Tell me what you see

Thatboy doesn't read my blog. If he didn't have a digital camera I don't think he'd ever use the computer at home. He is very much a "computer = work" kind of guy.

And yet when I write an entry that makes me laugh out loud I love to strap him down and make him read it. It's a good thing my duct tape supply isn't running low.

And when I read him some of my latest entries he said: Do your readers know the kind of trash you feed me? Do they understand we had nachos for dinner? As a meal? And if they're impressed by that, you should tell them about the pigs in a blanket.

And so we move to another one of Fannie's "fancy appetizers." She dresses them up by calling them "cocktail frankfurters in pastry" but it's not hard to see what they really are.

On the plus side, it gave me the opportunity to try a new pastry dough. I do love my Alton Brown recipe, which I use exclusively, but this is a great basic pastry. What's interesting to me is that my AB pastry dough is made in the food processor. Fannie says this dough cannot be made in a food processor because the flour and shortening should not be blended too well. The shortening bits left in the dough puff and expand during baking and make the dough flakey. This makes sense to me, given that my AB pastry dough uses both butter and shortening. (butter makes it tender, shortening makes it flakey)

While "flakey" isn't the first adjective that comes to mind when thinking of pigs in a blanket, this is a pretty good dough, and oh so easy. And the pigs in a blanket themselves? When I put them down in front of Thatboy he exclaimed, "WOAH! That's a lot of pigs in a blanket! I can't eat all of them." But he did. Every single one.

Cocktail Frankfurters in Pastry (From The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 1/3 cup cold water
• 3/4 lb small cocktail frankfurters
• 1-2 Tbsp prepared mustard
• 1 egg, beaten with 1 Tbsp water

1. Preheat oven to 425. Mix the flour and salt.
2. Cut the shortening with a pastry blender or two knives. Combine lightly only until the mixture resembles coarse meal or very tiny peas: its texture will not be uniform, but will contain crumbs and small bits and pieces.
3. Sprinkle water over the flour micture, a tablespoon at a time, and mix lightly with a fork, using only enough water so that the pastry will hold together when pressed gently into a ball.
4. Divide the dough in half and roll out thin.
5. Distribute the franks on the dough, leaving enough room between them so that the pastry can be wrapped around each one.
6. Paint each frank generously with mustard.
7. Cut the dough apart with a sharp knife or pizza cutter, and make a package of each frank, pinching the seams together.
8. Place 1 inch apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Paint the tops and sides with the egg and water glaze and bake 12-15 minutes until crisp and golden.