covered coffee beans to help with the all nighters, delicious tea to help me fight off illness, dried fruit and other healthy snacks to keep me going during the long days, etc. It made me feel so much better about all the work I had to do, and made it feel like he was there, pushing me to get everything done and do the best I could.

Anyway, so I was thinking about my baby sister, who is about to enter finals week. And she’s had a bit of a rough semester, with some health issues (she may have to haver her tonsils out this summer, ouch) and all kinds of yuck-o stuff. And I thought, you know what would make her feel better? A care package full of funny and delicious things to help her get through the toughest part of the school year. Plus, let’s face it, I’ll take any excuse I can get to make cookies. I’d been eyeing this recipe from Smitten Kitchen for these chocolate cookies called “World Peace Cookies.” Apparently the title is based on the idea that if everyone in the world had these cookies, there would be peace. And they are pretty dang good.

World Peace Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 stick plus 3 Tbl unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp fleur de sel or 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

Instructions

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together into a bowl. Set aside. In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both the brown and granulated sugars, the salt, and the vanilla extract before beating for another couple of minutes.

Turn off the mixer. Pour in the flour/cocoa mixture and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. (A nice trick when pulsing flour and or cocoa: cover the bowl with a dishtowel, draped over the mixer, to protect yourself from inhaling the ingredients and to protect your kitchen from a total mess.) If, after a few pulses, there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more. After everything is all mixed in, continue mixing on a low speed for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough. As with anything with lots of butter, you want to work the dough as little as possible. Don’t worry, the dough will be crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix to incorporate.

Dump the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. One half at a time, shape the dough into logs about an inch and a half in diameter. Wrap them in plastic wrap and stick them in the fridge for at least 3 hours. Towards the end of the three hours, you can preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Line your baking sheets with parchment, silpats, or just grease them lightly like I did.

Pull the logs out of the fridge, unwrap, and with a sharp knife, slice them into 1/2-inch thick rounds. They may crumble: don’t worry, just squeeze the bits back together. Put the rounds on a baking sheet, leaving about an inch in between them. Bake for about 12 minutes. They won’t look that done, but they are. I promise. Allow to cool on the sheet for at least a couple minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Good luck letting them cool all the way before munching on a few accompanied by a glass of cold milk. Yum.

Momofuku Noodle Bowl

Momofuku Noodle Bowl
Momofuku Noodle Bowl

Momofuku Noodle Bowl

For those of you who saw the title of this post and went “What the hell is a Momofuku?” let me explain. Momofuku is a group of restaurants in New York owned by Chef David Chang. The group includes Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku Ssam Bar, Milk Bar, and a few more. Anyway, I became mildly obsessed when I bought my dad the Momofuku cookbook for his birthday last year (he was obsessed after having eaten at one of the restaurants on a trip to NYC). Momofuku translates in Japanese as Lucky Peach, which is the name of a magazine that David Chang has recently published, all about cooking and eating. It includes articles by some other chef favorites like Anthony Bourdain, Wiley Dufresne, and Mario Batali.

Anyway! I found this recipe for a Momofuku noodle bowl on a blog called A Cozy Kitchen, which I’ve used before and I really enjoy. While the recipe is a little ingredient heavy, it’s really delicious, so although it may be a little extra work to get all this stuff (luckily Jonah and I already had the Asian ingredients), it’s worth it. We use stuff like soy sauce and rice wine vinegar all the time. They’re handy things to have around for a quick and easy meal (feeling lazy? marinate some chicken in soy sauce, mirin, garlic, and olive oil). We did fudge some things though, so I’m putting in the actual recipe and in parentheses what we did.

Momofuku Noodle Bowl

Ingredients

1 medium sized cucumber
¼+ tsp salt
½+ tsp sugar
2 ½ cups (or one bunch) thinly sliced scallions
½ cup (or just one large piece) minced ginger
¼ cup grapeseed oil (we used olive oil because we didn’t have grapeseed)
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbl olive oil
½ large head of cauliflower, cut into florets
1 lb noodles – ramen, soba, or lo mein (we used udon)

Instructions

Thinly slice the cucumber. In a bowl toss the cucumber with salt and sugar and let it sit for a few minutes and then taste one of the slices. Adjust the salt and sugar as necessary. I ended up probably using twice or even 3 times as much sugar and salt. Just because I wanted it. Thought it tasted better.

In a different bowl combine the scallions, ginger, 1/4 cup of olive oil, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. Allow to sit and marinate for 30 minutes.

While those items are marinating, heat the Tbl of olive oil in a pan and add the cauliflower. Cook them on high till they start to brown and get a bit crispy. While the cauliflower is cooking, you can boil water and cook your noodles according to the package. Once the noodles are cooked, toss them with the scallion/ginger sauce. Now, serve the noodles in a bowl, and top with the cauliflower and cucumbers.

Now, this is a vegetarian dish, but Jonah and I were hankering for some more protein, so we bought a chicken breast. Jonah cut it up into bite size pieces and cooked it with a bit of fish sauce, hoisin sauce, and soy sauce, and it was good. A delicious addition to the dish. Yum!

