Cheese and Chilli Biscuits

This recipe is from the wonderful Stephanie Alexander, it is in her original cookbook The Cook’s Companion which is basically an ABC of ingredients and how to cook them, there is an updated version of the book now so if you are looking for something that covers all aspects of cooking it is fantastic.

This biscuit is basically a savoury shortbread, you can adjust the amount of chilli to your taste or even leave it out if you prefer, and basically use whatever hard strong cheese you have in the fridge, Stephanie calls them Cheese Straws. She rolls the dough out and cuts them into sticks which you can choose to do, but I find rolling into logs way easier, they are especially good to enjoy with a glass of wine or a beer.

Made using just a few basic ingredients they are a delicious treat, always try to use the best quality ingredients you can afford when the ingredient list is small, it really shows in the end product.

As with all my biscuit doughs the mixture can be rolled into logs wrapped in clingwrap and frozen for a couple of months, then when you are ready to bake take out as many logs as you need, thaw, slice and bake for a beautiful fresh treat as needed.

Cheese and Chilli Biscuits

Savoury biscuit to serve with drinks

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Resting 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 25 minutes mins

Course Baking

Ingredients

  

• 300 g Butter, unsalted I don't always use unsalted, but I will adjust the added salt to reflect that
• 300 g Plain flour
• 300 g Mature cheese, finely grated I use a combination of Tasty and Parmesan
• Salt
• Cayenne Pepper or Chilli Powder I use about 1/2 tsp for a nice flavour but no heat, but it can be omitted

Instructions

 

• In a food processor blend the butter with the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, or TMX 10 Sec Sp 6
  
• Add cheese, chilli and salt, process until the dough comes together in a ball, or TMX Dough mode approx 1 Min
  
• Form the dough into logs (2-4) and wrap in cling wrap, rest it in the fridge for 1 hour or so.
  
• Preheat the oven 200 C
• Slice the logs approximately 1 cm thick and place on baking tray lined with baking paper.
• Bake 15 minutes until golden brown, allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes then cool completely on a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container.
  

Notes

You can use any hard strong flavoured cheese or a combination (Clean out the fridge of any leftover cheese pieces)

You can roll the dough out and cut into sticks or shapes. 

 

Keyword Savoury shortbread, Savoury snack