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These cheese sticks have a good bite like a thick crisp cookie or biscuit depending on where you are from. They are cheesy tasting but not overly so and the hint of rosemary saves this from being a one dimensional tasting biscuit.
I also recall staring in wonderment at trays of aluminium sheets where rows upon rows of cuboid looking dough were arranged. They were so evenly spaced and lined up so precisely, I often wondered if the long wooden ruler she kept nearby was used not only to measure out the dough but to also space the dough uniformly apart.
To everyone's dismay, no one wrote down grandma's recipe.
I was happy to leave well enough alone but a family member had asked me over a year ago to bake cheese sticks as a birthday gift in lieu of a store bought present. "Oh no," was my immediate thought, 'not cheese sticks. I can never get them to come out 100% right 100% of the time." I knew it was going to be an uphill task.
I made my excuses and wrangled my way out of the request by buying her a birthday meal instead. I was very pleased with myself as I had saved myself a lot of work.
But a year has past and another birthday is fast approaching so as an act of love, I set about to recreate grandma's cheese sticks with much dread.
It was challenging. My kitchen was bathed in flour as I baked tray after tray of cheese sticks in varying ratios of cheese, butter and flour. My waistline expanded an inch in the process but on my eighth attempt, success! My cheese sticks tasted like grandma's and I finally got them to stay crisp for 5 days (and beyond)!
So this year, it's not going to be a store bought gift or a birthday meal, instead, someone is going to receive 3 bottles of cheese sticks with her name on it and it's not from grandma!
If you want details of the challenges I had to overcome to come up with this recipe and the lessons I learnt, scroll down to 'Tips'. If the thought of that bores you, just follow the recipe below to bake crisp cheese sticks that won't go soft on you with keeping.
CRISP NOT FLAKY CHEESE STICKS
Prep:
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30 minutes
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Cook: | ~10 - 15 minutes |
Inactive: | 1 hour up to a day |
Level: | Moderately easy |
Makes: | ~100 cheese sticks (1.5" X 1/4") (3.81cm X 0.64cm) |
Oven Temperature: | 340F 170C |
Can recipe be doubled? | Yes |
Make ahead? | Keeps well for 5 days (and beyond) tightly bottled. Dough can be rolled out and frozen up to 2 months. |
Just the ingredients
5oz (142g) unsalted butter
7oz (200g) sharp/aged/mature/vintage cheddar
12oz (340g) plain/all-purpose flour
1/4 -1/3 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary a pinch - 1/8 teaspoon chilli powder
1 egg yolk
1 Tablespoon milk The cheesy top 3oz (85g) sharp/aged/mature/vintage cheddar cheese 1 egg white |
The dough
5oz (142g) unsalted butter
7oz (200g) sharp/aged/mature/vintage cheddar
Do not substitute with another kind of cheese. Use cheddar. Cheeses have different fat contents and will bake out different.
Do not substitute with another kind of cheese. Use cheddar. Cheeses have different fat contents and will bake out different.
12oz (340g) plain/all-purpose flour
1/4 -1/3 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
a pinch - 1/8 teaspoon chilli powder
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
a pinch - 1/8 teaspoon chilli powder
1 egg yolk
1 Tablespoon milk
1 Tablespoon milk
The cheesy top
3oz (85g) sharp/aged/mature/vintage cheddar cheese
1 egg white
Method
The dough
I use a food processor to make the dough. As I live in an area with high humidity and temperatures, butter left out for any length of time will start to melt sooner than you might expect. The butter is kept in the freezer before use and the dough has to be made quickly with minimal handling.
Cut the block of unsalted butter into 1" (2.5cm) cubes and put them in the freezer to chill.
Place all the dried ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well mixed.
Cut the block of cheddar cheese into smaller cubes, add to the food processor and
pulse until the mixture looks like bread crumbs.
You will have to add the liquid into the food processor whilst it is running and it has to be done fast, ~ 5 - 10 seconds or you risk the dough toughening up due to it being overworked.
With the liquid ready for pouring in one hand, turn on the food processor with the other free hand. As soon as the blades start running pour in the liquid in a steady steam.
Stop the machine after you have added the liquid. In all likelihood, you would have to use a spatula to loosen up the dough that has collected at the bottom of the bowl.
Now, use the machine's 'PULSE' button a few times to mix everything up evenly.
You should have a dough that looks similar to the one pictured below. The dough would not and should not have all gathered up together into any larger clumps and should appear just a tad dry. If it looks way too dry, mix up 1 egg yolk with 1 Tablespoon milk and add gradually till dough looks similar to the one featured below.
See the dough below, that's too moist. Your cheese straw would not bake out crisp enough and it will not stay crisp the next day let alone 5 days. To salvage the dough, I would pulse in 2 - 3 Tablespoons of flour or until it appears drier and looks somewhat like the dough in the bowl above.
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| This is not how you want it. |
into a thickness of between 1/8" - 1/4" (0.32cm - 0.64cm).
I put my dough in a huge food safe plastic bag for a reason. It is ideal for rolling the dough out. No flouring required and I can roll the dough into an even thickness. Oh, and the dough does not get stuck onto the rolling pin and there is less clean up!
If you do not have a large plastic bag then you have to work the dough the conventional way.
