A Little Something

If you're a person who's accustomed to cooking for family and friends and colleagues, there's something about weddings and their associated parties that can make you feel a little bit helpless.  Especially if you're the bride.  In some ways, it's out of your hands.  You may participate in menu decisions, but it's not quite the same.  People nod sagely over your head -- after all, you're in love, you're bedazzled with everything that's going on, you're in no shape to make any choices about any of this.  Or so people treat you, much of the time.

Recently we went for a site visit to the beautiful house in Connecticut where, next Saturday, we will have what we're calling our "family party", a belated reception for about 60 members of our families (this will be complete with a slightly bastardized ceremony, since we are already safely married -- for two whole weeks as of today, mind you).  The caterers were there, as was my close friend, who's doing flowers, decoration and basically managing the whole event.  G and I arrived for the site visit somewhat late, and the caterer and my friend were out on the patio talking.  I came out to join them.  "So what do you think?" I asked.   "We've got it all figured out," they told me.  "You don't need to worry about a thing."  "Right, I'm just the bride, after all," I said huffily.  "Exactly,"  they said.   

Several weeks ago, my bridal shower took place.  It was a gorgeous, lovingly catered tea, with scones and sandwiches, fruit and cheese and vegetable platters, and gorgeous mini-pastries.  I didn't lift a finger.  In fact, I was late.   I breezed in in my flouncy purple silk dress and was the center of attention for a couple of hours.  I loved every second of it -- but it did feel more than a little strange, not to be cooking or helping or serving or doing much of anything except having others dote on me.   I'm not used to it, frankly.

Our private wedding ceremony in my father's apartment, with just 10 people present, and our cocktail party the next day, with a cast of about 50, would have to be just a tiny bit different, I thought.  I needed to mark the territory in some small way.  Our wedding supper had been taken out of my hands by my in-laws, as mentioned in my cupcake post.  And our cocktail party, hosted the next day by my brother and sister-in-law, would also be hands-off for me -- almost. 

"Let's bring champagne up to Dad's house for right after the ceremony," I said to G.  "I mean, it's not going to take that long, and then we can have some champagne and some little nibbles before we go to the restaurant."  I had a plan up my sleeve.  There was something I could still provide for my wedding day -- some little bites to go with the champagne, not enough to spoil dinner, but just "a little something."  Salted Marcona almonds,  I thought, they're perfect with champagne -- not knowing that by some strange twist of fate, I would need to go to three stores to find them -- and wouldn't find them until a few hours before the ceremony.  But by then my heart was set on Marconas, and no other almonds would do.  Thank you, Zabar's.  Moist French dried apricots, stuffed with a bit of goat cheese and wrapped in prosciutto would be my next treat; a sweet-salty counterpoint is nice with the bubbly, too.  And then my secret weapon -- the groom's favorite -- little savory cheese cookies, known in my childhood as "cheese dollars."

So amidst all the insanity of getting ready to actually tie the knot, I managed to whip up some hors d'oeuvres.  Cutting apricots in half and pushing a smudge of goat cheese in them and then wrapping them with a ribbon of prosciutto is easy, although more time-consuming than you might think.  But the dough for the cheese dollars was a breeze, and baking them off was a snap.  I even made extra some extra rolls of dough and stashed them in the fridge. 

Once we'd said our "I dos" -- and what I like even more, our "with this ring, I thee wed", it was time to relax with champagne, before going here for dinner.  The cheese dollars were a big hit, not only with the groom, but with the one who gave me away -- my darling dad.  He'd been pleased as punch for days, because his lily amaryllis, which had been dormant for at least a decade, burst into huge, bright red trumpets a couple of days before the ceremony.  He was perseverating on those flowers -- until he tasted the cheese dollars, which then became his idée fixe for the rest of the evening.  I promised I'd make him more -- and that he wouldn't need to wait for a wedding to have them again. 

