26 September 2008

Cheese stars

Unaccountably popular with small children (and grown ups). We made these for Sunday's NCT party - it's hard to believe that all eight of you are now three. It's adapted from yet another Nigella recipe - her baking recipes work every time.

100g grated cheese (I used a mixture of Edam and mature cheddar, as that was what we had left. I suspect a little bit of parmesan in there would be nice too).
50g self-raising flour
25g butter, chopped into small pieces (needs to be soft for mixing)
1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (preferably one that smells a little stronger than mine, which was best before October 2002)
a pinch of salt

Stick the oven on at 200 degrees C. Mix everything together in a bowl, and squidge away as if your life depended on it. You don't need to add any liquid - this will come together of its own accord into a rough dough. Pummel it a little further to make it smoother, then roll out with a rolling pin. If you want lots of stars, make the dough thinner rather than thicker...

Slide the stars onto a baking sheet (I use a silicon sheet on my baking tray, then I don't have to bother with greaseproof paper or greasing it), and bake for 8-10 minutes. Once they start going brownish round the edges whip them out - they'll bake a little more as they cool down.

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