Is there anyone who doesn’t like cheese biscuits, I wonder? As a child, one of the most exciting things about Christmas was the prospect of those that my grandmother’s made. A huge plateful would emerge from the kitchen on Christmas evening, fresh baked and warm, just at that time when everyone was starting to feel a tiny twinge of hunger again on emerging from the post-lunch slump. Nothing else hit the mark quite like those little pastry bites packed full of umami.
Reminded of them as I was recently by a friend’s blogpost and recipe, I bought some local cheeses and made my own. I used a mix of the Canterbury Cheesemakers’ distinctive, sharp Cheddar-style cheese, Ashmore, together with an interloper from across the border – Twineham Grange, a Sussex-made parmesan-type cheese. And, instead of using black poppy seeds, I used white – which, to me, have a greater affinity with cheese. But use whatever you have – the virtue of this recipe is that it’s infinitely adaptable. Hard, sharp cheeses tend to work best, however.
Serve warm or cold. Either way, they’re irresistible – and far too good to make only at Christmas.
