A savoury cheese shortbread with aromatic notes of rosemary and the slightest hint of fire. This recipe was a result of me thinking up ways to use more rosemary from the garden.
You can mix this dough in a food processor if you have one, instead of by hand – it depends on whether you feel like washing up all the food processor parts after. This is a slice and bake shortbread, so you can make the dough a few days in advance, leave in the fridge, then slice up and bake some when you feel like a savoury treat to go with your afternoon tea.
This recipe was adapted from Nigella’s parmesan shortbread recipe.
Ingredients
- 30g cheddar cheese
- 45g parmesan cheese
- 100g butter, room temperature
- 150g all purpose flour
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, minced very finely
- A small pinch of cayenne pepper
Equipment
- Mixing bowl & wooden spoon
- Knife
- Chopping board
Method
- Grate the cheddar and parmesan cheese
- Add all ingredients into a mixing bowl
- Mix with a wooden spoon until everything clumps together – this should take about 5 minutes or a little while longer if the butter was too cold.
- Turn the dough onto a board and roll into a smooth ball with your hands
- Cut the dough ball into half with a knife
- Roll each half into a cylinder
- Wrap each cylinder tightly with food wrap and place in the fridge for about an hour to rest
- Pre heat oven to 180
- Take the dough cylinders out of the fridge and leave out for a few minutes
- Slice the cylinders into discs about 1cm thick. If you find they are too hard to slice through, leave them for a while longer, and try again
- Place on a lined baking sheet with about 2cm between each disk – they will not spread too much while baking
- Bake for 20 minutes – remove from oven when the edges and bottoms are golden
- Cool completely before enjoying, of while still slightly warm if you are impatient!
You can make this recipe with just one kind of cheese, but I found this ratio to be the the most delicious.