Saturday, December 15, 2007

I'm tired of baking!

Never thought you'd hear me say that, did you? I had some fun fooling around in my kitchen on my last days off. All this lovely, chocolatey goodness is part of an experiment I've been wanting to try for some time. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am just crazy for McVities biscuits from the UK! We have a recipe from Skogfjorden for some crackers/flatbread made with crushed corn and bran flakes, as well as oatmeal. Normally you roll them out thinly and just cut them into crackers with a pizza cutter and bake. But I was thinking how similar they kind of are to McVities and how lovely they'd be if they were thicker and coated with some milk chocolate (what WOULDN'T be lovely with a coating of chocolate?!?) Instead of crushing the flakes, I pulverized them as WELL as the oatmeal in my blender and mixed them up, rolled the dough to 1/8"ish thickness and cut them into rounds and baked them.
Here is the finished product and I was quite pleased with them. Of COURSE, the only suitable chocolate could ONLY be Cadbury's and I had a stash of Dairy Milk bars I had been saving for this express purpose. I thought they turned out quite well and I sent the batch home with my dad when he stopped in on his way through town on Wednesday. I baked these crackers and entered them in the local county fair when I was a young 4-Her! :) I got a "Super Blue" on them as I recall. And I also remember that my judge had actually BEEN to Skogfjorden and was excited about them after reading my little write-up that accompanied them. Ah the days of the 4-H fair...
I just made a triple batch of THESE fussy things at my parents house earlier in the week. They are safely tucked in their chest freezer in the garage. I kind of cheated on MY cookies because I didn't make any star shapes! They are my LEAST favorite to frost! And I'd always frost them blue, and really blue isn't a Christmas color. I am pleased with the assortment I arrived at though. Just think of all the carcinogens in those artificial colors! I will bake some EASY round cookies in January and frost them in different shades of Martha Blues for our Urban Family Winterfest. They will be "Winter Solstice" cookies! And then in February we have hearts. I like easy-to-frost shapes! We are having pot luck at work tonight and I will bring these and a gallon of spiced cider. It is heating/mulling on my stove as I type and smelling up the whole house! Num num!

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