This is the first recipe I had ever baked with. I was around eight and I went to visit my aunt who had always impressed me with her delicious desserts. We sat around the table and all of a sudden my eyes land on these little flavor bombs. They looked so warm and inviting. You know how in the movies when it’s love at first sight everything stops and it’s just the two of you gazing at each other. It was like that for me except with these jam crescents.

It’s funny that I remember this part but failed to remember the details like what the crescents were filled with, or if it was summer or winter, or what else I ate that day.  They must have made a big impression on me if it’s the only thing I remember from that day.  So I ended up begging my aunt for this recipe and I baked them as soon as I got home.  I still have the original recipe a little dirty and aged but I never dared to rewrite it because whenever I look at it, it brings back the memories, the smells and the laughter that this recipe collected throughout the years.

Writing this post makes me curious about other people’s first baking and cooking experiences.  Does this food say something about us? Does it tell you what kind of food you will crave when you are older?  I think it does although the beer in this recipe does confuse me a little. Enjoy!

Drunken Jam Crescents:

Sift 3 cups wheat flour into a large bowl. Cut 2 3/4 sticks unsalted butter (cold) into small chunks and add to the flour. Add 3/4 cup light beer, 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar, 1 tbsp. granulated sugar, and 1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract to the bowl and quickly knead into a dough with your hands. The dough will be sticky and you will be able to see small chunks of butter in the dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight (that’s what I did)

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray two baking sheets with baking spray. Remove the dough from the fridge and divide into 3 even pieces. On a floured surface roll out one of the pieces of dough into a 10-12 inch circle. Cut the dough into 8 triangles and put 1 tsp. of plum jam on each triangle. Roll the triangles into crescents. Place each crescent on the prepared baking sheets two inches apart. Continue until you fill the two baking sheets with the crescents. Bake 30 minutes or until the crescents turn a light golden color. Transfer to a cooling rack and sift confectioner’s sugar on top.  

Tips:

-It is ver important to knead the dough by hand because this helps the dough become flaky and light.

-It seems like the dough will be sticky at first, but after it is refrigerated the dough will be easy to work with.

-Do not overstuff the crescents or the jam will spill out while baking.