I possess a very sweet tooth; in fact I'd go so far as to say that ALL of my teeth are sweet! Over the past year I've eaten my way through a considerable quantity of sugary cakes and desserts. I am getting quite concerned that I will be hit with a huge bill when I next visit the dentist! Due to my sugar overload I felt in the mood for something savoury and preferably cheesy. This recipe certainly seemed to fit the bill.
The morning was a fairly busy one as we reluctantly popped into town for a spot of shopping and we also took Isaac to soft play. Before I'd time to catch my breath it was mid afternoon and I still hadn't made the biscuits! It was time to get a wriggle on. Once Isaac was tucked up for his afternoon nap I trotted into the kitchen to make a start.
Looking through the instructions for these Dorchester Biscuits it didn't look as though much effort was required – yay! First of all I grated the mature cheese into my mixing bowl. 100g doesn't sound very much until you have to grate it. Unfortunately the cheese I was using was very crumbly and chunks insisted on breaking off. Grating little pieces is always a dangerous practice. Surprisingly unscathed, I moved on to adding in some plain flour and a pinch of salt. To give a bit of a kick to these biscuits, I was to add a little cayenne pepper. It seemed such a small amount. However, I know how potent this spice is, so I thought it best to stick to the suggested amount! All that was left was the softened butter. Although my packet of butter had been free from the chilly confines of the fridge for some hours it had stubbornly refused to soften. I followed the instructions and attempted to mix the few ingredients together with a knife. Due to the fairly firm butter my mixture would not combine. I ended up squidging the butter against the side of the bowl with the knife to help guide it towards a softer future!!! This proved successful, so I was soon able to use my hands to work the mixture into a soft ball of dough.
Mary says that around thirty balls can be made from the lump of dough. I thought this to be wishful thinking. I find it so hard to keep to Mary's portions as they are so small. She obviously isn't as greedy as I am!! Amazingly, I did manage to make thirty balls of dough but they really were tiny. Each little ball ended up on a greased baking tray to await further attention. Although the biscuits had been super quick to make, I found the lengthiest part was pressing chopped nuts into the top of each ball of dough. A substantial quantity of nuts lay scattered across the baking trays, but not much stayed on the dough!!
It was time to place the two trays in the warm oven. I didn't have long to wait as they only took just over fifteen minutes to cook. I couldn’t believe how strongly the house smelt of cheese. This time I couldn't blame it on Neil's socks!!!! I didn't think the biscuits looked particularly appealing when I took them from the oven. They were sitting in a pool of bubbling grease! It was easy to remove the little cheesy biscuits from the tray and put them onto the wire rack. As Mary says, they can be eaten warm as well as cold. This was all the encouragement I needed. I dived straight in for a taste. Before I knew it I'd eaten three. Well, they are only small!! They really are ridiculously moreish. They are very, very cheesy with a spicy kick from the cayenne pepper. The texture was as light as air! They seemed to melt on my tongue. Neil absolutely loved them which didn't come as much of a surprise. He likes cheese and he likes spice. However, I wasn't sure what Isaac would make of them. As soon as he had swallowed his first mouthful he asked for more!
These biscuits were so easy to make and tasted absolutely delicious. They've definitely been added to my make again list!
Mmmmm.....cheesy! :-)
