Cheese straws
My Mum grew up in small-town New Zealand. She lived in a wee place called Inglewood which is near a (slightly) bigger place called Stratford which is near a place called New Plymouth, New Zealand’s 11th biggest city. Mum is always on the go. She is always occupied with one project or another, the latest being her Ukulele band. Mum’s passion for playing the Ukulele was borne at around the same time as her passion for cooking. Not one for doing things in halves, Mum, at the tender age of about 10 took out the town baking competition. She out-baked the local grandma’s, creaming, mixing and whisking her way to number one, all by hand!
Whatever Mum turns her hand to she excels at, and these cheese straws are no exception. I have fond memories of Mum baking these for special occasions. She handled the dough only as much as was necessary resulting in light, flaky straws flecked with salty parmesan cheese.
A word of warning – these are addictive!
Ingredients
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- 100g flour
- 100g butter
- 100g parmesan cheese (or any other cheese you have on hand)
- ½ tsp chilli flakes
- S&P to taste
- 1 egg yolk
Method
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- 1. Preheat the oven to 200°C on bake.
- 2. Sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the chilli flakes, salt and pepper and then cheese and mix to combine. Lastly add the egg yolk and stir it through with the blade of a knife.
- 3. Lightly dust a clean surface with flour, roughly shape the dough into a rectangle and roll it out to a thickness of about 5mm. Cut the pasty up into strips approximately 1cm thick and place on a lined baking tray and bake for 6-7 minutes or until cheese straws are golden.
Delicious!
Hi – I made these and they’re really addictive but mine turned out really crumbly and they fall apart. What did I do wrong?? Thanks
Hi Meg,
I am glad that you liked the cheese straws! If you found that they crumbled it will be most likely that the mixture was too dry. Try adding a few drops of water (just one drop at a time) to the dough and this should do the trick. Happy baking and I hope it works out for you.
Emma
These really look amazing. I’m definitely trying it out. I’ve been craving cheese straws for a while now and didn’t want to use puff pastry. Thank you for inspiring me.
lovely to see a fellow New Zealander addicted to Foodgawker! Yum will be making your cheese straws this weekend
Gorgeous photos and the recipe looks delicious! I love cheeses straws!
These look delicious and addictive!!!
What a delicious snack. I’d enjoy munching on these.
Wonderful ..thanks a lot for posting a good informitive blog
I arrived here from foodgawker, and I’m loving your recipes and photos.
Emma, if you don’t mind I’ll reproduce your mummy’s cheese straws recipe one of these days.
Congratulations to you all, you have a great blog.
Regards from Portugal
Moira
Hi Moira,
Thanks for reading all the way from Portugal! It is great to think that you will be cooking our recipes all the way over there. I hope you enjoy the cheese straws as much as I do!
Happy baking!
Emma
I just signed up to your blogs rss feed. Will you post more on this subject?
Hi Emma
These look amazing and really want to try them out. Im 12 and addicted to baking. I really want to try more savoury things so could you please suggest some good ones.
Thanks
Hi Amber,
Thanks for your comment and fantastic to learn that you are already addicted to baking at the age of 12 – it’s a pretty good addiction if you ask me. There’s nothing better than baking and sharing with the people you love!
We have lots of savoury recipes on the blog. We have these muffins and these tomato relish scones We also have a good selection of bread recipes if you like baking bread, as well as some pizza recipes. If you have a look through our baking section I am sure you will find something that appeals!
Happy baking Amber!
Emma
Hi Emma,
Today was our first foray into baking for sam and guess who’s cheese straw recipe was at the top of google’s list! A nice feeling reaching for the internet and still managing to end up with a family recipe.
x Lucy, Mike and Sam
Hi Lucy, Mike and Sam!
What a lovely surprise to learn that Sam’s first baking forray led you to a trusty Hammonds recipe! That is so cool =) I will have to let Mum know.
I hope you are all well down there.
Emma x