Flour your work surface and rolling pin lightly.
Remove the contents of the food processor on to your work surface. Press the dough crumbs together to form a risk.
Roll the dough out into a thickness of between 1/8" - 1/4" (0.32cm - 0.64cm).
Cover with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate the rolled out dough for 1 hour or until the dough firms up enough for easy slicing.
Flour your work surface and rolling pin lightly.
Remove the contents of the food processor on to your work surface. Press the dough crumbs together to form a risk.
Roll the dough out into a thickness of between 1/8" - 1/4" (0.32cm - 0.64cm).
Cover with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate the rolled out dough for 1 hour or until the dough firms up enough for easy slicing.
Cutting the cookie dough & baking
Turn on your oven to 340F 170C, oven rack adjust to one notch below the middle position.
Have the following ready:
- the 3oz (85g) block of cheddar
- cheese grater
- 1 egg white
- scissors
- sharp knife, cleaver, flat-edged bench scrapper or pizza wheel
- rolling pin
- long ruler (if you have problems cutting straight lines this would make your life easier - I like transparent ones with measurements/markers as I can use them as a guide to determine how wide or long I want the cheese strips)
- baking trays. If they are not nonstick, lined with parchment pepper or silicone mats
Remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator and set it on a large cutting board or your work surface.
Make any last minute adjustment with the rolling pin to level the dough.
With the scissors, cut off the top layer of the plastic bag to expose the dough.
Egg wash the entire surface and grate the cheddar directly over the dough.
Press cheese down lightly. Using the ruler as a guide, start cutting the dough out into strips. You can leave them long or cut them into short strips as I have.
Make any last minute adjustment with the rolling pin to level the dough.
With the scissors, cut off the top layer of the plastic bag to expose the dough.
Egg wash the entire surface and grate the cheddar directly over the dough.
Whilst long straws look very pretty, they are not practical for storing. So save the straws for occasions when you know they are going to be eaten up on the day itself. I cut my cheese sticks into ~ 1.5" X 1/4" (3.81cm X 0.64cm).
Bake immediately, if not, refrigerate the entire tray until ready to bake.
Bake for 10 minutes and then turn the baking tray front side back to encourage even baking. Bake for another 3 - 5 minutes.
The tops and base of the cheese sticks should be a golden brown.
The cheese sticks on the outer rim will cook faster than those inside. Remove them first. Let the ones in the centre bake for an additional 1 to 2 minutes.
Do not stay too far away from the oven as they move from golden brown to burnt very quickly.
Remove to cooling racks. When cooled, store in airtight containers.
Tips
What cheese?
Use cheddar that is well aged. It is often labelled as one of the following: sharp; aged; mature. Some brands will indicate how long the cheese has been aged. These cheddar have a more pronounced flavour which is suitable for making cheese biscuits. If you choose to use a milder or younger cheddar the flavour will still be good but naturally less intense. The taste of milder cheddar after baking can be quite faint.
This recipe is for cheddar and not any other cheese. Different cheeses have different fat contents and will bake out differently.
Should I use dried mustard?
I have tried baking cheese sticks with and without dried mustard. If dried mustard is suppose to give a 'kick' to the cheese sticks than I would say leave it out. It makes the cheese sticks taste almost bitter and acrid. The 'kick' could easily come from adding more ground pepper or chilli powder.
Should I use ground pepper or chilli powder?
Both. In ratios that suit your taste buds. White or black pepper? Does not matter much. If seeing little flakes of ground black pepper bothers you, than use ground white pepper. If you do not like the heat of chillies than leave it out.
Why use dried rosemary?
Cheese sticks are seriously cheesy nibbles and after a while it gets a bit predictable in taste. The strong scent and taste of rosemary goes very well with baked cheese. A little goes a long way and there is only a hint of it in the cheese sticks to give a little 'pep' to what can be a singular dimensional tasting cheese stick.
How do I get those lovely well defined edges on the cheese sticks? I don't want them looking slopping, sloppy and flat.
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| These cheese stick have distinct sides and sharp edges. Very attractive. |
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| No well defined edges. They have slopping sides and are flat. They are flaky. They taste reasonably good but they don't look good. |
The ratio of butter, cheese and flour not only has to be right, you have to know how much liquid to add. The cookie dough should not 'come together' after the liquids have been added. Instead they should be crumbly, with a few larger pieces here and there. Refer to photos up above in 'Method'. Too moist a dough and you will lose the sharp edges. Baking at the correct temperatures for the right length of time also plays apart.
How do I get crisp cheese sticks and not flaky ones and moreover, how do I ensure the cheese sticks are crisp throughout with no soft centres?
The answer to this question is the same as above. The best part is, baked properly, you can keep the cheese sticks up to 5 days (and beyond) tightly bottled and they will remain crisp.
Egg white wash or milk wash?
It might surprise you that this makes a difference. Take a look at the cheese sticks below.
The egg white wash gives the cheese sticks an even colour. The milk wash gives the cheese sticks a mottled look. I will go for the egg white wash since I would have an egg white leftover anyway as the dough requires just the egg yolk.
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Thanks! I was trying to find a reciept like my Nanny's and these are very close. The pictures really help! Turned out great, even for our first try.
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