Karen’s Cheese Straws

Flaky, buttery, savory nibbles, perfect with wine before dinner. You don’t need to use top-drawer Parmesan cheese, but it should be decent and freshly grated. (I use a domestic Parmesan sold at Milk Pail, a local market in Palo Alto, where I also get the other important ingredient, really good butter.) Adapted from a recipe by Mark Bittman, from “How To Cook Everything”; I made the method easier, expanded this recipe to make it large enough to carry to a potluck with a dozen people and one or two other appetizers on hand, and added pepper. Best served warm, or within an hour or two of baking.

Note on the method: You can mix the dough by hand, chopping butter into flour and cheese and then stirring in the water, but this method is easy. I mix the dough in a 14-cup Cuisinart Powerprep Plus (first grating the cheese if necessary–you don’t need to wash the processor bowl before proceeding with the recipe). If your processor is small, you can halve the recipe or process in two small batches. The dough freezes well, too.

1 cup butter, cold or even frozen, cut into five or six chunks
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 heaping teaspoon ground black pepper (freshly-ground if possible)
1/3 cup ice water, or more as needed

Place flour, salt, pepper, and 3/4 cup of the cheese in the in bowl of a food processor. Process in short pulses until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Toss the mixture with a fork to make sure the processor caught all the butter chunks, and pulse a second more if needed.

Through the processor’s feed tube, dribble in the ice water while pulsing the dough (this should only take one or two seconds). If you are not an expert pulser and are worried about overprocessing the dough, dump it into a bowl and add water with a fork. The dough has enough water in it when you can gather it with your hands. The world won’t end if you have to add a tablespoon or two more ice water. Press the dough into a rough flat disk and refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer (this makes the dough easier to handle).

On a lightly floured board, roll out the dough into a rough oblong about 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle with half of the remaining cheese. Fold the dough over itself, and lightly roll again until the dough is 1/4 to 3/8 inches thick. Try to keep the dough in a squarish shape. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on the dough, fold and lightly roll again. Chill the dough (to make it easier to fit in the fridge, you can cut it in thirds or fourths and layer it between waxed paper). You could even freeze the dough at that point; 1/4 of the batch would be a nice pre-dinner nibble for three or four people.

When you’re ready to bake the cheese straws, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cut the dough into sticks about 3/8 to 1/2 inch wide and place about an inch apart on lightly greased baking sheets. (Pam is my co-pilot.) The straws will spread. (Air-cushioned baking sheets are great; Target has them at good prices.)

A fun question for this recipe is whether you prefer the straws baked with the cut side down or sideways. Try baking the straws both ways and you’ll see what I mean. You can eat a lot of straws while trying to answer that question.

Bake one pan at a time for 10-15 minutes. Watch carefully; the straws should be lightly browned. Too pale, and they will be doughy and not flaky (this also happens if the straws are too big or you overdo the water); too brown, and they will be bitter. So prepare to hang out in your kitchen pampering three or more pans of cheese straws through the baking process.

Cool briefly on a rack or even on paper towels. Serve tumbled in a napkin-lined basket.

Makes approximately 6 dozen cheese straws.