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A Cheese Cookie Recipe

Updated on May 2, 2020
Chuck profile image

While my wife does most of the cooking in our home I have always enjoyed going into our kitchen periodically and whipping something up.

A visitor to my Hub Cookie Cutter Cookies left the following comment on that Hub:

But WHERE is the cheese cookie recipe? I lost my recipe that was in the newspaper, and went to this website but only see ads for cookie cutters.

I was surprised at the comment because I had never heard of cheese cookies let alone provided a recipe for them on that Hub.

The only thing I could think of was that the News Capsule I had included in the Hub had automatically, and temporarily, linked to a news article about cheese cookies.

The person who had left the comment asking where the cheese cookie recipe was had probably entered cheese cookies in a search query and it had led her to my Hub. Unfortunately, she just looked for the recipe in the main text of the Hub and not in the News Capsule located at the end of the Hub.

I immediately looked in the News Capsule and the first thing listed read:

Cheesy cookie recipes mix sweet with savory
Honolulu Star-Advertiser
4 days ago

I clicked on the link and was taken to the a page on the Honolulu Star Advertiser website which contained an article entitled Cheesy cookie recipes mix sweet with savory which had been written by Betty Shimabukuro and posted on September 8, 2010.

The article not only contained a recipe for cheesy cookies, but also some background about them as well as some useful tips for making them based upon the author’s experience making them.

According to the article these cookies have become popular in the past year as a result of an appearance by European food writer and TV personality  Nigella Lawson on U.S. National Public Radio where she talked about the  Cheesy Feet cookies that she made.

Nigella Lawson, who talked up her version -- called Cheesy Feet

Seeing a potential Hub, but not wanting to simply copy and publish the recipe, I decided to do some more research.

My first objective was to check out various recipes for these cookies and camp up with a basic recipe that was common to all.

Before providing the recipe, I should point out that these cheesy cookies appear to be of northern European origin and are not cookies in the sense that Americans use that term.

Instead they are a type of bread or cracker that can be served as a snack, appetizer or even with a meal but, from what I have read, not as a desert.

Here is a basic recipe that contains the ingredients common to all of the recipes I viewed.

Ingredients

Ingredients (using American measurement):

1/3 cup butter, at room temperature (not melted)
1 cup flour
3/4 cup shredded cheese
1/4 teaspoon of salt, baking soda or baking powder (used as a leavening agent)

Ingredients (using metric measurements)

100 grams Cheddar cheese, grated
25 grams butter
50 grams plain flour
dash or pinch of salt, baking soda or baking powder (used as a leavening agent)

The above is the basic recipe (choose the first or second version depending upon whether you use cups and measuring spoons, which are common in the United States, or weights, which are common in Europe and other places, to measure your ingredients) type for these cookies / biscuits / crackers whichever you want to call them.

All of the recipes that I have viewed contain these ingredients plus some extras such as one quarter cup of sugar (to either sprinkle on top of cookies or mix in), a teaspoon of ground black pepper or a dash to a quarter teaspoon of dry mustard, red pepper, paprika or chili powder (if used, use only ONE of these 4 ingredients).

The extra ingredients listed above are optional and you can pick and choose from them - I DON’T recommend using ALL of them. I have also seen some calling for sprinkling caraway, sesame or poppy seeds on the cookies rather than sugar.

Mixing Instructions

Most recipes say to pre-heat your oven to 400⁰ Fahrenheit (200⁰ Celsius) although a few American recipes call for 350⁰ Fahrenheit.

Either purchase a package of cheddar cheese that is already shredded or, if you purchase a block of cheddar, grate it.

One method of mixing is to combine all of the basic ingredients, including any sugar or spice you wish to include in the mixture and either put it in a blender to mix or in a bowl to mix with an electric mixer.

A second method is to mix the butter, flour and salt or baking powder/soda by hand with a mixing spoon. Then fold in the grated cheese and work the mixture with your hands, as you would other bread or cookie dough, until it is thoroughly combined and ready to roll out.

Once the dough is mixed you can either cover the container containing the dough or roll the mixed dough into a ball and wrap it in some type of food wrapping and then place it in a refrigerator for fifteen to thirty minutes to chill.


Cutting and Baking

If you haven't already done so, roll the chilled dough into a ball and, on a clean, flat surface, roll it out using a rolling pin.  To prevent sticking, dust the flat surface and the rolling pin with a sprinkling of flour as this will tend to keep the dough from sticking to the surface or the rolling pin.

Roll the dough to a thickness of one quarter inch or less. The thinner the rolled dough the flatter your cookies will be and the better they will retain their shape if you are using intricate shaped cookie cutters, like feet or Santa Clause figures. 

If you aren't interested in elaborately shaped cookies, or don't have cookie cutters on hand you can cut them into simple round shapes using an inverted drinking glass to cut the dough.

As you cut each cookie, place it on a cookie sheet and, when done place the sheet in the oven and bake fo twelve to fifteen minutes.  The thinner you rolled the dough the faster the cookies will bake.

Cool and enjoy.



The Story of the Cookies

As I mentioned above, the recent appearance by Nigella Lawson, a popular British food author with her own BBC food show (she is also the daughter of Nigel Lawson, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the government of Margaret Thatcher), on the U.S. National Public Radio has caused a sudden new interest in these cookies in the United States.

Dubbed cheesy feet by Nigella because of her use of foot shaped cookie cutters she uses to make them, these foot shaped cookies are enjoying increasing popularity in the U.S.

Like most recipes, the roots of this one appear to be an old one originally passed on from person to person both orally and in writing.  And, especially with the advent of cookbooks and then the Internet, variations of it have been spread far and wide.

The same is true of these cheesy cookies

Of course, there is a creative aspect to cooking and numerous people, both ordinary and famous, have added to it and customized it before passing it on. 

The same is true of these cheesy cookies.  In my research I came across thousands of references to recipes for these cookies.  At the right is a sampling of some of the couple of dozen sites that I checked out while researching this Hub.  Check them out for variations on the basic recipe I provided above.

I have not had time to try my hand at making, let alone sampling any of these cookies/biscuits.

However, armed with over a dozen recipes I copied while researching this, I intend to try it soon.

Or, maybe, I will just print out the recipes and leave them on the counter in hopes that my wife will see them and make them for me.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

© 2010 Chuck Nugent

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