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Cheese coins are neat little cheddar cheese “cookies” and perfect for after-school snacks!
These Cheese Snacks Are Easy
These cheese snacks are so easy, you’ll whip them up whenever a craving hits you. A food processor makes easy work of it and it has very few ingredients. I bet you have them all on hand too,
The recipe calls for cheddar, so I used some extra sharp in these. However, as long as it’s a hard cheese that will melt, substitute what you have on hand. Cheeses such as Parmesan or Romano won’t work because they don’t melt, but you can try a tablespoon or two in the dough in addition to what you used for flavor purposes. I adapted this from a recipe from Cuisinart.
About The Dough
I won’t fib here–the dough is pretty sticky and hard to handle right out of the food processor. This requires some chilling.
The good news is that you can easily make a double batch because once they’re shaped and wrapped in plastic wrap (cling film to those in UK) they’re ready to go when a snack attack hits you.
The initial chilling so you can shape them easily is about 30 minutes or so. Make sure to put them in the coldest section of the fridge. You can also stick the dough in the freezer for about 15 minutes. That would shorten the process a bit.
Once they’re rolled into log shapes, they’re wrapped tightly in the plastic wrap and then chilled again until they’re very firm. Then you just cut slices and bake what you want/need.
Bake Easy
These do spread a bit so give them room on the cookie sheet. Also, it’s a good idea to line the sheet with baking parchment even just for clean-up sake. Burnt-on cheese is no fun to clean up. They’ll release easily and keep your cookie sheet clean if you use the parchment.
The Recipe
Cheese Coins
Ingredients
- 8 oz cheddar cheese cut in chunks
- 4 oz soft unsalted butter cut in chunks
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp hot sauce or a pinch of cayenne pepper
- 1 cup flour
Instructions
- Process cheese until it resembles a coarse meal, approximately 30 seconds.
- Add butter, hot sauce (or pepper) and salt; process until smooth.
- Scrape down the bowl and add the flour. Pulse until it just starts to go into a ball.
- Chill dough until it’s firm enough to handle—about 30 minutes.
- Divide dough into 3 equal parts and shape into logs about 1 1/2-inches in diameter; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate about 2-3 hours until very firm.
- To bake: Preheat oven to 400 F/200 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Cut dough into 1/8-inch slices and place on prepared sheets about 2-inches apart. Bake about 10 minutes or until light golden around the edges. Cool on sheet for about 1 minute, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
- Unbaked logs may be frozen for future use. Makes about 100 cookies.
Beatrice Poultney says
For those of us who cannot eat any hot peppers, what would you suggest as a substitute please?
Judith Hanneman says
You can just leave it out.
JoAnne says
Is it possible to make this without a food processor? A pastry blending tool? A blender? Thanks for any advice.
Judith Hanneman says
Probably–I’d use shredded cheese (or shred your own) under those circumstances and then complete the rest with a pastry blender. It may come out with a different texture, but they’ll still taste good.