Use hummus as the base of a salad. Photo courtesy Chalk Point Kitchen | NYC.

Last month we featured 20 different ways to use hummus. But we left off at least one: this hummus salad.

This appetizer concept, by Executive Chef Joe Isidori of Chalk Point Kitchen in New York City, piles crunchy veggies atop a base of hummus, served with a side of pita wedges.

First, consider the hummus. Chef Isidori makes his own, but if you’re buying yours, check out the myriad of flavored hummus—everything from roasted garlic to spicy chipotle.

Cut up your “salad”—beets, carrots, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, olives, pickled vegetables (Chef Isidori used pickle onions, we used dilly beans), radishes, etc.—and toss it lightly in a vinaigrette. You can top the hummus with romaine or other crunchy lettuce before adding the other vegetables.

For a final flourish, top with minced fresh herbs and some optional feta cheese, and serve with toasted pita chips.

You can easily turn this into a light lunch or vegan dinner, and feel good that you’re eating healthfully, sustainably and tastily.

EASY VINAIGRETTE RECIPE

There’s no need to buy bottled vinaigrette. Just open a bottle of olive oil and a bottle of vineagar—two kitchen staples—measure them in a ratio of 3:1 and whisk vigorously.

Start with 3 tablespoons of oil and 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and a pinch of dry mustard. The latter helps the emulsion stay together and contributes a wee bit o flavor.

The magic comes when you use different oils—flavored oils, nut oils—and vinegars; substitute lemon or lime juice for some or all of the vinegar; and add other flavor dimensions such as condiments (chopped olives, mustard, relish), heat, herbs and sweetness (honey, maple syrup).

Here’s our master article on how to create great vinaigrette.
  

Hello Kitty, whose “real” name is Kitty White, is a cartoon character produced by the Japanese company Sanrio. She is a white Japanese bobtail cat with a red hair bow.

From her first appearance on a vinyl coin purse in Japan in 1974 (it arrived in the U.S. in 1976), Hello Kitty exploded into a global marketing phenomenon. Last year it had sales of $7 billion—all without any advertising. That’s a lot of hellos.

Hello Kitty is the delight not only of pre-adolescent girls—the original target market—but teens, college and adult women as well. Her endearing face can be found on everything from school supplies to fashion accessories and high-end consumer products.

We recently spotted a tiny Hello Kitty face on the temples of our friend Irma’s new eyeglasses. (She bought the glasses because she liked the style, and didn’t pay any attention to Kitty.)

This cake is all ice cream with a Cool Whip-type frosting decor. The confetti on the sides of the cake is also mixed into the body of the cake.

The cake is certified kosher dairy by KOF-K.

Need a fun cake for a special occasion? Look for Hello Kitty in your grocer’s ice cream section. You can find Kitty at A&P, Big Y, Giant Eagle, King Kullen, King’s, Market Basket, Price Shopper, Publix, Redner’s, Shaws, Shop Rite, Target Wal-Mart, Wegman’s and other retailers.
  

[1] Make warm and fragrant cinnamon crescents for breakfast or brunch. The recipe is below (photo and recipe © Taste Of Home).

[2] One of the three different types of cinnamon (photo © Ben Fink from Indian Home Cooking by Suvir Saran.

[3] After shaping and just before baking, croissants and other breads undergo roofing—a.k.a. final fermentation, final rise, second rise, or blooming (photo © Mateusz D | Unsplash).

[4] Golden brown classic croissants. Here’s the recipe (photo © King Arthur Baking).

[5] The airy inside of the croissant is a result of lamination, the process of folding and rolling butter into dough over and over again to create super-thin layers. These layers, which alternate between butter and dough, are what give croissants their signature honeycomb interior structure and their flaky texture. As a croissant bakes, the water in the solid butter vaporizes into steam, which puffs up the dough and creates steam pockets between the layers. Here’s more about it (photo © King Arthur Baking).

April 10th is National Cinnamon Crescent Day, an ideal warm, fragrant companion to a cup of coffee or tea.

Crescent is the English translation of croissant, the buttery, crescent-shaped laminated dough breakfast rolls so integral to French breakfasts.

Cinnamon Crescents are an American adaptation of the croissant. Because Americans have a sweet tooth, the crescents have a filling of cinnamon sugar and are topped with a vanilla glaze.

Below:

> The recipe for cinnamon crescents from scratch.

> How to make cinnamon crescents from Pillsbury refrigerated dough.

> The history of croissants.

> The history of cinnamon crescents.

> Other crescent-shaped baked goods.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The history of cinnamon.

> The history of bread.

> The history of pastry.

> The history of breakfast.

> The different types of bread: a photo glossary.

> The different types of pastry: a photo glossary.

> The year’s 20+ bread holidays.

> The year’s 15+ pastry holidays.
 
 
RECIPE: CINNAMON CRESCENTS (CROISSANTS)

Thanks to Taste Of Home for the recipe.

Ingredients For 4 Dozen Small Rolls

 
Optional Glaze

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the flour and baking powder in a large bowl; cut in the butter until crumbly. Stir in the milk and egg. Divide into three portions; shape each portion into a ball.

2. COMBINE the sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle a third of it over a pastry board or a surface. Roll one ball into a 12-inch circle; cut the circle into 12 wedges.

