cocktail hour

I fell in love with the Ina Garten's Back to Basics when I first opened it up to the cocktail hour chapter. What's not to love about cocktail hour?

I made the parmesan & thyme crackers (pg 30) from this chapter because I was intrigued by the idea of a savory shortbread. With just a few simple ingredients (butter, Parmesan, fresh thyme, salt, pepper, and flour) these crackers came together easily. As the recipe suggested, I did have to add an extra teaspoon of water to the dough before shaping it into a log as it was a bit too dry to hold a shape.

We could hardly wait for the crackers to cool down after they came out of the oven - they looked so tasty. Lightly browned, flecked with aromatic thyme leaves and glistening from all that butter! I served these with a glass of crisp, chilled chardonnay. Delightful!

Cheers!

Tempa