April is Earth Month and Earth Day April 22nd. As environmentally conscious people, we seek to “do something” new each year. In addition to working more sustainably in the kitchen, we look for food growers and manufacturers who have taken steps to lower their carbon footprint and/or take other sustainable actions. Wine drinkers can look to sustainable wine*, and there’s no better time to tell you about the sustainability efforts of the Champagne region of France.

Champagne is golden in hue†, but the entire region has taken steps to sustainably produce its wines, making Champagne an option for those who aim to drink “greener.”

Producers in Champagne are working to combat climate change. Below are some key sustainability initiatives from the Champagne region:

Champagne was the first wine-growing region in the world to implement a carbon footprint assessment and identify the main sources of emissions.

Since the region’s carbon footprint plan was enacted in 2003, the CO2 emissions generated by each bottle of Champagne have been cut by 20%. The Champagne region aims to achieve a 75% decrease by 2050.

Champagne has worked with its regional partners to create an industrial ecology program for waste recycling and biomass conversion.

Due to this, 90% of waste from the region is sorted and recycled, or used to recover energy, and 100% of winemaking sub-products are reused by various industries.

Champagne has initiatives to become more environmentally friendly in the vineyard as well.

[1] A delicious glass of Champagne. This tulip shape is preferred by Champagne experts. The dynamics of the shape allow the wine to express its aromas and the bubbles to develop (all photos © Champagne Bureau).

[2] Harvesting the grapes.

[3] Grapes are clipped in clusters and brought inside the winery to start the winemaking process.

†Colors range from pale gold to the warmer amber shade, and as the wines age, the colors darken. Rosé champagnes range from pale pink to deep rose.

[1] Minnie Beasley’s Lace Cookies (photo © Specialty Food Association).

[2] A delicious bag of cookies (photo by Michael Steele | © The Nibble).

[3] Cherry tuiles from Martha Stewart. Here’s the recipe (photos #3 and #4 © Martha Stewart).

[4] Lace cookies can be flat. Lady Bird Johnson made them this way. Here’s a recipe (not Mrs. Johnson’s) from Martha Stewart.

[5] A tin of Pirouline brand rolled cookies. Each is filled with a flavored cream (photo © Pirouline).

[6] Pepperidge Farm’s version, Pirouette cookies (photo © Taste Of Home).

[7] The thin, flat cookie is rolled into a pirouette shape while still warm. Here’s the recipe (photo © King Arthur Baking).

Way back in 2007, THE NIBBLE wrote enthusiastically about Minnie Beasley’s almond lace cookies, buttery, lacy almond toffee cookies. They won a gold medal as “best cookie” at the Fancy Food Show the following year, but we subsequently lost touch with the brand.

We were pleased to receive an email from them recently proclaiming, “We’re back!”

This means that you, too, can know the joy of Minnie Beasley’s Almond Lace Cookies*, thanks to her great-nephew Harmon Beasley Canon.

And keeping up with the times, there Minnie Beasley’s also are available gluten-free.

The cookies (photos #1 and #2) are a delicate gourmet confection, a special treat, a hybrid of a lace cookie (photo #4) and a pirouette cookie (photos #5, #6, and #7). See the section below for an elucidation.

Lace cookies are a Southern specialty, and Southern ladies created them in different ways.

Lady Bird Johnson, for example, was known for her recipe†, a flat lace cookie. Aunt Minnie’s cookies were—and are—rolled, pirouette-style, and contain almonds.

You can find still other recipes online.
 
 
MINNIE BEASLEY & HER COOKIES

Great Aunt Minnie lived with Harmon Canon’s family during his boyhood in Memphis. As Mr. Canon relates:

“She blessed us with a wealth of wisdom and love as well as giving us this wonderful recipe.” She made them every year at Christmas, a family holiday favorite (the kids would fight over them).

After Minnie’s passing, Mr. Canon’s mother made the almond toffee cookies for the holidays.

When Mr. Canon moved from Memphis to Denver in 2003, it became his turn to bake the cookies at Christmas. He later began to sell them at retail, urged on by the ardent enthusiasm of recipients.

The cookies are made completely by hand. It’s a labor-intensive process.

The dough comes out of the oven flat and paper-thin, and each cookie must be hand-rolled before it cools.

While they look like they might stick to your teeth, they don’t; they melt in your mouth. Anyone’s great aunt can nibble away to her heart’s delight.

Following success with Denver-area retailers, Mr. Canon began to sell to retailers nationwide, and direct to consumers via the Minnie Beasley’s website.

The good news is, you can have them year-round: no waiting for the holidays.
 
