I first tried a cheese cookie in middle school at a 4-H event, and it was love at first bite. Melissa Deal, a 4-H member, gave me a copy of her recipe. I've been making them for close 50 years now.
Cheese Cookies
Ingredients
8 oz cheddar cheese - grated
3/4 cup butter
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Let the cheese and butter sit out so that it's not so hard.
Grate the cheese.
Use a knife or large fork to mix the cheese and butter together. It's still quite clumpy.
Pour in flour, salt, and cayenne.
Use your hands and squeeze the mixture until it is smooth, yellow, and rolls into a large ball. This takes a while and a good amount of muscle.
Make little balls out of the mixture. The balls should be smaller than a ping pong ball but larger than a marble.
Put a sheet of parchment paper on your cookie sheet.
Use your fingers to flatten each ball and put on the cookie sheet. I think they are best if you mash them thin. I'd estimate about twice as thick as a quarter. They rise a little as they bake but don't really spread out, so you can put them close together but not touching.
Bake at 325 F for 10 to 15 minutes depending on thickness and oven. Watch close - you want them to cook but not to burn or get too dark. When done they are cheese colored and not browned like other cookies.
Use a spatula to lift them off the pan and on to a cookie rack or on sheets of paper towel.
Let them cool totally before eating. Most cookies are best warm, but cheese cookies taste strange when warm. When they cool off, they are delicious.
Tip: If you like spicy food, you may want to go with 1 teaspoon of cayenne. I'd suggest going lighter to start with to see what you like. You can also sprinkle cayenne on top of some of the cheese cookies before baking so that you have milder and hotter cookies. The cayenne on top is easy to see so that those who do not like spicy foods can avoid the ones with red sprinkles. Go easy on the sprinkle though.
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