A few weeks back the people from Barber's 1833 Vintage Cheddar sent me a pack which included everything in it to make Spinach and Cheese Souffles. I love it when that happens. I made the soufflees the very next day. I just could not wait to make them. Everything was so fresh and looked so good.
I am a very experienced cook as you know. As I was making them I queried a part of the recipe, which didn't quite look right and I almost went with my gut feelings and did it the way I thought it should be done . . . but then I thought to myself, no . . . you need to do this the way "their" recipe says to do it and so that is what I did.
What I ended up with was some very tasty failures as soufflees. They were more like omelettes, and they took twice as long as the recipe stated to bake . . . they were not soufflees. We ate them anyways, and they were good, but not near what they should have been.
I should have gone with my gut instincts and done what I thought in the first place, but live and learn. I will not give you their recipe as it is in error. I didn't have any spinach left to do more and had in mind to buy some more and try again, but I just haven't gotten around to that, so today I picked another recipe from out of their booklet and made these . . .
Cheddar Cheese and Caraway Sables from on the Barber's 1833 Vintage site. I thought they would make the perfect pre-dinner nibble for Valentine's Dinner.
They turned out beautifully. The dough was quite sticky. I ended up freezing it prior to slicing it for baking and that worked perfectly. I used a very sharp knife.
They were crisp, and buttery and filled with lots of beautiful cheese flavours. Success! The caraway went very well with the cheddar. We love these.
*Cheddar Cheese and Caraway Sables*Makes about 4 dozenPrintable Recipe
A recipe adapted from the Barber's 1933 Vintage Reserve Cheddar site.100g Barber's 1833 Vintage Reserve Cheddar, grated (3 1/2 ounces)100g butter, softened (scant 7 TBS)100g plain flour (16 TBS)1 medium egg yolk, beaten with 2 TBS cold watercaraway seeds to garnish
Place the cheese, butter and flour into a food processor and blitz until it forms a dough. Shape into a roll about 1 1/2inches in diameter.
Place in the refrigerator to chill for at least an hour.Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Line several baking sheets with baking paper. Slice the well chilled roll into very thin discs. Arrange them on the prepared baking sheets.
Brush the tops of each with some of the egg wash and sprinkle with a few caraway seeds.
Bakein the heated oven for 6 to 8 minutes, until pale golden brown and slightly puffed. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.
Note: You can also freeze the dough, wrapped tightly in freezer proof paper. I was able to cut it quite easily with a sharp knife from a frozen state, and they baked in the same amount of time. They are so thin that the dough was completely thawed by the time I had sliced, brushed and sprinkled.
The Barber family have been farming and making cheese at Maryland Farm in Somerset since 1833. It is always matured for a minimum of 24 months. I do so hope that they are ok with all the flooding that's been going on in Somerset.
I found the Barber's 1833 Cheddar to be an exemplar product.It had a lovely flavour, intense, with a delicious depth to it. It is kind of brittle with a somewhat crunchy texture from little crystals which are scattered throughout. These are a result of it's long slow aging and only added to this lovely cheese's charm.
I would buy this cheese in a heartbeat! It was easily one of the best cheddar's I have eaten since coming to the UK, and I have been able to try quite a few different ones. This was to be perfectly honest . . . simply beautiful.