 
WAYS TO ENJOY MINNIE BEASLEY’S COOKIES

You certainly can see these cookies being served at tea parties in Memphis, enjoyed by fine ladies in hats and white gloves.

You can dress up if you like. Or not.

Enjoy Minnie Beasley’s Almond Lace Cookies:

 
The cookies can be frozen if they aren’t consumed within a few weeks, but one would have to be on a serious diet to resist consuming the box (sharing with worthy friends and loved ones, of course).
 
 
GET YOUR LACE COOKIES

Almond Lace Cookies are $13.85 per 6-ounce bag, slightly more for gluten-free. Order 10 Bags and get FREE shipping—just in time for Mother’s Day.

Head to MinnieBeasleys.com to place your order.
 
 
MINNIE BEASLEY’S COOKIES ARE PIROUETTES, NOT TUILES

Minnie Beasley’s calls their almond lace cookies tuiles. That’s not entirely accurate. The slender cigarette shape is a pirouette (photos #5, #6, and #7).

Many food experts make this mistake. So please hear this: A cookie needs to be shaped like a curved rooftop tile to be called a tuile.

Tuiles, the French word for tiles, are the curved rooftop tiles of the Provence region of France (photo #3). Tuiles have some form of U shape—a narrow opening like photo #3, or a much broader one like this or like this.

Lace cookies themselves can be flat (photo #4), tuile-shaped (photo #3), or rolled into cigarette-shape pirouettes (photo #2). There are even cone shapes. The differentiator is that the texture is lacy.

Here are three different shapes of lace cookies: cone, pirouette, and tuile.

Any of these shapes scan have a lacy texture or be solid, thin dough. If the dough is solid, they aren’t lace cookies (photo #7).

> The history of cookies.

> The different styles of cookies.

> The different types of cookies.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF PIROUETTE COOKIES

Pirouette cookies are rolled wafer cookies. Versions exist all over Europe.

Around 1860, the DeBeukelaer family of Belgium launched a cookie business, the 1st Biscuit and Wafer Co. The company later claimed to have invented the rolled wafer cookie.

We can’t find a history of that company, but in 1978, Peter DeBeukelaer, a descendant, founded DBC Corporation, also operating as DeBeukelaer Corporation and the DeBeukelaer Cookie Co.

That same year, the company trademarked the Pirouline Swirl, a rolled wafer cookie with a contrasting edge (photo #5).

Americans may be more familiar with Pepperidge Farm’s Pirouette cookies (photo #6), which were likely discovered in Europe by Margaret Rudkin, the company’s founder.

The company website noted that she went on a “tasting trip” to Europe in the 1950s in search of distinctive cookies that were “delicate in flavor and texture” to add to her line.

Perhaps she stumbled over Piroulines (photo #5).

Many cuisines have their version of a rolled wafer cookie.

*Minnie Beasley is not the same Mrs. Beasley as that of the cookie gift basket company owned by Cheryl’s Cookies. Minnie Beasley’s specialty is an artisan, top-quality rolled lace cookie with almonds. Mrs. Beasley’s/Cheryl’s are mass-produced.

†Mrs. Johnson’s cookies were made with coconut and were flat, not rolled. Here’s the recipe.

[1] The recipe for this yogurt dip and sauce is below (photos #1 and 5 © Heraclea Olive Oil).

[2] Old Chatham is one of the two artisan brands of sheep’s milk yogurt in the U.S. (photos #2 and #4 © Old Chatham Creamery).

[3] The other delicious sheep’s milk yogurt is made by Bellwether Farms. Do you know what a bellwether is? See the footnote‡ (photo © Bellwether Farms)?

[4] Thanks for the milk!

[5] The dip recipe was created by Berk Bahceci for Heralea Olive Oil.

Most of the yogurt sold in the U.S. is cow’s milk yogurt, and 51% of that is Greek-style yogurt [source]. In addition to cow’s milk yogurt, you can find yogurts made from:

 
Today, we’ll focus on a true foodie delight, sheep’s milk yogurt, which few yogurt-eaters have ever tried. Why not?

First, because sheep’s milk yogurt is more expensive to produce, few companies make it. In the U.S., we’ve only found it in artisan brands like:

 
Second, sheep’s milk yogurt can be twice the price of cow’s milk yogurt. Sheep are difficult to raise and don’t yield much milk, hence the premium.

And third, as a premium-priced product, it is typically only available at high-end markets and specialty food stores.

But if you’re a yogurt fan—or a sheep’s milk cheese fan—treat yourself to some and get to know this delicious variety.
 
