Cheddar Cheese Straws

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Rolling pin
• •Sharp knife or pizza cutter
• •2 baking sheets lined with parchment
• •Pastry brush

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the pastry

   Set the oven to 200C/180C fan. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Unroll the pastry on a lightly floured surface. If it has been in the fridge, give it two minutes on the counter. You want it cold enough to handle but not so stiff it cracks when you roll it. Gently roll it into a rough rectangle, about the thickness of a pound coin. Don't overwork it. Puff pastry has a memory, and if you bully it, it will shrink in the oven out of spite.

   All-butter puff pastry is worth finding. The kind made with margarine or vegetable fat will puff, but it won't taste of anything worth eating.
2. 2

   Add the cheese

   Brush the pastry generously with beaten egg. Mix the grated cheddar with the mustard powder and cayenne, then scatter it evenly over one half of the pastry, pressing it in gently with your hand. Fold the bare half over the cheesy half, like closing a book. Press down lightly with the rolling pin to seal. The cheese is sandwiched inside, which means it melts into the pastry rather than burning on top.

3. 3

   Cut and twist

   With a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, slice the folded pastry into strips about a finger's width. Take each strip and twist it three or four times, then lay it on the lined baking sheet with enough space between each for them to spread. Press the ends down against the parchment so they don't unravel. Some will untwist slightly. This is fine. They'll still taste the same.

   If the pastry gets soft and sticky while you're working, slide the whole tray into the fridge for ten minutes. Cold pastry twists easily. Warm pastry fights you.
4. 4

   Bake until golden

   Brush the tops with the remaining beaten egg and scatter a little flaky salt and a grinding of black pepper over each one. Bake for twelve to fifteen minutes, until puffed and deeply golden. You'll know they're ready by the smell: buttery, savoury, slightly toasted. The cheese at the edges will have crisped into something irresistible. Let them cool on the tray for a few minutes. They firm as they cool, going from soft to shattering.

Chef Tips

• •The cheddar matters. Use something with age and bite, the kind that crumbles when you cut it and tastes sharp enough to make you pay attention. A mild cheddar will melt fine but contribute nothing worth remembering. A good farmhouse cheddar, something like Westcombe or Montgomery's, will carry the whole thing.
• •Don't skip the mustard powder. You won't taste it as mustard, but without it the cheese straws will taste flat, like something is missing that you can't quite name. It works alongside the cheese the way salt works alongside everything: quietly, but entirely necessarily.
• •These are best within a few hours of baking, while the pastry is still crisp and the cheese still has that toasted edge. If you need to make them ahead, store them in a tin once cooled and warm them in a low oven for five minutes before serving. They'll come back to life.
• •Serve them standing upright in a jar or a tumbler. Partly because it looks right, partly because people are more likely to take one if they can grab it easily. They're meant to be eaten with your hands, standing up, while something good is being poured.

Advance Preparation

• •The straws can be twisted and laid on their trays, then frozen unbaked for up to a month. Bake from frozen, adding two or three minutes to the time. This is useful at Christmas when you want to pull them out at short notice.
• •Once baked, they keep in an airtight tin for two days, though they soften slightly. A few minutes in a warm oven brings the crispness back.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 18g)