Cheese Straws

I absolutely love cheese straws. I tend to make a large batch (double my recipe below) and share them with the wider family. They are a delicious savoury snack that you can’t just have one of. You try one and then end up having three or four! You can buy cheese straws from a store, but in my mind, they are pretty rubbish. They tend to be puff pastry with a sprinkling of parmesan. They are usually dry and have very little cheese taste.

In my recipe, the cheese is a fundamental part of the pastry rather than an addition. I use a nice mature cheddar for this with a little parmesan in addition to it. I like to add a little heat so include a teaspoon of mustard and some cayenne pepper as well.

This is one of my favourite snacks and I’d love for you to give this a try!

Cheese straws

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

15 minutes

Serves

Makes 30 cheese straws

Cheese straw recipe

Ingredients

  • 375g/13oz plain flour
  • pinch salt
  • 225g/8oz butter, diced
  • 150g/5½oz mature cheddar, grated
  • 50g/1¾oz freshly grated Parmesan
  • 1 tsp mustard
  • pinch cayenne pepper
  • 2 egg yolks

Steps

1

Sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Using your fingertips, rub in the butter until all the lumps are gone and the texture is like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the cheese, mustard, cayenne, and egg yolks. Add 4-5 tablespoons of cold water and mix to a firm dough.

2

Wrap in cling film or a reusable plastic bag and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

3

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5.

4

Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Roll out the dough to a square, roughly the thickness of a £2 coin. Cut the square in half, then cut each half into 1cm/½in strips.

5

Transfer carefully onto the lined baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, until crisp, then leave to cool on the tray.