A couple days after the wedding, we spent the afternoon and evening with my brother Kurt. His new bride, Jean was feeling under the weather, so it was just the five of us – Larry & I, my sister Louise & her husband Scott, and Kurt. In keeping with local customs, we had to stop for refreshment at several points in the day. The desert air is very dry you know, and one must take care to remain properly hydrated. We were also starving, so he took us to the club where he often goes golfing. We noticed right away that it differed somewhat from the place where we normally go golfing, because there was no giagantic purple elephant out front. There was also a decided lack of half sunken pirate ships, tees made from the rear end of a ’57 Chevy, and no waterfalls to hit the ball through at all.
There also didn’t seem to be anyplace to buy post-golf ice cream cones or hot dogs either, but we soldiered on, making the best of things.
We sat out on a terrace, ovelooking part of the course.
Clearly, it was a place where the beautiful people like to be seen.
It was, of course, gorgeous. I had a glass of Shiraz that I would want for my “last-dinner-on-death-row” meal and the others enjoyed some really nice draft beers. Along with the munchies we ordered, Kurt asked our waitress to be sure and bring us a basket of “Twisty Bread”, and when it got to the table, we understood why he wanted us to try it. Garlicky, light, flakey and cheesy – and wonderful. I knew I would want to try and duplicate it, so here is my approximation of those tasty little wonders.
First, you need to thaw a sheet of puff pastry – one sheet will make 30 pieces.
Melt 1/2 of a stick of butter in small saute pan. Add a couple finly minced cloves of garlic, and a tablespoon of fresh minced rosemary. Turn the heat down as low as it will go, and kind of steep the garlic and rosemary for about 10 minutes, making sure that it doesn’t brown. Remove from the heat and let sit another 10 minutes or so.
Unfold the puff pastry and separate into 3 peices along the folds. Cut each of the 3 parts into 10 1 inch wide strips. Gently twist each piece twice and lay on a parchment lined baking sheet, pressing the ends down just a bit so they will stay. 
Use a small spoon and drizzle each piece with the butter mixture, making sure to get some of the garlic and rosemary on each piece. Sprinkle with some freshly grated romano cheese. Bake at 400 for about 12 to 15 minutes, until well browned and crisp. Serve immediately.
Yum!
After a basket of this, we got so we didn’t miss the purple elephant all that much.
Twisty bread and shiraz? Sign me up! You can keep the golf;)
Oh c’mon MPM – you would love the kind with the purple elephant!
Thanks for sharing family stories, wonderful pictures and a wonderful recipe! (I really enjoyed it, ignoring the tinge of jealousy that I was not there to laugh and share in the moment!)
Love, CM
PS … have you thought about putting raisins in that twisty bread?
Love the purple elephants and waterfalls, but I also love driving golf carts and eating at the restaurants at the ‘real’ golf courses. And this twisty bread looks divine. Yessss!
CM – raisins and garlic? are you nuts? :D
I would prefer to stay in the golf cart and guard the libations, Kate – we can share, right?
Your pictures are beautiful! What a great way to spend the day. Will have to try the twisty bread- looks like something everyone in the family would love.
Oh man those were good! And what a fabulos day we had. Right now the weather is not so wonderful here in Mass. I’d like to be back on that terrace with a frosty beer and those twisty breads. The taquitas were scrumptious too.
I am going to try this receipe.
We need to start planning our next Arizona trip…..
Thank you Kristen – it really was a nice day, though we missed our sister in law.
Louise – same time next year? in two years? :)
Wow. Love the photos. I’ve made something very similar, only brushing with a beaten egg instead of the melted butter, and I put the cheese, etc. on before I cut and twist the dough. I think maybe with the butter it would rise better than it does with the egg. I’ll have to try it.
It’s very easy and very yummy!
And now I want Shiraz!
Thanks Christy – I was torn between using egg or butter myself. I am not an expert on using puff pastry, but I know that you have to be careful how you handle it or you can keep it from rising as well as it might. These don’t really need any more butter, though it does taste fantastic :)
Donalyn, I have been at that exact spot! You might like to check out the Arizona Sweets story I did a couple of seasons ago. We basically ate our way through every great dessert in the Valley of the Sun and captured them all in photos. :-) We didn’t get a winter break this year though, and I so miss the dessert hills beyond Scottsdale. Sounds like you really know how to have a great time. Love it that you recreated the wonderful Twisty Bread. Can’t wait to try it. …Susan