After family toasts and our beautiful wedding supper, we were off to a fairy tale mini-honeymoon evening at The London NYC Hotel (the gift of the same friend who threw my shower, is doing my flowers for next week, and gave me her mother's antique gold bracelet as yet another gift.  Everyone should have such a friend).  We lolled around our suite which had been kitted out with champagne and strawberries, and the next morning a full English breakfast was sent up by Gordon Ramsay's kitchen.   We had ourselves a lazy day, lounging in bed for hours, walking in Central Park, and finally realized that we should check out and go home to dress for our cocktail party. 

"I've got just enough time,"  I thought.  I was flitting about the wreck of our apartment, wearing nothing but one of G's shirts and a pair of gigantic thick wool ski socks under my pointy gold-lamé sling-backs, hoping to stretch them out a little more.   Another batch of cheese dollars was baking for me to bring to the cocktail party, and I stopped for a minute to sew a broken strap on the bag my cousin had loaned me (my "something borrowed").  G came upon me in this state.  "Wow.  You're baking my favorite cheese dollars AND sewing, wearing my shirt and high heels.  You look adorable.  I love you." he said, kissing me.  "I love you, too," I said.  "So for the moment, I'll permit you your little fantasy that this sort of domestic interlude is what marriage is going to be all about.  After all, we're still in the first 24 hours."

Savory Cheese Dollars

• < 30 mins Snacks
• Cheese Snacks
• Picnic Snacks
• High Calcium Snacks

You can use any cheese in this -- I just love the combination of aged cheddar and hard Italian grating cheeses.

4 oz. unsalted butter
10 oz. good aged cheddar cheese (we use Cabot), diced or grated
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp.  salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
pinch cayenne pepper

Place the butter and cheeses in a food processor fitted with the middle blade, and process until combined.  Whisk together the flour, salt, peppers and nutmeg.  Add to the food processor, and blend just until a dough is formed.  Scrape the dough onto plastic wrap or waxed paper, and refrigerate for about an hour, until it firms up a little.  Then form it into three cylinders, each an inch in diameter.  Wrap each roll tightly in plastic or waxed paper, and chill until very firm (at this point the dough can also be frozen for up to 3 months -- probably longer.  Other recipes say that this sort of  dough lasts for 3 days in the fridge, 3 months in the freezer.  I'll say that I've kept it in the fridge for considerably longer than three days, and then baked it off with brilliant results.  But I like to live dangerously). 

When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 425 F.  Slice the dough cylinders in 1/4 inch slices, and arrange them nicely on parchment-lined baking sheets, about 1/2 inch apart (I don't always obey that rule, either.  Good thing the judge didn't have that "obey" word in the wedding vows.  For either of us).  If the dough is frozen, you'll need to take it out for a few minutes and let it defrost just slightly before you slice it. 

Bake for 10 -15 minutes, depending on your oven.  Rotate the baking sheets top to bottom and back to front after the first five minutes or so, and check on the browning.  When perfectly golden brown, let them cool for a minute on baking sheets and then remove with a little angled spatula to cool on wire racks. 

These are delicious warm, but are excellent as well at room temperature.  They're also good several days after baking, when the cheese flavor develops even more. 

 

Comments

[Tea]

Congratulations--and what a sweet, sweet story! (the part about your friend had me in tears). Glad you got to include your own personality--and baked goods--in the special events. It sounds like it was a magical time. Enjoy the honeymoon-- and everything that comes after!

[Ivonne]

What a sweet post, Julie! Congratulations on your wedding!

[Zarah Maria]

Congratulations Julie (& G) Yes, of course he should think that's what it's all about, the his-shirt, high heels, baking goddess-thing - knowing you Julie, it's not too far from the actual truth, either ;-)

[Glenda]

Congratulations, Julie (and to G. as well).

No matter how long one's been married, being caught in hubby's shirt and high heels while baking is a GREAT thing, for both of ya!!

