TubaDad said “Hey those carrot crackers weren’t half bad!” Heh.

Whooeeee, Ro and Ree were extra rambunctious yesterday. We played outside for hours, there were mishaps with the sand table and the garden hose on the slide, then I found a recipe on Weelicious for carrot snack sticks (neat web site, by the way) and figured we’d give it a whirl. The girls are always up for anything that involves hearty stirring and shaping dough, and I’m always up for anything that uses those wonder-twin powers for good. And the cracker/stick/snack thingamabobs turned out really well. Here’s the Weelicious recipe:

Carrot Snack Sticks (Makes about 30)

1 Cup All Purpose Flour
2 Tbsp Parmesan Cheese, grated
1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Cup Carrot, finely shredded and thin
2 Tbsp Oil

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine the first four ingredients and stir to combine.
3. Using your hands, add the carrots to the flour mixture coating the carrot pieces with flour.
4. Add the oil and work with your hands to bring the dough together.
(You really have to be patient with working this dough together so that the flour absorbs the oil. If you are concerned that it is not coming together, just add 1 extra tsp of oil to the dough and work it with your hands forming a ball until it comes together.) (M3 note: we ended up adding 2TB extra oil and 3TB extra water, a dribble at a time, before the dough would hold together for us. Our carrots weren’t finely shredded though, and we had 6 hands flailing around in the bowl.)
5. Form the carrot parmesan dough into a flat rectangular disk and allow to rest for 1-2 minutes then roll out 1/2 inch thick on parchment paper or a dry clean surface.
6. Using a knife, cut the dough into sticks, 2 inches long by 1/4 inch wide. Freeze dough. (M3 note: we didn’t freeze it, no one has any patience in this house)
7. Bake on a Silpat or parchment lined cookie sheet for 15-17 minutes.
8. Cool and serve.

Alrighty, here’s how we did:

Gathered the ingredients. Check check checkety check. Ree left, Ro right: 

Grated some carrots in the mini-food-processor (I think this didn’t get the carrots finely shredded enough, but it was fun and there were ample opportunities for brawls and spats over button rights, which amused me):     
Added the carrots to the dry mix:

Added the oil, but it was still way too crumbly (I think because our carrots weren’t shredded finely enough), so we added a little bit more oil, then some water, then a bit more oil. Ended up using an extra 2 TB oil and 3 TB water. Still tasted fine:

Ahhhh, now we finally got a nice ball of carroty/parmesany dough:

We let the dough rest for a few minutes (Ro thought we needed to blow on it a little, while Ree thought she needed a manicure):

Then rolled it out, cut it into little strips, and popped it in the oven:  

Hey they actually came out! We sprinkled a little salt on top after baking, too, because we’re nutty like that. Please ignore the misshapen lumpy pieces. I’m sure if you’re cooking them without the twin factor yours will be beautiful:

Mmmmmmmm!

Everyone agreed, these were yummy! I think I’ll go snitch a few right now. My congrats to the little chefs!

PS: Ree’s cheeks are still bright red but she’s feeling great and doesn’t have any fever. Ro’s eye (the one that got bruised in Tahoe) is all better and today is her last day for antibiotics. Whew. Ok, I think we had our fair share of odd illnesses for a while now. Oh, and the little black and white top and dress are on sale at Carter’s right now. Just sayin…