In Quebec New Year’s day is a family holiday, I’m not really used to this since in the rest of North America it is pretty much just a day to sleep off your hangover from the 31st but I go with the flow. Traditionally Christmas was a religious holiday and New Year’s was the day on which you got your presents and there was a big party. This year we decided to invite some of the husband’s relatives over and have a small reception. Usually for appetizers I make some sort of soup or dips and crudités if it is a more casual occasion but this time I decided to serve a plate of nibbles in the living room along with Prosecco. This recipe comes from Ina Garten’s last book: “The Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics” but you can find the recipe here.
First step was beating the butter.
Once that was done I added in some fresh thyme, a lot of parmesan and some ground pepper.
Mixing all of that together.
An action shot after I had dumped the flour in.
The dough was extremely crumbly at this point so I ended up adding a tablespoon or so of water to help it stick together.
This was attempt at making a nice log. It ended up looking more like a slightly rounded square than a circle but I tried my best. This is what it looked like after I had left it in the fridge for 45 minutes to harden.
I cut my crackers perhaps a little more thickly than I should have had since I ended up with a lot less than the recipe said it would make.
I was really happy with the way these turned out. To accompany them I bought a Rosette de Lyon sausage (cured French sausage) and an English cucumber and cut them in slices and arranged everything on a platter. The Husband poured Prosecco while everyone sat down. The in-laws were suitably impressed with the presentation and loved the crackers. They are really tasty and so easy to make (the crackers, not the in-laws). The texture is a lot like shortbread, albeit a savoury kind. This is a great recipe to use for a party as you can easily make multiple batches and the dough can sit in the fridge for a while and when you need it you just take it out, slice it and bake it. I will most definitively make this again.
