Listen to Me

There are times when I'm sure Thatboy questions how he ended up with me. There is never ice cream in our freezer, and in general our cupboards are devoid of anything chocolate. Truthfully, he is a far far better person than I am. Because if he didn't love cheese, there is no way our relationship would work.

Lucky for me, he does love cheese. Even if he doesn't know the name, even if he isn't as cheese adventurous as I am.

The next three appetizers all revolve around cheese, and as such they were big hits in Thathouse. Well the first two were big hits. The third one....not so much......but I'll explain more shortly. Fannie notes that salty appetizers such as these, will encourage thirst and therefore should be served with drinks. She also notes that snacks are a great way to temper alcohol - something every good bar knows. (My favorites have popcorn machines). Small portions should be artfully arranged on plates, but I know I need to work on presentation!

Welcome to Cheese-a-palooza!

Cheese straws - I kid you not, these were gone in a matter of minutes. SO easy to make. SO easy to eat. Perfect cheesy bites. Thatboy ate 10 or 12 before asking "These aren't good for us at all, huh?"

Cheese Straws (From The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• 1/4 lb butter
• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 lb sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1. Preheat oven to 400. Cream the butter until light, add the flour, cayenne, and cheese.
2. Roll out on a floured board. Cut into strips and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake until golden (Fannie says 6 minutes, but it took me over 10).

Cheese puffs - Thatboy was so excited to see more cheese snacks the following day. I told him there was a suprise inside, and after a recent trip to the "world's most ridiculous McDonalds*" he probably thought there would be a toy inside. There wasn't, but he did enjoy what he found! He kept telling me to take a picture of them cut in half and I forgot before they were gone. If you like salty, these are the ones for you!

Cheese Puffs (From The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• 2 cups grated sharp cheese
• 1/4 lb butter
• 1 cup flour
• pimento stuffed green olives

1. Preheat oven to 400. Put the cheese and butter in a food processor and blend until smooth.
   
2. Add the flour and salt and mix well.
   
3. Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness.
4. Cut the dough into 2 inch square and wrap square around olive, sealing the seams.
   
5. Place on a cookie sheet and bake 15 minutes.
   

Cheese Wafers - My first clue that something was not going to go well was the inclusion of pecans in the recipe. I read the entire recipe and thought "how am I going to cut this into thin wafers with chunks of pecans in them?" I should have been forewarned. While the other cheese recipes have you combine the butter and cheese in some sort of appliance. This one just says "combine" and they never really came together. "Aha!" I thought, "When the butter solidfies in the fridge, it will come together." And the next day when I went to cut it into wafers it turned into crumbs. Those three discs you see above are the only ones I was able to get from the two logs. Bah!

Cheese Wafers (From the Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• 1/4 lb butter, softened
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 2 cups grated cheese

1. Combine all ingredients. Make 2 rolls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
   
2. Wrap in foil and refrigerate at least 8 hours.
   
3. Preheat oven to 375. Slice the dough into thin wafers and bake 6-10 minutes.

* Our local McDonalds has wood paneled floors, chadeliers, gold gilt frames on the wall, and velvet drapes. It contains all the regular stuff, along with a gelato bar, paninis, salads, pastas, and other gourmet sandwiches. The chairs are all overstuffed leather arm chairs.