The keen observer will notice that the title of this post and the above-named recipe are not identical. There's a reason for that. I saw Ina Garten make Parmesan Black Pepper Crackers on an episode of Barefoot Contessa, and thought, now that's out of control. Baking your own crackers?!
Then I came across a similar recipe in a most wonderful book, Simple Soirees by Peggy Knickerbocker. I'd heard about this book via my favorite way of finding books, by hearing an in-depth interview with the author on an NPR show. I didn't mean to get my own copy, but it was an accidental extra after a shipping snafu forced me to find it in real life in time to give it as a gift to my foodie in-laws. And now, I see that I made a great choice, as it's a beautiful book filled with classy, and overall simple, recipes.
So I made the Simple Soirees version of the cracker, with a few changes as per Ina Garten's recipe. In deference to the copyright issue, I'll describe the differences between the recipes. They're much the same, though Ina's recipe uses roughly half the ingredients, adds chopped thyme and, of course, black pepper. Peggy's recipe adds a dash of cayenne pepper, which I couldn't taste at all. The biggest difference is that Peggy's recipe calls for a lot more parmesan cheese, plus the nice decorative touch of the pine nut in the middle.
Ina also calls for a lower baking temperature and more baking time; whereas Peggy's called for higher and less (Ina: 350 for 20 minutes; Peggy: 400 for 8 minutes, with a note to watch for burning).
I mostly followed Peggy's recipe and baking instructions, though added Ina's chopped thyme. The logs I rolled out were too small in diameter, so I ended up with lots of small crackers, but this had a good side-effect. I had to bake them in 4 batches, and so got to experiment with oven position and different baking sheets. The crackers that got baked when the oven was hotter, and lower in the oven, got crispier and I think were better.
I brought them as an appetizer to the potluck Thanksgiving we attended, where they were overshadowed by lots of other appetizers, and they weren't popular. I insisted my husband try one, after persuading him that they weren't cookies, but he thought they tasted too strong. My sons were disappointed that anything cut from a log weren't cookies.
All was not lost however: they were a resounding success with my 13-month-old. She's the most free of influence from expectations ("it's a cookie, blah!" "it's not a cookie, blah!") in the family, and as 13-month-olds are notoriously difficult to feed, I'd say this ends up being a win. But the real test would be on my foodie in-laws.
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