Tea Treats

Well, I’m a week behind, but here’s last week’s -along’s topic.  Hopefully, I’ll get to THIS week’s soon!

April 20 - April 26
The-Sweet-and-Savory-of-Yummy

Share your favorite teatime recipe for sweets or savories. Tea sandwiches, scones, and dainty desserts all count in this category. Give credit to the originator of the recipe if possible. Post a picture if you can. This is sure to make everyone hungry for a delicious tea time treat!

(I have to give Grace an assist here, because I wasn’t sure what I’d share until she mentioned cheese straws in her post!)

While I love a good scone with my tea, my favorite treat to make is cheese straws.  I have a host of recipes, from my stepmom’s cheese biscuits with a pecan half in the center (thing more of a cheese wafer), to hot, spicy straws that require a good wash of ANY liquid behind them, but here is my favorite recipe. 

Cheese Straws

8 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

11/2 cups flour

Paprika and salt to taste

Combine the cheese, butter, Tabasco sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt and cayenne pepper in a bowl and mix well.  Add the flour, stirring until a soft and easily handled dough forms.  Spoon the dough into a cookie press fitted with disc #1  or a small star disc.  Press into long strips on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Cut the warm strips into 2-inch pieces.  Cool on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle lightly with paprika and salt.  Store in an airtight container.  If a cookie press is not available, roll the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into strips.

Yield: 6 dozen cheese straws

From Start Your Ovens, Junior League of Bristol.  I also collect JL cookbooks, and this is a favorite.  Their Starting Line chapter is full of great recipes for teas, brunches, etc., but the Cheese Straws are from Happy Hour.  Tea time certainly is a happy time too, right?