The Lunch Hour - Elephant Ears

Today I debated making some main dishes in the toaster oven rather than just baked goods, but then I saw a recipe for elephant ears and decided to try that instead. (On a side note, I still plan on making some red enchilladas and maybe some rigatone in the toaster oven at work; they are both simple, fast recipes that can cook within the time limit of an hour including prep time.)

The recipe I saw was in a holiday book and it called for puff pastry so I decided to make my own. I'll include the recipe using puffed pastry for those who would like to take that route as well.

Book recipe (what I recall): Thaw out puffed pastry. Lay out in sheets. Sprinkle sheets with sugar and some butter. Roll up opposite sides so that they meet in the middle. Cut out into pieces. Place on sheet and bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Let cool and then dip them in chocolate.

As some of you may recall, I don't do well with sugar or things containing sugar so I decided to make a Rosie version instead so that I would be able to eat the pastries as well.

Rosie version:

1 stick of cold butter (1/2 cup) cut into flakes
2 cups of flour
a pinch of baking powder
Some milk
Honey
Cinnamon

Pre-heat toaster oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, cut butter into the flour with a pastry cutter or two knives. Once it is all crumbly add a bit of cold milk to the flour and mix with a fork. Add milk until your crumbles are about the size of small marbles. Making sure that your hands aren't too warm, use the palm of your hand or your knuckles to press the dough down. Once it is all one mass, fold the mass in half keeping the side with unincorporated flour on the inside. Knuckle that down again and then fold using the same process. You will do this until all of the flour is incorporated, taking care to not let the dough get too warm of else you'll end up with a rock hard dough that crumbles.

Cut your dough in half and place the half you are not immediately using in the fridge until you are ready to use it. On a lightly floured surface roll out dough so that you end up with one side longer than the other, roughly the size of a sheet of paper. Drizzle honey onto your dough and then sprinkle with cinnamon. My suggestion for the quantity of honey is enough so that when you roll the sides it will all contain some and enough cinnamon to lightly dust the entire surface. Roll up the long sides until they meet at the center. Cut the rolled dough into 1/4 inch thick rolls. (I left a few pieces thicker and it turned into a flaky cinnamon roll.) Place on cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes or until they are fluffy and slightly brown.

Once they are done let them cool and they will acquire an extra crunchiness that is associated with this treat. Enjoy!

I had extra dough left over from today's treats so I brought home to make for dessert. The pot in the background also has candied milk. =)