Quips, Travails and Braised Oxtails: The Food Desert Project

Every once in a while, a recipe pops onto my radar that is perfect for this project; this one thanks to the online food magazine the Kitchn - one that takes only a little bit of adaptation to suit the needs of the Food Desert. As I read through the recipe, originally posted at Dinner With Julie, I realized that these crackers could accompany my Labneh and Fig Jam for a perfect holiday snack.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp ground rosemary

1 1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup yogurt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 cup raisins (I mixed in some dried cranberries, too)
1/4 cup sherry
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup roasted pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup ground flax seed (check in the nutritional supplement aisle)

Spray two 8x4 loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Combine the raisins and sherry in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds on high. Stir thoroughly and set aside.

Mix the flour, baking soda, rosemary, and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the brown sugar, honey, yogurt and milk until it is smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the flour and mix lightly, then drain the raisins, (discarding any remaining sherry) and add them to the batter with the remaining ingredients. Blend lightly (you don't want to wake up the gluten in the flour) until no dry flour remains (batter will be lumpy). Pour into the two prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes until the loaves are a deep rich brown.

Remove the loaves from the oven, cool slightly and unmold. Cool completely, and stick the loaves into the freezer to firm up for at least 1 hour (after 1 hour you can wrap them securely and continue freezing them until you want them; you can slice and bake from frozen.)

Slice with a serrated knife as thinly as possible, and put on a cookie sheet. (I have to admit, it's kind of tasty stuff even before the second baking.) Bake in a 300 degree oven for 15 minutes, then flip and bake for another 10 minutes (the exposed surfaces of the nuts should be golden when you flip, and the edges may curl slightly.) Cool thoroughly (the raisins will be really, really hot!)