Beautiful Simplicity

I think I am a masochist.  I have been fasting for two days now, only drinking orange juice and fresh fruit smoothie in the morning. Having fasted before, I know that the first two days are the hardest, after which the hunger pains go away and you get in the groove. So what does a normal person do? Tough it out and have as little to do with food as possible to avoid temptation. Not me!  I have been cooking galore, and tonight I decided to bake some cookies.

I have been eyeing those for a while now, mostly because of their simplicity and because they are not sweet. Having had enough with sweets over Christmas, when I baked seven varieties of cookies for what seemed to be an army of friends, and then having to find extra friends to give the cookies to, I thought it might be a good idea to try something non-sweet, though equally beautiful.

And so it went, starving me, thawing dough, grinding cheese, rolling, folding, sprinkling, baking. I haven’t tasted them, of course. I’ll have to take them to work tomorrow and let my chocoholic coworkers be my taste buddies… Oh, I think I just coined a new term!

Enjoy the view, and try the recipe. Making them was a blast and they turned out just as pretty as advertised here.

Cheddar Palmiers

• 1 1/4 cup finely grated sharp Cheddar; 3 1/2 ounces
• 1/4 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (optional)
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 puff pastry sheets (from a 17.3-ounce package); thawed if frozen

Toss Cheddar, Parmigiano-Reggiano, pepper, and salt in a bowl.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup cheese mixture onto a work surface. Unfold 1 pastry sheet and place over cheese. Using a rolling pin, flatten the dough into a 10-inch square, then sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese mixture all over top of pastry, pressing lightly to adhere. Fold sides of 2 ends to meet in center, then fold once more into center and press ends together. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill until firm, about 1 hour (or freeze 15 to 30 minutes). Repeat with remaining cheese and second sheet of pastry.

While dough chills, preheat oven to 400F with racks in upper and lower parts of oven. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Working with 1 piece at a time (keep remaining chilled until ready to use), unwrap pastry and cut, seam side up, into 1/4-inch-thick slices, arranging them 1 inch apart on baking sheets. Bake, turning palmiers over and switching position of pans halfway through, until golden and pastry is cooked through, 18 to 22 minutes total. Transfer palmiers to rack to cool. Repeat cutting and baking remaining pastry on cooled sheets.