Spiced Cheese Straws Food

SPICY CHEESE STRAWS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325.
• In a mixing bowl, cream butter until fluffy.
• Add Cheese and mix until blended.
• Add remaining ingredients and mix till it forms dough.
• Put dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes. You want slightly stiff dough, but that is pliable enough to pipe through the cookie press.
• Have cookie press fitted with the ridge tip or star tip.
• Press dough in 2-inch strips on cookie sheet.
• Bake 20-25 minutes, or until lightly browned.

SPICY CHEDDAR CHEESE STRAWS

Steps:

• Pulse first 5 ingredients in a food processor at 5-second intervals until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add half-and-half, and process 10 seconds or until dough forms a ball. (Dough may be wrapped in plastic wrap, sealed in a ziplock plastic freezer bag, and chilled up to 3 days.)
• Preheat oven to 350°. Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface; divide in half. Roll each half into a 12- x 8-inch rectangle (about 1/8 inch thick). Cut dough into 3/4-inch-wide strips using a sharp knife or fluted pastry wheel, dipping knife in flour after each cut to ensure clean cuts. Place strips on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
• Bake in preheated oven 18 to 20 minutes or until edges are well browned; cool on baking sheets on wire racks 30 minutes.

CHEESE STRAWS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F with racks in upper and lower thirds.
• Pulse cheese, flour, butter, salt, and cayenne in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk and pulse until dough forms a ball.
• Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 12- by 10-inch rectangle (1/8 inch thick). Cut dough with a lightly floured pizza wheel or lightly floured sharp knife into 1/3-inch-wide strips. Carefully transfer to 2 ungreased baking sheets, arranging strips 1/4 inch apart. (If strips tear, pinch back together.)
• Bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until pale golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool completely on baking sheets on racks, about 15 minutes.
• What to drink:
• Haggipavlu Nemea '04

CHEESE STRAWS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together using hands.
• When mixed, place in cookie press using the star pattern.
• Make long strips on cookie sheets.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes on lightly sprayed cookie sheets.
• Cool on wire racks. When cool, break into desired lengths. Store in air tight container. Will keep for weeks.

SPICED PUFF PASTRY CHEESE STRAWS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425°F. Set aside two ungreased rimmed baking sheets.
• In a small bowl, combine the cheese, cayenne, paprika, and salt. Set aside. In a second small bowl, whisk together the egg and water. Set aside.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out the thawed pastry sheet 1/8 inch thick, to form a rectangle that is about 10 by 16 inches. Lightly brush the dough with the egg wash.
• To shape the straws, halve the pastry crosswise into two 5 by 8-inch rectangles. Sprinkle the cheese mixture over one rectangle and top with the other rectangle, egg-wash side down, pressing firmly to force out any air pockets. Roll out the layered pastry a little further to make the layers adhere (the rectangle should be about 12 by 9 inches). Brush the top of the pastry with additional egg wash and transfer to a baking sheet. Chill until firm, about 10 minutes in the freezer or 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
• Remove from the freezer and transfer to a floured work surface. With a large sharp knife, pastry wheel, or pizza cutter, cut the pastry lengthwise into 1/4-inch-wide sticks. Twist the ends of each strip in opposite directions to create a long twirl.
• To bake the straws, arrange them about 1 1/2 inches apart on the baking sheets, pressing down the ends to fix the straws to the rimmed edge of the sheet pan. Bake the cheese straws, in batches, in the middle of the oven until golden, 10 to 12 minutes. (While baking in batches, keep the raw dough in the refrigerator.) Transfer the baking sheet to a rack to cool slightly, then transfer the cheese straws to a rack to cool completely.
• making ahead
• Once they have cooled completely, store the cheese straws in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Re-crisp them in a 425°F oven just until heated through, about 5 minutes.

SPICY CHEESE STRAWS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Melt butter in the microwave.
• Combine warm butter, salt, red pepper and room temperature cheese in a food processor.
• Add in flour and blend until mixed well.
• Press thru star shaped cookie press in a continuous ribbon onto a non-stick cookie sheet.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 12 - 20 minutes until slightly crusty(depending on oven).

