Cheese Wafers Recipes

CHEESE WAFERS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, cayenne, and salt in a large shallow bowl. With a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture is the texture of coarse meal. Add the cheese and rub into the flour-butter mixture gently with your fingertips until a small bit of dough, when pinched together, will hold its shape. Roll into 3/4-inch balls, place 1 1/2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets, then flatten into rounds 1/4-inch thick by pressing with a flat-bottomed glass that has been dipped into flour. (You'll have to keep dipping the glass into flour to keep the dough from sticking to it.) Bake uncovered 10 to 12 minutes until pale tan. Transfer the wafers at once to wire racks to cool, then store airtight.

CHEESE WAFERS

Steps:

• In a medium size mixing bowl, blend together butter or margarine and flour. Mix in the Cheddar cheese, salt, red pepper, hot pepper sauce, and pecans. Form the dough into a roll, wrap in parchment paper, and refrigerate over night.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Slice dough into very thin wafers. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until crisp.

CHEESE WAFERS OR STRAWS

Steps:

• Put flour and salt in mixing bowl. With fingers, work half the butter into the flour until it resembles damp, crumbly sand. Add the remaining cold butter chunks and the cheese and stir with a fork to distribute. Stir in milk and quickly gather dough into a ball with floured hands. (There should be visible butter chunks in the dough.) Squash dough into a rough rectangle about 1 inch thick.
• Dust dough with flour and roll to a long rectangle about 8 by 14 inches and about 1/2-inch thick, with the longer side facing you. Fold dough into thirds: first fold in right side, then left side on top of it, making a nearly square package three layers high. Dust again with flour and roll out to make same size rectangle, then fold it again. Dust and repeat once more. Wrap well in plastic film and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 1 day in advance.
• Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cut dough in half. Refrigerate half the dough and roll the other piece out to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. (Do not roll too thin or pastry will not puff.) To make wafers, cut dough into 2-inch rounds with a sharp cookie cutter (or cut into diamonds with a knife). To make straws, cut dough in strips 1/2-inch by 5 inches. Twist strips 2 or 3 times and press down ends to prevent unfurling.
• Place wafers or straws on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Paint lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with flaky salt. Add sprinklings of cumin seed, black pepper, rosemary or smoked paprika if desired, and a little more grated cheese. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, until well browned and crisp. Let cool before serving. Repeat process with remaining half of dough.
• Note: To make heart-shaped palmiers, cut dough in half as above. Working with one dough half (and refrigerating the other), roll dough to a rectangle about 12 by 8 inches and 1/8-inch thick, with the longer side facing you. Paint entire sheet of dough with egg wash and sprinkle with cheese. Tightly roll each of the long edges toward the center so you have a long, somewhat narrow log consisting of 2 connected side-by-side cylinders. Cut crosswise into 1/4-inch thick slices. Pinch the round side of each slice to form a heart shape. Flatten each heart-shaped slice with rolling pin and place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Dab each heart with egg wash and sprinkle with flaky salt. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes, until well browned.

JO'S CHEESE WAFERS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• In a shallow baking pan toast pecans in one layer in middle of oven until a shade darker and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Transfer nuts while still hot to a bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon butter and salt to taste. Cool nuts completely and finely chop.
• Coarsely grate Cheddar and transfer to a large bowl. Cut remaining 2 sticks butter into 16 pieces and scatter over cheese. Let cheese and butter soften. Add nuts, flour, and cayenne and with an electric mixer beat mixture until it forms a dough.
• Divide dough into 8 pieces. On a sheet of wax paper roll each piece of dough into a 1-inch-diameter log and wrap logs tightly in wax paper and foil. Chill logs at least 8 hours and up to 1 week. Dough keeps, frozen, 2 months. Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Working with 1 log at a time, with a sharp knife cut log crosswise into 1/8-inch-thick slices and arrange slices 1/2 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake wafers in batches in middle of oven until pale golden and just firm to the touch, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool wafers on baking sheet 2 minutes. With a metal spatula transfer wafers to a rack to cool. Turn wafers over and sprinkle with salt to taste. (Crevices on undersides hold salt without letting it roll off.) Wafers keep in an airtight container at room temperature 4 days.

HERBED CHEESE WAFERS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, beat butter, cheeses, tarragon, oregano and garlic until well mixed. Beat in flour (the dough will be crumbly). Shape into a 14-in. roll. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. , Cut into 1/4-in. slices; place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375° until golden brown and crisp, 10-12 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

CHEESE WAFERS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Cut butter into flour.
• Add cheese and seasonings.
• Fold in cereal.
• Drop by small spoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheets and flatten with back of spoon.
• Bake for 10-15 minutes.
• Don't let them get too brown!