Rosettes

I love the holiday baking season.  The aroma of sugar and butter and spices all working together to drive the household insane.  I used to make so many kinds of cookies and make trays of goodies, tins of goodies, masses of goodies.

This year there are no holiday parties, no endless parade of office gatherings, club meetings, or cookie exchanges.  This year I am making a batch of cookies, and keeping a couple for us, and giving the rest away to a neighbor.  Another batch of something else, and another neighbor gets a plate of deliciousness.

It has eliminated the baking marathons, which is actually kind of nice, and has eliminated the need to keep mass varieties of cookies fresh.

Is it my preferred method, no. I miss the arranged, colorful treats, of all shapes and sizes on one massive tray, covered lovingly with shrink wrapping. 

But as with so many things this year, it will do.  And my neighbors, especially those that don't cook, or bake, much beyond chocolate chip cookies from a tube, appreciate the good eats.  Even those that are also old country cooks, appreciate something that is NOT from our own kitchens.

This past week I made Rosettes.  

I'm not a fan of frying things in the house.  When we lived in the deep South, I would drag the electric skillet outside and stink up the great outdoors with the funk of fries or aroma of beignets.

It was 5 degrees this morning when I got up.  (F not C)

So inside it is.

This is the recipe I use:  I make sure it is fairly thin, almost the consistency of crepe batter or very heavy cream.  I also add in some cinnamon, some nordic spice, a little ginger and some cardamom.

Recipe

New irons can be purchased all over the world wide wonderweb and you can even find them quite inexpensively in thrift stores and in antique stores.

Mine is from the 30s, and is actually cast iron.  Somewhere along the way, the seasoning on it was lost, and I forgot to re-season it.  So it took about 6 Rosettes to get the polymer good and slick again with oil.

Someday, I'd like to find a solid set that also makes little round, star, square, or swirled nests for tarts and fruits. Someday.  

I cover my counter with flour sack towels for any oil splatters, and I use my induction cooker to keep the oil at temperature.

Heat your iron in your hot oil.

A quick tap on a paper towel to remove excess hot oil.

A quick dip in the batter.

Straight back into the hot oil.

After a few seconds, when you lift your iron, the 
Rosette should just slide right off.  If it doesn't, you might
have to nudge it a little with a skewer until the iron
builds its non-stick superpowers. 

When the Rosette is golden, remove it with a spider or 
slotted spoon to a rack where it can drip any excess oil.
Sprinkle with your topping.

It is important when you make rosettes that you have a little patience with yourself.  The first few never seem to come out right, or even come off well.  That's ok.  Sometimes it means your iron or oil isn't hot enough.  Sometimes your iron just needs to season a little more.  So if you go into it knowing that it's kind of like pancakes, where the first couple are just duds, then you'll do fine.

It is also important to let that oil come back up to temperature between rosettes, and keep the iron hot.  After I slip it off the iron, I actually just leave the iron in the oil when they finish cooking, and while I move them to the drip and cooling rack.  You very quickly get t a rhythm going.

You can sprinkle them with powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, dip them in chocolate glazing, pretty much let your mind go crazy.

I store my extra ones in the freezer and either eat them cold, or put them in the oven to crisp them back up.