This is my all time favourite snack recipe for the Smalls (although it makes for a pretty yummy Big snack too).
It has the bonus of being packaging free-very important when you are Watching your Waste…
AND I know exactly what is in it-no danger of any stray horses sneaking in here…
It is from the lovely Nigella (Lawson), and her fantastic Feast book.
This is what you need:
- 100g cheddar cheese, coarsely grated-I use mature cheddar, but we do like strong cheese in our house!
- 50g plain flour
- 25g soft butter
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- cookie cutter-preferably in the shape of a foot, to make ‘cheesy feet’, get it?!
- baking sheet
This is what you do:
- Put all the ingredients in a magi-mix type processor and whiz
- Keep whizzing. Don’t lose the faith, it WILL come together
- When it all starts to whiz around in a big ball, stop, take it out, and roll it into a ball. Then flatten it into more of a disc shape, and wrap it in cling film, or put into a sandwich bag (which you can then re-use!) and place in the fridge for at least an hour (I have been known to leave it overnight or even longer if I run out of time to roll them out-if you do this, then it is worth getting them out half an hour before you want to roll, otherwise it will be hard work!)
- When you are ‘ready to roll’, pre-heat your oven to 170C and line 2 baking trays-I use reusable silicon type liners, or you could of course use greaseproof
- Roll the dough out on a floured surface until it’s about 0.5 thick
- Use your cookie cutter to cut out your biscuits-I get about 10 from this amount of mix, but obviously it depends on the size of your cutter
- Bake for 8-10mins. I do mine for about 8mins-keep an eye on them, they can go from ‘golden’ to ‘brown’ in an instant!
I make a double batch of these at alarmingly regular intervals, and then freeze them. I can then just grab a couple (or 3 or 4..) out of the freezer in the morning, and have readymade, wholesome (ok, so I’m sure these aren’t the healthiest of snacks with all that cheese in, but it’s got to be better than a packet of crisps, right?), delicious snacks at hand..! And no nasty, non-recyclable packets to throw away 🙂
My Make Do and Mend Year 
Lovely idea. may just borrow. Nicola http://homemadekids.wordpress.com
Please do!
Yay, love love love cheesey feet :o)
Thanks Jo!
I’m going to have to look for a foot shaped cutter … other cheesy shapes just won’t taste the same to my Grandson !
Get searching Vivienne 🙂
Couldn’t find a foot shaped cutter … but did find a mega dinosaur one which cuts dough into jigsaw type pieces with a mini dinosaur in the middle only 99p !
Sounds fab! Won’t tell the Smalls-they will want me to try and track one down 🙂
I love these, and I think the fact they’re cheesy feet is far more amusing than my children do! Hadn’t tried freezing them though- good idea for packed lunches.
I thought of you the other day- a woman on TV (?Super Scrimpers) made TexMex popcorn- finely grate 2 limes and put in pestle and mortar and pound together with some salt, chilli powder and garlic salt and sprinkle over popcorn. The end of a rolling pin in a bowl would work if you don’t have a pestle and mortar. I think that would go well with a cold beer or 2…
I think it is the fact that they are feet that makes it for me too!
Tex Mex Popcorn sounds great-as you say, I think a nice cold beer would be obligatory..!
Yum, going to give these a go. We recently acquired a bargain basement food mixer and havent used it much. This will be perfect to try it out – may have to free-hand cutting out feet!!
Free-hand feet-loving it! Or you could do hans and use your own hand for a template (not going to even suggest this for feet…)
Love anything with cheese – though my cheese still comes with packaging. I’ll admit that I HATE grating (why I bought a food processor), but I still buy ready grated cheese, and it comes in a plastic bag – which kills my zero waste goals! Suggestions? Experiences? (I don’t have a deli or similar in my local, walk to shops… does that sound like an excuse… it’s not… I promise!)
If you use a standy up grater (box grater?) on the coarse bit (bog holes) it takes less than a minute to grate 200g cheese! If you buy it from the deli counter in the supermarket they might put it in a tupperware box for you, or failing that, it is usually wrapped in stretchy plastic that can be recycled at the supermarket with the carrier bags.
Hope that helps!
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