 
WHY SHEEP’S MILK YOGURT IS BETTER

Ounce for ounce, compared to cow’s and goat’s milk yogurt, sheep’s milk yogurt:

 
 
RECIPE: SHEEP’S MILK YOGURT DIP

Enjoy this dip with cocktails, or as a sauce for chicken, fish, lamb, pork, or vegetables.

Sheep’s milk yogurt is naturally thick and doesn’t require extra straining, although you can substitute Greek-style yogurt.

Thanks to Heraclea Olive Oil for the recipe.

Prep time is 10 minutes.
 
Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
Preparation
 
1. MIX the yogurt, oregano, dill, and mint in a large bowl.

2. USE a separate, smaller bowl to mix the garlic, salt, and vinegar; then add it to the yogurt mixture. Combine well.

3. DRIZZLE with olive oil and serve.
 
 
A BIT OF SHEEP HISTORY

The domestication of sheep—as well as that of goats and cattle—first took place roughly 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia and the nearby mountain zones of western Asia.

This happened when humans, who had been hunter-gatherers, settled into agricultural communities. Being stationary enabled animal husbandry and domestication the first plant crops like barley and wheat [source].

Today, the countries of the Mediterranean remain the world’s biggest sheep dairy producers.

†Short-term fatty acids improve gut health through a number of effects, from maintenance of intestinal barrier integrity, mucus production, and protection against inflammation to the reduction of the risk of colorectal cancer [source]. Medium-term fatty acids (triglycerides) promote “fullness,” reduce fat deposits, increase energy expenditure, and are more easily metabolized (i.e., turn into energy).

‡A bellwether is the leading sheep of a flock, with a bell around its neck. Why? Long ago, it was common practice for shepherds to hang a bell around the neck of one sheep in their flock, to hear the sheep when they wandered. The word was formed by a combination of the Middle English words belle (meaning “bell”) and wether (a noun that refers to a castrated male sheep). The term first appeared in English in the 15th century. It eventually came to refer to an indicator or predictor of something, or to someone who takes initiative or who actively establishes a trend that is taken up by others.

April is National Soft Pretzel Month, and we love a good soft pretzel recipe. Bake a batch of delicious soft pretzels and serve with grainy mustard and beer.

Bake a batch of delicious soft pretzels and serve with grainy mustard and beer.

Want to make smaller, appetizer-size pretzels? See our instructions for pretzel bites in “Variations” of the recipe, below.

Also below are more soft pretzel recipes, from chocolate-stuffed to cheese-coated.

> April 26th is National Pretzel Day.

> July is National Pretzel Month per some sources.*

> October is National Pretzel Month per some sources.*

> The history of pretzels.

> Want to make smaller, appetizer-size pretzels? See our instructions for pretzel bites in the “variations,” below.
 
 
RECIPE: BUTTER BRUSHED SOFT PRETZELS

This recipe is for the soft, chewy kind of pretzel that’s wonderful when warm, but almost as good at room temperature.

Prep time is 20-30 minutes. Bake time is 8-9 minutes. Thanks to King Arthur Flour for the recipe.
 
Ingredients For 8 Large Pretzels

For The Dough

 
For The Topping

 
________________
 
†Use the greater amount in the winter, the lesser amount in the summer, and somewhere in between in the spring and fall. Your goal is soft dough.
________________
 
Preparation

1. PLACE all of the dough ingredients into a bowl, and beat until well combined. Knead the dough, by hand or machine, for about 5 minutes, until it’s soft, smooth, and quite slack. Flour the dough and place it in a bag, and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.

> To make dough with a bread machine: Place all of the dough ingredients into the pan of the bread machine, program the machine for dough or manual, and press Start. Allow the dough to proceed through its kneading cycle (no need to let it rise), then cancel the machine, flour the dough, and give it a rest in a plastic bag, as instructed above.

> To make dough with a food processor: Place the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in the work bowl of a food processor equipped with a steel blade. Process for 5 seconds. Add the water, and process for 7 to 10 seconds, until the dough starts to clear the sides of the bowl. Process a further 45 seconds. Place a handful of flour in a bowl, scoop the slack dough into the bowl, and shape the dough into a ball, coating it with the flour. Transfer the dough to a plastic bag, close the bag loosely, leaving room for the dough to expand, and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

While the dough is resting…

2. PREPARE the topping. Combine the boiling water and baking soda, stirring until the soda is totally (or almost totally) dissolved. Set the mixture aside to cool to lukewarm (or cooler).

3. PREHEAT the oven to 475°F. Prepare a baking sheet by spraying it with vegetable oil spray, or lining it with parchment paper. If you’re not using King Arthur Flour, grease the parchment with vegetable oil spray to make double-sure the bites won’t stick.

