Cheese Stars

Here’s another one of the party recipes. This is from Hoppin’ John’s Lowcountry Cookin’, by John Martin Taylor. Cheese straws are a tradition in Southern entertaining, I’m told, and they go well with wine, beer, cocktails and other beverages. The usual way is to cut out long strips, and I can certainly see a pizza cutter coming into use here. (Think of one of those elegant old Charleston, SC, houses with a batch of these on a party table, the straws nestled in a silver christening cup.) Taylor calls them “cheese pigs” because he cuts out the dough with a small cookie cutter shaped like a pig. My pig cutter was large and ungainly, and the pumpkin didn’t do much better, so I went for one of my star-shaped cutters.

I made the dough in advance and froze it in two rolls after I made a small batch to check oven temperature. You can certainly refrigerate it and use it in a day or two. It’s a wonderful dough, cooperative and with a shortbread-like texture. The pieces don’t spread much during baking, and they keep for a couple of weeks, at least, in airtight tins.

The cheese will grate better if it’s cold. I grated it myself; sometimes those pre-grated products have other ingredients that can mess up recipes so I didn’t take the chance. It will quickly come to room temperature.

 

1/ 4 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 lb sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1/ 2 tsp salt

1/ 4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/ 4 tsp hot red pepper flakes

1 3/ 4 c unbleached flour

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. I lined my two large baking sheets with parchment, but almost none of these stuck.

Cream the butter, then blend in the cheese. Add the seasonings and then the flour. Dough will be thick. Flour your working surface and roll it out thin. Cut in strips or whatever shape you want.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden. Remove to racks and store in airtight tins. Martin says “makes about 100”, but we have no idea how big his pigs are. But it’s enough for a party, with leftovers for your post-game analysis the next day.

Comments

[Sandy Davis]

So if spicy is not my thing, what other spices would you suggest?

[Ann Pollack]

You can certainly omit both of the peppers, but I had no one remarking that they were noticeably hot. I'd scratch the red pepper flakes first. Small quantities of cayenne, like a tiny pinch of salt in something sweet, push other flavors forward.