(They look good, don't they?)I've been thinking a lot lately about the food that I was served in grade school by the lunch ladies. "Hot Lunch" was all about fast and easy meals made with readily available commodities. Real commodities from the government - giant 5-lb. cans of food that came in plain white wrappers with generic black lettering. Whatever happened to that program?
Here's my version of my favorite "Hot Lunch", pigs 'n blankets.
(A few more of my favorite things.)A quick Internet search came up with several promising recipes.
The one I adapted can be found here.
Cream Together:
1/2 Stick Unsalted Butter, room temperature
1/4 Cup plus 2 1/2 TB. Cottage Cheese
1/3 Cup Cream Cheese
1/2 tsp White Vinegar
It takes about 4 minutes.
Incorporate one egg.Dry ingredients, in a separate bowl, whisk together to combine:
1 Cup Gluten Free Flour
1 tsp Xanthan Flour
¼ tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Bakewell Cream
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 TB White Sugar
Add to the wet mix all at once.
Combine for two minutes, then cover and refrigerate to let the dough rest.
I used GF flour on the surface and rolled out half the dough about 1/4-inch thick.
I cut it into wedges and added some cheese to see what would happen. The dogs were cut into 3rds and rolled up toward the center like a cresent.
(Have I mentioned that I was never any good at making pastry? Ugly, ugly.)I placed them on a sheet pan sprayed with canola oil and painted them with some melted butter to help them brown. The oven was preheated to 350f and they baked for 23 minutes, until browned.
The cheese-filled ones had leakage, but the plain dogs looked good.
The verdict? Like so many other gluten-free things (cookies, pizza crust) you can tell this isn't the real deal - however, the "blanket" did not crumble or fall apart, it was tasty, and visually pleasing enough. It's the sandy texture of the roll that doesn't make it for me - but ketchup provided a welcome distraction.
I froze the other half of the dough because I think it might make a good topping for potpie.