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Thursday, August 18, 2011

The Revenge of the Croccante

Clearly the croccante from Sunday's post noticed my frustration, and they get the final word.

After the previously-described Sunday morning misadventure making the croccante, I gathered up the remaining scraps of dough.  Too frustrated to roll them out and make a final batch, I pressed the scraps into a six-inch square approximately 1/8 inch thick, wrapped it in plastic and literally threw it in the fridge.  No rolling it out, no special treatment--nada.  Or niente, if I want to be Italian about it.

Flash forward to Wednesday night, when I open the fridge and give the square of dough the evil eye.  Do I want to throw it out or give it a second chance?  I tossed it on the counter, cut it into rough 1 inch by 2 inch rectangles with a pasta cutter and put the rectangles on a sheet of parchment on a baking sheet.  I baked for less than 12 minutes--way shorter than the previous time--at 400 degrees.  The cookies emerged smelling beautifully of caramel, vanilla and almonds. 

These croccante were not trouble, except for the waistline.  I brought them to work this morning and when I went to take a picture a few minutes ago, only a pile of crumbs remained.

Apparently the dough wants lots of cooling time in the fridge, enough to not ooze over the kitchen counter or get all delicate at the sight of the rolling pin.  The A16 recipe calls for an hour in the fridge--I'd say it should be at least two.  Or, if all else fails, three days--worked for me!

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