Wine & Cheese Straws

Cakes are all that I seem to bake now a days. And since I started baking, my craving for sweets has completely reduced. Not that I hog on them but just the smell of vanilla and chocolate kind of makes me stay away from eating the desserts I bake.

At a recent Baker’s meet, we were shown how to make these delicious cheese straws by Anuja Sule from Simple Baking. It was so delicious, cheesy, spicy, crispy and a perfect snack.

Attempted them today and super happy with the result.

Ingredients

120 gms All purpose flour

80 gms chilled Amul butter

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/4 tsp salt (lesser is fine too as cheese and butter both have salt)

1/4 tsp garlic powder

100 gms grated parmesan cheese/cheddar/processed

30 ml chilled white wine (or any liquid like water/milk/balsamic vinegar/egg)

Wash – 1 egg white/milk

white and black sesame seeds

1. Sieve the all purpose flour and cut the butter in to it using a scrapper. Avoid use of hands as that will transfer body heat to the mix.Cut it and mix to make pea size crumbs in the flour.
2. Add the salt, garlic powder, chilli powder, cheese and mix it with the scrapper.
3. Add the wine (or any liquid that u are using) spoon by spoon and bring the dough together. Do not knead. Just scrape from outside and bring it in. Once all the liquid is added, use your hands to gently tighten the dough by cupping the dough together to form a mound.
4. Cling wrap and keep it in the fridge for half hour.
5. After half hour, roll the dough (thickness of a stuffed paratha) to a square shape and cut lengthways strips to 1.5-2″ thickness. u can alternatively gently roll to make pipes with your fingers and give a design of your choice.
6. Line your rack with a silicon mat or a tin with parchment paper and place the strips on it, twisting it slightly from the centre to give it a shape.
7. Place the strips in the fridge for another half hour.
8. Preheat your oven to 150C.
9. Remove the tray from the fridge and give it an egg/milk wash. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on it.
10. Bake on middle rack, with top & bottom rod on for 25 – 30 mins. Keep an eye out, once golden brown shut the oven else will get too brown. Leave it in the shut oven for another 4-5 mins and then remove to cool. Store in airtight container.
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