Yes, cheese, blue cheese to be exact is sneaking its way into my "everything sweet and baked" blog. No, I have not gone mad….since it has to do with baking, flour and butter it qualifies.
I wish I could have made this with Roquefort cheese but for a couple of reasons I went with a basic Gorgonzola: the taste is strong enough to show through the cracker once it is baked and I am trying to use up as many perishables as I can before our upcoming trip. I am also including these in my goodie baskets for Christmas because not everybody likes sweets…I know crazy eh?! They go really well with the rest of the assortments, especially beside a little box of spiced nuts.
I found the recipe ages ago and originally made them for a cocktail party but they never made to the munchies table because B. and I devoured the whole batch before our guests arrived….they are excellent. You can really taste the blue cheese because there is barely enough flour to hold them together and they are so buttery that they instantly melt in your mouth.
These are really convenient to have around during the holidays. The dough can be made way ahead of time since it needs to refrigerate before baking and you can cut slices as needed if you have a small party. Believe me, that won’t be necessary…. If you have leftovers, which I highly doubt, the baked crackers will keep for a week in an air tight container in the refrigerator.
Blue Cheese Crackers, adapted from Pascale:
100 gr. all purpose flour
80 gr. salted butter (unsalted works fine too)
1/2 tsp. chili powder ( I used piment d’Espelette)
1 Tb cornmeal
100 gr. blue cheese
Crumble the cheese. Cut the cold butter in small pieces. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients with you fingers or a pastry cutter and gather into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a cylinder about 6 inches long. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350. Cut the log into 1/2 thick slices and spread them out onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. They will spread a little. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges start to get golden brown.
I made another batch the other day and baked bigger slices, about 3 inches wide and topped them with smoked salmon for an appetizer. Delicious!