Cooking with Chef Jo: Cheese Cookies

Happy New Years 2020!

Now all the ooey, gooey sweet stuff of Christmas is past, let's do something super savory to munch on. When I was younger, my mother used to make these savory cheese cookies for us to enjoy. 

So I broke out my mother's old recipe box to find this recipe for me and y'all. This battered, rusted, old metal 3x5 recipe box has been around the world a couple of times with Mom and me. It's one of my prized mementos. I have no idea where she got this recipe from, but it was written in her handwriting on the back of a 1971 bank deposit slip. I was feeling a bit homesick having not seeing any of my family for a year. It's my mother's birthday is January first.  She went to heaven 31 years ago and I miss her. She would have been 87 today. So Mom here's to you.

Mom's Cheese Cookies
Makes about 3 1/2 dozen 4"cookies

What you'll need

12 oz good quality, extra sharp cheddar cheese from a block, grated and warmed to room temperature*

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 TBS black pepper, coarsely ground black pepper

3 TBS celery seed, whole not ground*

1/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups plain flour, or GF flour

 

*Notes- For the first time, I used my own, homestead made sharp cheddar cheese (even without the annato) and it turned out fabulous!

Yes, I let some celery bolt and go to seed last year: to save the seeds and for culinary uses.

Putting it all together

• Shred the cheddar cheese using a grater (large grater holes are ideal).
• Place the butter, shredded cheese, black pepper, salt and half the celery seed in a bowl and mix with a hand-held beater on medium speed.
• Mix for a few minutes until the butter is creamy and the cheese gets mixed in with the butter. Add the flour, and mix on low speed until the flour forms wet clumps. There are no dry spots in the dough.
•  Bring the dough together to form a dough ball. Knead it a little if needed. But don't knead too much.(It mixes so easily I didn't use my bad boy Kitchen Aid)
• Form an evenly shaped dough log that's about 6-7 inches long about 3 1/2" around.  Wrap it in plastic wrap. Knot the two ends to form a tightly wrapped dough sausage. 
• Refrigerate until the dough has chilled - about 30 min to 1 hour. You can also let it chill for up to 5 days in the fridge, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
• When you're ready to bake - remove the log from the fridge (or freezer). If the dough is too hard to cut through, let it thaw a little (so that it's still chilled, but easier to cut). Unwrap the dough when you’re ready to slice it.
• With a sharp knife, cut 1/8th inch thick discs from the dough log. Use your fingers to shape the cookies into nice round shapes, if they lose their shape a bit. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
•  Place the cheese cookies on the parchment paper-lined baking pan, with about an inch of space between each cookie. They will spread some and puff up into flaky layers.
• Sprinkle a bit of celery seed over the top. 
• Bake for 15 - 20 minutes for a crispy cheese cookie - remove from the oven when the cookies start turning golden in color on top.
• Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes. 
• When slightly warm to the touch, transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let them cool completely. Repeat with the remaining sliced cookies
• Make sure the baking pan is at room temperature for this second batch of cookies - so either use a new pan, or cool down the previous one to room temp first so they don't start melting before you place them in the oven.
• Place the cooled cookies in an air-tight container for up to 4 days.

Serve at room temperature.

Serving suggestions- My mother used to use her cookie press to form each cookie into a twisted, rounded star for a more festive look. It made considerately more cookies. Place in a bowl and serve it as you would any cheesy type snack cracker. Try it with my Horseradish Ranch dip. To me they are too thin and flaky for cheese and meat toppers or make them thicker if that is your desire (cut 1/4" thick). Or, be strange like my ex-husband and dip it into Neopolitan ice cream.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo