Real Snacks (7 page)

My ninth-grade Algebra teacher, Mr. Stevens, had a special way of getting students’ attention when they were lazily looking out the window. He’d let the room get quiet and then he would yell, “What are you dreaming about? Moon pies and RC Cola?!!” It quickly became one of my most vivid food memories. A moon pie is basically a s’more: marshmallow crème sandwiched between two graham crackers and dipped in chocolate. Once you’ve tried one, you’ll probably be dreaming about them, too
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Prepare the Graham Crackers, cutting out 3-inch-diameter rounds, and cool completely. Test for crispness. If they aren’t very crisp, bake them for a few more minutes and cool again. They need to be quite crisp to hold up to the Marshmallow Crème without getting soggy.

Line a baking sheet with parchment or place a piece of parchment on the counter. Spread one side of half of the grahams with a nice dollop of Marshmallow Crème. Add 1 teaspoon of Caramel Sauce if you wish. Top with the remaining grahams. Give a gentle twist to seal, being careful not to break the grahams. Place the filled grahams on the parchment and let them sit while you make the chocolate coating.

Bring a pot of water to a simmer. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over the simmering water and stir to melt. If you prefer, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave; using 50 percent power, heat the chocolate, stopping to stir every 30 seconds, until it is melted.

Use a spoon to cover the tops and sides of each cookie with melted chocolate. Let the cookies set for at least 1 hour in a cool spot (or the refrigerator) before you touch them or you’ll end up with a mighty mess.

There are two types of people in this world: those who eat their Oreos in one piece and those who carefully twist them open to expose their delicious insides, lick them clean, and then dunk the dark chocolate wafers into milk until they are perfectly soggy. Guess which one I am
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To make the cookies, combine the whole-wheat pastry flour, teff flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the dough blade (or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment). Pulse several times to mix thoroughly. Drop in the butter 1 tablespoon at a time and pulse to create a crumbly mixture. Then, with the food processor running, drizzle in the milk and vanilla. Mix until the mixture starts to stick together, about 1 minute.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment and set aside.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough until it is a little less than ¼ inch thick. Use a 1- to 2-inch round cookie cutter to cut out the cookies (you can reroll any scraps). Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until set, 10 to 12 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool completely on a wire rack before filling.

While the cookies are baking, make the filling. With a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment,
cream the butter, vanilla, and salt until smooth, about 1 minute. Gradually add the powdered sugar until fully incorporated.

Spread about 1 teaspoon of filling on half of the cooled cookies. Top with the remaining cookies and gently twist to seal. Let sit for 10 minutes before indulging.

To boost the vanilla flavor in these wafers, I stir in the seeds from one half of a vanilla bean. Vanilla beans can vary wildly in intensity and flavor. I look for fair trade, organic vanilla beans that are still moist and highly fragrant, from companies like Amadeus Vanilla Beans (
AmadeusVanillaBeans.com
)
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Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment and set aside.

Sift the white spelt flour and sweet rice flour together and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, mix the sugar, baking powder, salt, vanilla, and vanilla bean seeds until combined. Add the melted butter and mix to combine. Add the egg yolks and whip until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed just until incorporated. The dough may be a bit stiff.

Scoop or pipe 1-inch rounds onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least 1 inch between rounds. For even tops, press down any little peaks that form with a moistened finger.

Bake until lightly golden around the edges, about 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through baking. Cool completely on a wire rack. Once cooled, store in a loosely covered container for up to 2 weeks.

How something that so closely resembles Styrofoam can be appealing just goes to show you how mixed up our food desires have become. And yet there is something about the crisp crunch and flavors more of color than of food that I personally can’t resist. To make your own, you’ll need a special cookie iron called a krumkake iron. A pizzelle maker will also work, but you won’t have the same waffle texture on both sides. You can use the krumkake iron to make your own ice cream cones, too
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Sift the all-purpose flour, ground millet flour, sweet rice flour, cornstarch, powdered sugar, baking soda, and salt together into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

In a small bowl, mix the water, oil, and a drop or two of food coloring, if using (don’t worry that the water and oil won’t combine). Then, with the mixer on low speed, slowly add to the flour mixture, mixing until the batter is smooth and pourable, like a thin pancake batter, about 2 minutes. Beat for an additional 2 minutes, cover with plastic wrap, and let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Prepare your cookie iron with a light coating of cooking spray and preheat it. Once the iron is preheated, pour 2 tablespoons of batter onto the iron and follow the manufacturer’s directions for cooking. You want your wafers to turn lightly golden brown and be very crisp. If they come out of the iron a bit moist, they will remain limp as they cool. If this happens, place them in a 200°F
oven for about 30 minutes or until they firm up. Let the wafers cool completely on a wire rack before using.

For filled wafer cookies, simply spread half the cooled wafers with the filling of your choice. Top with the remaining wafers.