Brown Sugar Christmas Thins Food

BROWN SUGAR CHRISTMAS TREES

Steps:

• In large mixing bowl, cream the butter with the sugars until smooth. Add the vanilla, eggs, baking soda and salt and beat until light and fluffy.
• Mix in the flour thoroughly until the dough is stiff and shape into a ball. Divide the ball into 4 parts and wrap separately in plastic wrap. Chill 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide each part in half.
• Knead each piece slightly and shape it into a roll 2 inches in diameter.
• Working with two rolls at a time, place rolls lengthwise on an 11 by 16-inch rimless baking sheet and flatten with palms of hands. Roll two strips of dough out right on the baking sheet to make two strips 3-inches wide and 16 inches long about 2 inches apart. With a straight-edged knife, score into elongate triangles. Leave the dough in place and press a piece of almond onto the edge of the short side of each triangle where the trunk of the tree should be.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and with a straight- edged knife cut in triangles while still warm to separate them along the scored lines but leave them in place. Trim the uneven edges to straighten while cookies are still warm.
• Mix the ingredients for the white icing and the green icing in separate small bowls. Drizzle the icings decoratively over the Christmas trees and while the icing is still wet, sprinkle with the colored sugar or nonpareils.

FAUX WHEAT THINS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• In food processor, blend flours, sugar, salt and spices.
• Whisk oil and water together in separate bowl until emulsified.
• With processor running, slowly add oil and water to flour mixture until it comes together in smooth ball.
• Divide dough in half and roll each piece out on lightly floured surface into rectangle about 12 inches by 14 inches or the size of your largest cookie sheet and about 1/16 inch thick, the thinner the better.
• Transfer dough to cookie sheet by draping it over your rolling pin.
• Don't worry if it gets distorted.
• Using long, sharp knife, trim dough into neat rectangle and score into 1 1/2-inch squares, being careful not to cut all the way through.
• Prick each square 3 times with fork and sprinkle with kosher or freshly ground sea salt to your taste.
• Place cookie sheet in center of preheated oven and bake about 8 minutes or until edges have started to brown and blisters are forming on top surface.
• Remove from oven and loosen crackers with large spatula before flipping whole sheet of crackers over in one piece.
• It is helpful to use another cookie sheet to do this, placing it over the baking sheet and then turning both over before sliding crackers back onto the original baking sheet.
• Return crackers to oven and bake 6 to 7 minutes more, until edges are well-browned.
• If outer edges brown first, snap them off and return rest of crackers to oven.
• Although you don't want to burn the crackers, they need to be nicely browned all over to be crisp.
• Slide sheet of crackers onto rack to cool.
• When cool, break apart at scored lines.
• Store in airtight container a tin works best.