Spicy Cheese Straws

I don’t usually keep many snack foods around the house. Mostly because I try not to eat too much processed food but also because they’re pricey. When I’m grocery shopping I never have enough money in my food budget for the ingredients I need for meals AND bags of chips and cookies. However, just because I don’t often buy snack food doesn’t mean I don’t often want snacks. A good compromise I’ve reached is making my own. That way I still get to have greasy, fatty, oh-so-delicious snacks, but the extra work of preparing it myself keeps me from constantly grazing on junk food.

One night recently, my sweetie and I were staying in to watch a movie and we wanted a salty treat to go along with the film. After a few minutes of flipping through our copy of How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman I came across his recipe for Simplest Cheese Straws and few a variations later I came up with my own version of Spicy Cheese Straws. This recipe make 8 servings and they keep well in a sealed container for a few days.

Spicy Cheese Straws:

• One pound of grated cheese. I used a 50-50 combination of cheddar and jalapeno jack but you can really use any hard cheese.
• 2 cups of flour.
• 8 tablespoons of butter.
• A few drops ice water
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes.
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper.
• 1/2 teaspoon italian spices.
• Salt for sprinkling.

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Grate the cheese.
3. In a separate bowl mix the flour with the cayenne, italian spices, and red pepper flakes.
4. Cut the butter into small pieces and rub it into the flour until it resembles coarse cornmeal.
5. Stir in the cheese and knead it by hand until it comes together. Add a few drops of water at the time to help bring the clumps together but don’t add more than one tablespoon of water.
6. Roll the dough out into a 1/4 inch thick rectangle. Then cut into 1/2 inch wide strips.
7. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.
8. Bake for 7-10 minutes or until golden brown.

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