Crumbly pepper Garlic Crackers

Let me just tell you something.
More butter is better .
It's just that simple.
If there is one thing everyone should have learned at the end of their lives, that should be it.
These crackers taught me that, the more butter the better:) Just not too much, because thats pushing it ,no?

Butter makes the world a better place, its good for everything, well, except your hips ofcourse :/
Don't get me started on that.

The first time I made these, we used them as a base for one of our starters during a buffet in college. They were topped with a mixture of sundried tomatoes and spicy aubergines and finally with cheese.
I didnt really have a recipe, just the basic propotions for shortcrust and we added the amount of garlic and pepper that 'looked' right and it turned out amazing! (there never was such a thing as too much garlic, right?)
Heaven.
 Im sure that using this as a crust for a chicken pie would also be a brilliant idea.:)Too often, those poor pies just have a plain boring shortcrust. This will jazz it up a bit !

This week has been so happy. Towering new wedge shoes, Bright pink chappals for the rains, quiet lunches at a new restaurant,baking class with some good friends tomorrow and a birthday party at the end of the week have made it busy busy but fun. Plus, the rains are delayed !! :):) more sunshine please!

Crumbly Pepper Garlic Crackers

100 gms Flour
  70gms  Butter (chilled and cubed.)
    5gms  Salt
  50gms  Chopped Garlic
  10gms   Crushed Peppercorns (Black Pepper powder is also a good substitute)
    5ml      Olive oil
              Chilled Water

• Heat the olive oil in a pan, and saute the chopped garlic for 1-2 min until cooked.Leave it aside to cool
• Sift the salt along with the flour.Sprinkle in the crushed peppercorns and garlic as well.
• Now, add the cubed butter and gentle rub the butter and flour together in your hands over and over again until it begins to resemble the texture of wet sand.Make sure that there are no lumps of butter in the mixture.
• Alternatively , you can cut the butter into the flour with a knife .
• Ensure that you do not knead the dough while incorporating the butter,otherwise the pastry will become tough.
• Now ,sprinkle a little chilled water over the mixture and bring it together into a ball slowly.Again, be careful not to knead it.Use a little additional chilled water if you require.
• Flatten it into a thick rectangle, wrap it in clingwrap and refrigerate for half an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 160 'C
• Dust a clean surface with flour and roll out the chilled dough onto it to about 1/2 cm thick. cut it into small squares or any shape you like and place it on a silpat or lightly greased baking tray.
• Bake for 5-7 minutes depending on the size or until the crackers are golden brown around the edges.
• Cool and store in an airtight container!!!

PS: If you are wondering what that chicken-y thing in the last picture is , its
Shredded cooked chicken + Chopped spring onion+raw mango cubes+Pepper+salt+Thai chilli sauce :)