ffwd - salted butter break-ups

Let me just put it out there... I think this will be pretty much a universal favorite. Maybe a bit more for some than others, but this is really a fun, tasty treat. Oh, and did I mention easy?

Last night I had some people coming over for dinner - didn't really know how many, wasn't sure if the dessert would actually show up, and I was already cooking, so I thought why not go ahead and make the break-ups, you can always hide them if a fabulous dessert walks through the door! And besides, I was already practicing being flexible after a semi-last-minute reminder that one of my guests doesn't eat meat (I knew that!) - out with the hachis parmentier, in with the scallops in caramel orange sauce! Oh, but that's next week's story...

The only bad part is that when I'm cooking for people, rather than my blog, I can sometimes get out of sequence... oops! I kind of already started when I remembered that I should be taking pictures. Hmmm.

simplest of ingredients... butter, sugar, flour salt, water

 

my lovely gray salt
I love, love it! of course, it's nice enough to share it's space with some regular sea salt
sneak preview - it's totally worth using your fancier salt
and I did use the full 1t, since I'd read others talking about wanting a bit more



dry ingredients mixed, and ready for the butter!
my poor, 30-year-old Cuisinart!
I keep thinking of getting a new one, but then... I just don't

I was a little afraid I'd added too much water (it was the 5 T from the recipe)
but it turned out exactly as Dorie described: malleable
(here's the missing photo part...)
I plopped the dough onto a parchment sheet, topped it with another, flattened it out a bit
and put it in the freezer while I worked on other things
took it from the freezer, rolled it out a bit, did the whole egg wash thing, and then I used a knife (!)
 to make the markings. I am not sure I believe that the markings shown in the book were made by a fork - look
at the next picture - and you decide!

the baked and cooling break-up
smells wonderfully of butter, and looks pretty ok, I think!

 

as you can see, the break-up made it's way to the table after all

These turned out exactly as described: "the perfect break-up is crisp on the outside and still tender within". I loved the salty-sweet combination. I think that the gray salt was, if not necessary, then very desireable. This was such a fun confection to make, and so incredibly easy and fast, that I will surely make it again.