bacon biscuits and cinnamon sugar palmiers...

We continue our blogs regarding recently completed breakfast "retreat treats" with a look at two interesting offerings-- one savory, one classic French with an orenji ingredient twist!

To provide those retreat attendees who weren't so interested in sweets early in the morning (imagine that!), we opted to provide a more savory option. Of course, our thoughts went immediately to bacon! We started with a light and fluffy buttermilk biscuit to which we added crisp applewood smoked bacon, freshly cut wild sage, sharp farmhouse Cheddar cheese, fresh ground black pepper, and sea salt. Topped with a sprinkle of cheese, these biscuits were rich, flavorful, but not too filling! In our opinion, the perfect way to highlight one of life's most perfect ingredients-- bacon!




The second offering was a palmier (pictured above, right)-- a classic French preparation involving butter-rich puff pastry and sweeteners. Different theories exist on the origin of the palmier shape-- our favorite is one similar to the pretzel, that the palmier represents hands folded in prayer. Of course, palmiers are also frequently referred to as "elephant ears!"

For our palmiers, we rolled them prior to baking in some interesting ingredients-- Sri Lankan cinnamon, which is both spicier and more balanced than the more commonly utilized Mexican cinnamon, and demerara sugar, an unprocessed pure cane sugar from Guyana. The deep, almost molasses-like taste of the sugar, paired with the slightly spicy and earthy cinnamon was a treat for the taste buds, carried in a flaky pastry vehicle!




In our next post, a final look at the "retreat treats"-- some rich chocolaty brownies and light, refreshing lemon bars. See you then!