Savoury Cheese Biscuits...

Recipe Origin and Background:
Baking is one of my passions...it was not from childhood but one that developed when i started experimenting some of the traditional recipes that i learnt mainly from my Mom..This passion almost became an obsession when we moved into our flat after I was married...I just started thinking of options to cook stuff using the oven that are sometimes time-saving but most importantly a very healthy option...

Once I started the patisserie course...I have learnt several tricks of a really good baked product be it general food stuff, snacks or cakes...both of us are not much of sweet persons (one hell of a contradiction to what i do...professionally cook sweet stuff all the time)...most my husbands day offs or free time are normally spent before the computer downloading something from the internet or cleaning up the system with his numerous anti-virus stuff...anyways this is the time he generally likes munching something...like nuts, crackers or jantikalu... one day I was brooding on wat munchable stuff I could make for his upcoming day off...and then I remembered an old time favourite my mom made for us as snacks when we were kids...CHEESE BISCUITS...(or they were called Cheese Bits by us..)...

My mom used to make them using Maida, Amul Cheese and bring it together with melted ghee...and then deep fry the bits in oil..A different version of the same recipe is used at work by adding 2 types of cheese and adding milk to make the dough smoother and easy to roll...so I combined the best of both recipe and came out with my own version of the bixies...and these are baked...my addition to this recipe is some flavourings...so here goes my recipe...

Ingredients:
1 Cup Grated Tasty Cheese (basically hard cheeses like Cheddar, Guyere etc)
1 Cup of Powdered Parmesan Cheese
2.5 Cups of Plain Flour(all purpose flour)
1/2 Cup of Full Cream Milk
240 gms of Unsalted Butter Salt and Pepper
Flavourings:
1/2 Cup of Pitted Kalamata Olives(chopped finely)
1/2 Cup of Sun-dried Tomatoes (chopped finely) Preparation

Process:
1. First add the Butter and the Cheese into a bowl and mix to combine them(if using an electric mixer then whisk on low speed for 1 or 2 mins to combine ingredients) to a creamy texture.

2. Then add the flour and salt&pepper and mix again till roughly combined. Then slowly while mixing add the milk.

3. If dough is sticky just add four to reduce the dampness. This is the basic dough for the cheese biscuits. Divide the mixture int 2 parts. and keep aside.

4. To one half of the mix add the finely chopped olives and mix thru till well combined. Mix thru the finely chopped semi dried tomates as well to the other half of the dough.

5. Then lightly flour the work surface you working on(just like how we do for chapatis before we roll them) and then roll the two kinds of dough into logs about 1cm(abut the size of a 1 Rupee coin) in diameter. The below picture illustrates that.

6. Line all the logs onto a lightly floured tray(to prevent from sticking). Refrigerate them for about 30 minutes to one hour to help firm up the dough.

7. Preheat your oven to 150*C. Line baking tray or cookie tray with baking paper.

8. Then bring out the rolled logs from the fridge and cut them into 1/2cm pieces.

8. Line them on the tray and bake them for 20-25 minutes or until you are able to lift one from tray without it sticky or until light golden brown. (picture above)

9. Allow to cool on a different tray. Once they are cooled store them in airtight containers and these biscuits last for 1 week to 10 days.

10. They are a good accompaniment to tea or coffee or as an indulgent snack.

Variations:If you dont like any of the above mentioned flavours you can use chives or roasted bell peppers or just herbs like rosemary, thyme etc.

Image Source: My Trusty Phone Camera

Recipe Source: My Brain (he he he...:-D)

Hope you like the recipe...do let me know how they work out ( if you try them out)...

Happy Cooking...:-)