4. TRANSFER the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and divide it into eight equal pieces (about 70g, or 2-1/2 ounces, each). Allow the pieces to rest, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

5. POUR the baking soda/water into a 9″ square pan. Roll each piece of dough into a long, thin rope (about 28″ to 30″ long), and twist each rope into a pretzel. Working with 4 pretzels at a time, place them in the pan with the baking soda/water, spooning the water over their tops. Leave them in the water for 2 minutes before placing them on the baking sheet. This baking soda “bath” will give the pretzels a nice, golden-brown color.

6. TRANSFER the pretzels to the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle them lightly with coarse, kosher, or pretzel salt, if desired. Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

7. BAKE the pretzels for 8 to 9 minutes, or until they’re golden brown.

8. REMOVE the pretzels from the oven, and brush them thoroughly with the melted butter. Keep brushing the butter on until you’ve used it all up. It may seem like a lot, but that’s what gives these pretzels their ethereal taste. Eat the pretzels warm, or reheat them in an oven or microwave.
 
Variations

To make savory pretzel bites: Roll the six pieces of dough into 10″ ropes. Cut each rope crosswise into 6 to 10 equal pieces. Dip the pieces into the baking soda solution, place on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, and top with pretzel salt or sea salt. Bake in a 400°F oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven, and roll the bites in melted butter; about 6 tablespoons should do it.

To make sweet pretzel bites: Roll the six pieces of dough into 10″ ropes. Cut each rope crosswise into 6 to 10 equal pieces. Dip the pieces into the baking soda solution, place on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, and top with pearl sugar, if desired. Bake in a 400°F oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove them from the oven; if they haven’t been topped with pearl sugar, roll the bites in melted butter (about 6 tablespoons should do it). Then shake in a paper bag with 6 tablespoons of cinnamon sugar.
 
 
MORE SOFT PRETZEL RECIPES

 
 
________________
 
*National Day Calendar cites April as National Pretzel Month. National Today cites October as National Pretzel Month. It is not uncommon for the same holiday to appear on two or more dates. The reason can be that the U.S. Congress, different states, and different municipalities all can pass a declaration for a holiday. In these lawless Internet times, any person or company can declare a holiday on social media, without any formal body passing a resolution.

[1] Soft pretzels brushed with butter. The recipe is below (photos #1 and #6 © King Arthur Baking).

[2] Chocolate-stuffed soft pretzels. Here’s the recipe (photo © Beyond Good By Madecasse).

[3] Parmesan pretzels with a parmesan-beer dip. Here’s the recipe (photo © Wisconsin Cheese).

[4] Two Italian treats: prosciutto di Parma (a.k.a. Parma ham) with soft pretzels, the latter first created by monks in northern Italy (photo © Prosciutto di Parma | Facebook).

[5] You can top your soft pretzels with just about anything (photo © Sonia | Pexels).

[6] In addition to mustard, try other condiments, like dips and sour cream (photo © King Arthur Baking).

[7] Food fun? A soft pretzel serves as a very large crouton with a bowl of butternut squash soup (photo © Aleisha Kalina | Unsplash).

[1] The 9-piece Beer & Chocolate Pairing gift box. You supply the beer pairings (all photos © Dallmann Chocolate.

Caramel Sea Salt Chocolate[/caption]
[2] The Sea Salt Caramel with Fleur de Sel pairs with an IPA.

[3] The Caramel Latte truffle pairs with a stout.

[4] Pair the Bacon Applewood Smoked Salt chocolate truffle with a smoked beer.

What to have with your beer on National Beer Day, April 7th? Beyond the chips and pretzels, how about expanding your horizons to a beer and chocolate pairing?

Dallmann Fine Chocolates of San Marcos, California (near La Jolla and San Diego) has curated a box of chocolates meant to be paired with the suds from some of the area’s craft breweries.

While you may not have access to those specific beers, you can find similar ones wherever you are.

It’s a great gift for a beer lover…and Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are coming up.

> The different types of beer and the history of beer.

> The history of chocolate.

> The different types of chocolate and chocolate terminology: a glossary.

> More beer and chocolate pairings: Chocolate Stout Float & Chocolate Stout Ice Cream Recipes

 
 
9-PIECE BEER & CHOCOLATE PAIRING BOX (BYOB)

The chocolate flavors to pair with beer have been carefully chosen to enhance the experience.

The chocolates include:

 
Here are more beer and chocolate pairings from our own neck of the woods.
 
 
GET YOUR BEER & CHOCOLATE GIFT BOX

> Head to Dallman.
 
 

[5] Line ‘em up: Four beers with four different chocolates.