Chicken Tacos with Cayenne and Avocado Salsa

Chicken Tacos

Again, it’s been a little while. But you guys, I have so much food to share with you! There has been much eating lately. And good eating too. YUM. This first recipe is a super easy recipe from Martha that was adapted into chicken tacos. Originally it was just the cayenne-rubbed chicken with avocado salsa, but everything is better in a tortilla (and sprinkled with cholula), am I right? So chicken tacos it is. This meal was so simple because we had everything except the chicken and the avocado. I love quick and easy trips to the grocery store that don’t require you to buy too much stuff for a meal.

Chicken Tacos with Cayenne and Avocado Salsa

Ingredients

salt and ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (you can use breast too, but we like dark meat a little better, plus it’s cheaper)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium red onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 Hass avocado, pitted and cut into chunks
tortillas of your choosing (the little taco ones are good for this)
other condiments (think sour cream, cholula, salsa if you want, cheese…)

Instructions

In a small bowl, combine 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and cayenne, mix to combine. Rub this spice mixture all over the chicken. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until cooked through and browned on the outside. Shouldn’t take too long (think 10-15 minutes). My trick with chicken is to cook it with a lid on the pan to get it cooked through, and then once it’s cooked through, take of the lid and turn up the heat a little bit to get the nice browned outside.

While the chicken is cooking, put the onion and lime juice in a bowl, and cut up the avocado. You can also heat up your tortillas now, which I did by throwing ours in a lightly greased pan, flipping them, and then storing them between two plates so they stayed warm. Just before serving, fold the avocado pieces into the onion mixture and season with salt and pepper. Serve and enjoy!

Bubbe’s Chicken Soup

Chicken Soup

Chicken Soup

Once again, it has been a while. But this time I have a real excuse: Passover. I was busy cooking and cleaning last week for the family I nanny for and THEN on Thursday Jonah and I left (very early in the morning, mind you) for Tucson, AZ to be with my Dad’s side of the family for seder. Passover is one of my favorite holidays. I love the storytelling that’s involved, plus the singing, plus the amazing food. I love that the food you eat (or at least the food on the seder plate) isn’t arbitrary, that it represents all these parts of this story that took place so long ago. I love the celebratory feeling of the seder, that we (Jews) are remembering where we came from and celebrating the miracles that happened and the hardships our ancestors went through and then were freed from. It’s just so dang cool. Plus the food is ridiculous.

My aunt held the seder at her house. She is known for putting on beautiful seders full of fun props (Slingshots and marshmallows for hail? Bouncing toy frogs? Locust masks?) and parodies of famous songs. My bubbe (grandmother in Yiddish) made her famous matzoh ball soup. While I have her matzoh ball recipe hidden away somewhere, I thought I’d at least give you the recipe for the chicken soup part. Because who doesn’t love chicken soup?

Chicken Soup

Ingredients

2 chickens (can be cut up or whole)
1 parsnip, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
1 turnip, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
2 large onions, cut into bite size pieces
as many carrots and celery stalks as you like, cut into bite size pieces
fresh dill (probably about 1 Tbl)
fresh parsley (probably about 2 Tbl)
peppercorns
1 Tbl salt

Instructions

Cover the chickens with water in a large pot. Bring it to a boil, and skim. Add all the other ingredients, and simmer the soup for 2-3 hours. Strain it, to get all the big pieces out, and you have just broth. Let the chicken cool and take the meat off the carcass (it shreds pretty easily). Add the vegetables (and chicken) back to the soup as desired. Season with salt and pepper to taste! The chicken also makes really good chicken sandwiches or chicken salad. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Sugar Crackers

Cinnamon Sugar Crackers
Cinnamon Sugar Crackers

Cinnamon Sugar Crackers

I recently found this recipe for cinnamon sugar crackers. The pictures looked like cheez-its, except no cheese, just a lovely dusting of cinnamon sugar. They’re like cookies but smaller and crunchier. A nice way to have something sweet but smaller servings and more snack-esque than cookies. They’re like a mix between a Snickerdoodle and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Cinnamon Sugar Crackers

Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
5 Tbl sugar, divided
2 tsp ground cinnamon, divided
2 Tbl milk or half and half (I used 2%)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, combine the butter, flour, 4 Tbl of the sugar and 1 tsp of the cinnamon. Pulse until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. Now add the milk or half and half and process again until the dough comes together and forms a ball. In a small bowl, combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.

Dump out the dough onto a floured surface and, using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out. You want it to be as much of a rectangle as you can and about 1/16 inch thick. With a pizza cutter wheel or a sharp knife, trim the sides off and cut the dough into 1 inch x 1 inch squares.

Carefully transfer the crackers to a baking sheet (preferably lined or greased). I needed to use my knife to help get the dough off the counter. Once on the baking sheet, take the blunt end of a skewer (or the end of a paintbrush because you don’t have any skewers around) and make a hole in the center of each cracker. This ensures that the crackers don’t puff up too much while they’re baking. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the crackers before baking them for 11-15 minutes. I baked mine for 11 minutes, turning them halfway through. You want the edges to be golden brown. After removing them from the oven, transfer the crackers to a rack to cool. Enjoy!