3. ROLL UP from wide edge. Repeat with the remaining dough and cinnamon sugar.

4. PLACE the rolls with the point side down on a lightly greased baking sheets; form into crescent shapes. Bake at 350° for 16-18 minutes or until lightly browned (do not overbake).

5. MAKE the glaze. Combine the confectioners’ sugar, cinnamon and milk until smooth. Drizzle over the cooled crescents.
 
 
HOW TO MAKE CINNAMON CRESCENTS FROM PILLSBURY PACKAGED DOUGH

For a faster result, you can make crescent rolls from the Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough. The concept was the winner of the 1973 Pillsbury Bake-Off!

Just press the pre-cut triangle perforations of a crescent sheet together, spread it with butter and cinnamon-sugar, roll the whole sheet into a log, and slice it into rounds.
 

[6] Just BYO cinnamon sugar (Abacus Photo).
 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE CROISSANT

Meaning “crescent” and pronounced kwah-SAWn (the “n” is just a hint of the consonant at the end of kwah-SAW) in French, this rich, buttery, crescent-shaped roll is made of puff pastry that layers yeast dough with butter—a technique known as laminating.

Traditionally a breakfast bread served with jam and butter, two classic variations include the almond croissant, filled with frangipane (almond paste) and topped with sliced almonds, and the “chocolate croissant,” correctly called pain au chocolat, baked with a piece of dark chocolate in the center.

In the early 1970s, croissants became sandwich substitutes as they evolved from their two traditional fillings, chocolate, and almond paste, into many savory variations, from broccoli to ham and cheese, as well as additional sweet varieties.

There’s also the Bavarian croissant or pretzel croissant, made of a pretzel-like dough that combines bread flour and whole wheat flour with salt sprinkled on the top, like a pretzel. Some are made of puff pastry, others of soft pretzel-type dough in a triangle wrap, like a croissant.

Stories of the croissant being made in the shape of the crescent of the Turkish flag, after the defeat of the Turks in the Siege of Vienna in 1683, are a perpetuated myth. Recipes for croissants do not appear in recipe books until the early 1900s, according to the Oxford Companion To Food. The earliest French reference is in 1853.

The croissant is a descendant of the Austrian kipfel, a yeast roll usually filled with chopped walnuts, dried or candied fruit, or other filling, and shaped like a crescent. It arrived in Paris in 1838 or 1839 with August Zang, an Austrian military officer. He opened a bakery, Boulangerie Viennoise, and introduced Viennese techniques which would one day lead to the baguette and the croissant. The crescent-shaped kipfel was ultimately made with puff pastry by French bakers.

You can read this history in Jim Chevallier’s book, August Zang and the French Croissant: How Viennoisserie* Came To France (Kindle edition).
 
The History Of Cinnamon Crescents

While the concept of crescent-shaped pastries is and old European traditions, the prominence of crescent (croissant) rolls and pastries in the U.S. began with the invention of the packaging technology: the metal tube can that pressurized dough and opened with a “pop.”

In 1931 the pressurized can format, created by a third-party inventor†, was patented, subsequently becoming iconic for refrigerated dough products. Pillsbury acquired the patent in 1951, and launched its line of refrigerated biscuits.

The refrigerated dough in a pop-open tube, portioned to bake quickly, allowed home cooks to serve the “home-baked goodness” of cookies and rolls frequently.

Pillsbury Original Crescent Rolls arrived in 1965, along with the Pillsbury Doughboy (his name is Poppin’ Fresh).
 

[7] Another favorite “crescent”: rugelach. Here’s the recipe (photo © King Arthur Baking).
 
 
OTHER CRESCENT-SHAPED FOODS

Crescent shapes in baking show up often: in pastries, rolls, and even cookies. A few examples:
Bread-Like: Crescent-Shaped Pastries & Rolls

 
Cookie/Pastry Hybrids: Crescent-Shaped Filled Pastries

 
Crescent-Shaped Cookies

 
Savory Pastries

Although they’re half-moons rather than crescents, we give a shout-out to baked savory pastries like calzones and empanadas; and another nod to sweet turnovers.

 

[8] https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/cinnamon-crescents/The cornetto (“little horn”) is called the “Italian croissant.” Here’s the recipe (photo © Cookist).

_______________

*Viennoiserie are buttery, flaky breakfast breads and pastries made with laminated dough, a technique of layering and folding a yeast dough to create brioche, croissants, danish, pain au chocolat and other so-called “Viennoiserie.” It is a marriage between traditional bread baking and sweet pastry baking. The technique of lamination produces many buttery layers that can be pulled apart to reveal thin leaves within. You can see the striations, or layers, of pastry when you look at the top of the Viennoiserie or when you cut into them (photo ##5). This technique is time-consuming and expensive (because of the amount of butter needed).

†The pressurized can/tube was patented in 1931 by Lively Willoughby, a Kentucky bakery owner, to sell his biscuits. He later sold the patent to Ballard & Ballard Flour Co., and biscuits had become a key refrigerated dough item by the 1950s, when Pillsbury acquired Ballard (1951), enabling it to expand into packaged refrigerated biscuit doughs. In 1958 Pillsbury filed a patent for the “breakable tube,” which was granted in 1961.
 

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