[Margaret]

Julie, cherie,
enfin! I've been checking, holding my breath for a wedding post...delicious! Now, how about a photo of the newlyweds? still holding half my breath,
encore de felicitations dans le neanmoins,
Margaret

[magpie]

Sweet post - good luck next week.

[Melissa]

Aww, don't burst his bubble just yet. Marriage is chock-full of surprises... ;)

Congratulations to you both!! I can't wait to hear about the rest.

[Sucar]

Yeah! Congratulations!

[Elle]

Congrats! I can totally relate to your wanting to cook SOMETHING for you wedding events. The cheese dollars sound divine! Wishing you many happy years together.

[Byunghoon Kim]

Congratulations on your wedding!
Great pics and great story! :)

[DKH]

Congratulations on making partner! It sounds like you had a great time gettin' hitched, and I wish you all the best as the honeymoon continues through the years.

BTW, I totally share your inability to stay out of the kitchen, even (especially) when being fussed over. Also, your aversion to "obey."

[Elease]

Congratulations! I am going to try making the cheese dollars

[Lauren]

I was just browsing and ended up on your blog. I just want to say that everything looks yummy and I share your difficulties in planning a wedding (my husband and I eloped and are still trying to plan an event). I also wanted to tell you that a tower of cupcakes is actually incredibly traditional. The tier wedding cake evolved from a Renaissance custom of piling lot's and lot's of buns and drizzling them with glaze. I'm going to try your cheese dollars, thanks!

[Deborah Dowd]

Congratulations and thanks for sharing these crackers. My nephew and his fiance are having an engagement party this Sunday and I think I will make and take these!

[casey]

I just found your blog and loved the line about keeping the cheese dollar dough longer than 3 days, as you like to live dangerously.
Off to explore the archives. What a treat.

[Julie]

Many thanks to everyone for all your love and good wishes and wedding gifts. Now if we can just get through a particularly trying period as the school year ends, the actual honeymoon can begin! Of course, the figurative one's been going on for years... :D

[Shawn]

I don't cook. I let others do that. I focus more on what to give for the guests as gifts. Last time, I gave out World Time Zone Clocks and now they couldn't help but think where to go for their initial international destination.

[Bakerina]

Nice spam, "Shawn." I'm guessing that you're part of the new generation of comment spammers, who have found an end-run around the CAPTCHA tools that we use to try to protect our sites.

Sigh.

Julie, I've been dancing with these folks for weeks. I think I've got them off my back, at least temporarily. If you need/want help with this, just let me know. I know that TypePad and Expression Engine are two completely different animals, but I'm pretty sure that TypePad has tools in place to help fight this sort of thing.

(Feel free to delete this comment if you want to do a little, er, housecleaning. ;)

[Julie]

Hey Bakie-girl --

These folks are loathesome, aren't they? Worse, even, because they're pretending there's something human behind their gruesome avarice. I think I'll leave the post up, just so that others in a similar situation know that help is available, from me or from you...I know I figured a way around someone who was bugging me before, so I'll try the same method, and if that doesn't work, I'll definitely call on you for help!

[Air Jordans]

A great blog can give one person new feeling, let person get happiness, let person to broaden people's horizons. I think so your blog that is.

[Jordans 6]

Everyone has their own story! Would you like to write in the blog share with us?

[[email protected] loose green tea]

This is post is three years old and hope everything is going great with your married life, I enjoyed your reading post, your simple wedding ceremony, very intimate one. Thanks for sharing your story with us, and also for the lovely recipe.

[miami internet]

I've never heard about this dessert, I'll have to try those "Cheese Dollars".. sound very funny.. But with those ingredients it seems to be really taste!!

[miami office space]

Very warm greetings to all readers of this blog, regarding this article I would like to add that this is a very good recipe and I found very creative, and I believe that the information is also very interesting. In general, congratulations to all who are related to the creation of this article

[cialis online]

Nice recipe, and yes congratulations on your big day, weddings are always a moment of true love.