It’s been a crazy week in the life of the Cup of Sugar :: Pinch of Salt Girl, and it is the first time that I have gotten around to baking all week. Shame on me. Baking is my stress relief from “real life” so you can imagine that I was really craving a baking session. And what did I end up making this morning? These lovely Sweet and Spicy Rosemary Cheddar Pumpkin Crackers. In the spirit of fall, and with Thanksgiving coming up, I thought that I would make something that could be used as a snack or appetizer for Thanksgiving. These are lovely. A little sweet from the brown sugar and maple syrup, quite spicy as well. And cheese … goes without saying that they would be delicious made mostly of cheddar.
appetizers
I’ve been working on perfecting some “from scratch” and quick lunch recipes. This one is almost from scratch (meaning, I used puff pastry so that was store bought, but everything else was from scratch). A little less than 40 minutes from “still in the fridge” (though you do need to take out the puff from the freezer) to “completely devoured”. Plus that includes the photography time. I did burn my mouth though from one of the tomatoes bursting. I probably should have waiting a few more minutes before eating, but I was hungry.
This is a great tart for this time of the year when cherry tomatoes are so plentiful in the garden and at the farmer’s markets, but actually can be made year round because cherry toms are reliably decent even at other times of the year.
Fig Honey and Thyme Jam
This week, I found myself in possession of a pound and a half of fresh figs. Not sure really how that happened, as figs are expensive and while you can find them a lot of places, certainly less common than say, an apple. Anyway, I absolutely love figs, but there is no chance that I could have eaten all of them (and enjoyed them) in one go, so I decided to make this lovely jam with about 2/3 of the lot. It’s a sweet jam, of course, with notes of honey, thyme and orange, but it pairs really nicely with savory — would go great with pork, and as shown with this cheese (it’s manchego) or even charcuterie. Or mix it into oatmeal or yogurt, or yes, even toast. It’s surprisingly versatile and yummy to boot. Also, it is very easy to make.
These bread sticks are brought to you by Sweet Paul Magazine. Well, more specifically they are *inspired* by a photo that I saw in his magazine, but the recipe that I used is actually my usual grissini recipe. I absolutely love the presentation, and they taste pretty damn good too.