We love it when you share your recipes with us! Cateland White in Las Vegas, Nevada sent us this one and it was so good, we had to try it in as many different ways as we could. Cateland told us it came from her mother’s box of recipe cards, circa 1960. She said you can do the first part with a mixer but when adding the flour you really need dough hooks.
Cateland White’s Cheese Cookies
1 cup softened butter
1 pound grated sharp cheddar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red pepper
2 1/2 c. flour
Cream together butter, cheese, salt and the red pepper. Add flour (I add 1/2 c at a time to make it easier to incorporate). When blended it should be like a very firm pie crust.
Roll into logs. (When sliced they should be about the size of a quarter or a bit larger.) Chill thoroughly.
Slice about an 1/8″ thick and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 425F for 7-8 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom.
5 Variations
1. Cheese Straws
Instead of shaping the dough into a log, roll it out between two pieces of waxed paper.
Cut it into strips whatever length you want. (I made some long ones (12-14″ long), and they looked great, but I wanted to use them as hors d’oeuvres and I thought they were a bit too much, so I cut the strips into 6″ lengths.)
Bake at 325F for 20 minutes or until brown and crisp.
2. Cheese Wrapped Olives
Freeze olives stuffed with pimentos.
Break off a piece of dough and press it in your palm. Wrap it around an olive.
Bake at 350F for 15-18 minutes.
3. Cheese Balls with Pecans on Top
You can begin with either a log of dough (chilled) or a tray of round balls of dough. Either way, press a pecan into the top of each one.
Brush with egg white and sprinkle with cayenne.
Bake at 350F for 15-18 minutes.
4. Cheese Cookies with Fig Olive Tapenade
This recipe was originally meant to be served as a spread on cream cheese. We thought it would be perfect for a topping on Cateland’s cheese cookies (and it is!)
Tapenade Recipe from allrecipes.com
1 cup chopped dried figs
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2/3 cup chopped kalamata olives
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Shape cookie dough into logs about the radius of a quarter. Chill.
Slice off the cookies as thin as possible (so they will be more like crackers).
Bake at 425F for 7-8 minutes.
Combine figs and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and cook until tender, and liquid has reduced. Remove from heat, and stir in the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, thyme, and cayenne. Add olives and garlic, and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover, and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight to allow flavors to blend.
Spread on cheese cookies and serve.
5. Thumbprints with Pepper Jelly
Preheat oven to 400F.
Shape dough into 1 1/2-inch balls and place 1 inch apart on a baking sheet.
Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes. Remove from oven; press thumb into top of each ball (or the end of a wooden spoon), creating an indentation.
Spoon about 1 teaspoon pepper jelly into indentation. Bake until edges are golden brown, about 5 minutes.