CHEESE STRAWS

Steps:

• NOTES: These freeze well, but you must re-heat them for 3 to 4 minutes in a 350 degree oven before serving or they will not be crispy.
• If you want the straws to be mild, just use 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne; 1/2 teaspoon for regular (slightly spicy), or you can add more if you like them really spicy - 1 teaspoon will make them very spicy, and probably too hot for kids. I usually use 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne.
• The rice flour helps the texture of the straws, it gives them a nice sandy texture, like a good shortbread. If you cannot find rice flour, you can use just regular all purpose flour.
• I find that I get a better final product if I use margarine - I use Land O Lakes 80% Vegetable Oil Margarine in this recipe. The straws made using margarine hold their shape better, are crispier, and are less fragile once baked. Also, the dough made with margarine is much easier to press out of the cookie press. On a health note, margarine has trans fats in it (2.5g per tablespoon), and butter has a lot of saturated fat (7g per tablespoon), so make your decision accordingly - these are a special occasion treat which I make infrequently, so I don't worry too much about using margarine here.
• DO NOT use the kind of margarine which comes in a tub, or any margarine with less than 80% vegetable oil - these types of margarine have a lot of water in them, and they will ruin the consistency of the straws.
• The dough for this is pretty stiff and thick - when it is done it will be like a shortbread dough - it will not be a squishy, stretchy mass that sticks together in one uniform ball. I have posted a photo of the dough when it is done being mixed so you can see what it should look like.
• You can make the dough ahead of time and keep it in the fridge for a couple of weeks or freeze it for up to 3 months.
• If you refrigerate the dough, it will be very hard when you take the dough out of the fridge (this is especially true if you have made the dough with butter), and will need to sit out on the counter for at least 8 hours before you will be able to put it through a cookie press, so plan ahead!
• You can either use a cookie press to press out "straws", or you can roll out the dough and cut it into strips.
• RECIPE:.
• Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
• If you cannot find rice flour and are using just all-purpose flour, make sure to use a total of 1 1/3 cups plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour.
• Sift the 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of flour, rice flour, dry mustard, salt, cayenne & garlic powder together into a bowl.
• In a Kitchen Aid mixer, mix together the cheese and the butter on low, mixing for 10 minutes to cream together.
• Using the dough hook, gradually add in the flour mixture, mixing on medium-low. Mix well between each addition and scrape down the sides of the bowl so the flour is incorporated into the dough (I add the flour in 4 portions).
• Mix until the dough comes together - see the posted photo in the "photos" section of this recipe to see what it should look like. It doesn't have to form one single ball, but it does need to come together, and most of the dough should have come off the sides of the mixing bowl.
• You can either use a cookie press using the star disk to form strips, or roll the dough out to a 1/4 inch thickness and Use a pizza wheel or a knife to cut the dough into 1/2" by 4" strips.
• Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet, place the straws on the parchment with 1/2" of space between them. If you have rolled and cut the dough, pierce each straw with the tines of a fork.
• Bake at 375ºF on the middle rack of the oven for around 10 to 12 minutes. The cheese straws should be barely beginning to brown when you remove them from the oven. Everyone's oven is different - some run hotter than others because many ovens are not calibrated properly. Start checking the straws at 8 minutes. In my oven they usually take 11 minutes.
• Let the straws cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then place the straws on a rack to cool. If you try to put the straws on a cooling rack immediately after you take them out of the oven, they may break while you're trying to transfer them from the sheet to the rack.
• These can be kept in an air-tight container for up to a week, or you can freeze them for up to 3 months. If you do freeze them, return to room temperature and heat for 3 to 4 minutes in a 350ºF oven before serving.

EASY CHEESE STRAWS

Steps:

• Combine the flour, butter, and cayenne with a fork or in a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
• Stir in the cheese and knead by hand until the mixture holds together, adding a few drops of cold water if necessary.
• This mixture may be wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen until ready to use.
• Roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/4 inch (5 mm) and cut into strips about 1/2 inch (1 cm wide) and 4 inches (10 cm) long.
• Sprinkle with coarse salt and place on a lightly greased baking sheet.
• Bake in a preheated 450F (230C) until golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes.
• Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.