Cheese Biscuits

Whenever we have friends over for dinner, I usually whip up a dip or two to have with pre dinner drinks. But just lately I have noticed that everyone else is doing the same.  Time to try something different I thought and I have been racking my brain to find an alternative.

I remember a few years back, before bringing out dips was the fashion, we always had something cheesy with a glass of champagne or a cocktail.  Eating cheese before a meal can totally destroy your appetite and your waistline. But a small savoury cheesy snack will heighten your taste buds ready for the main meal.

While I was scanning through cookbooks the other day I came across these beautiful cheesy biscuits in The Really Useful Cookbook by David Herbert . Delicately thin, decidedly good and very, very easy to make. Most of all, they are simply delicious. 

The book contains some fabulous recipes and I use it fairly often, see if you can get your hands on a copy.

Try these with your friends and see their reaction. If the plate is empty before you can say cheese, then you know they have loved them too. This recipe makes quite a lot of biscuits, so you can squirrel away a few for yourself to eat later.

Cheddar Biscuits

Ingredients

200g plain flour sifted

50g parmesan cheese, grated

150, tasty cheddar cheese

salt and pepper

175g butter, chilled and diced

1 tbls lemon juice

1 tbls chopped chives

Place flour, salt, butter, cheeses, lemon juice, chives, salt and pepper into a food processor and process until the mixture comes together in a ball.

Take a large sheet of baking paper and mould the mixture into a sausage shape approximately 30 cms long with a 5 cm diameter.

Using the paper to assist, roll the mixture up into a long sausage, twist the ends of the paper to and place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180º fan forced/350. Prepare a baking tray with baking paper.

Take the biscuit mixture and unwrap. With a sharp knife, slice the biscuits very thinly and place on the prepared baking tray. Bake for around 8 - 10 minutes until the biscuits are golden around the edges.

Leave on the tray to cool for a few minutes the transfer to a wire rack and leave until cold before storing in an air tight container.

This recipe made approximately 60 biscuits (I think a few more but as they were cooling I noticed a few disappearing)