Cheese Stars Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. Beat in cheese until blended. Combine flour, salt and cayenne; stir into cheese mixture until a dough forms. Roll into a 15x6-in. rectangle. Cut into thirty 6-in. strips. Gently place strips 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets., Bake until lightly browned, 15-20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a cookie sheet.
• In a large bowl cream butter and cheese. Stir in flour and salt; mix well. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/2 inch in thickness. Cut into 2 inch strips and sprinkle with ground red pepper. Place strips on prepared cookie sheet(s) 1 1/2 inches apart.
• Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until crisp.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Roll out each sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured board until it is 10- by 12-inches. Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of water and brush the surface of the pastry. Sprinkle each sheet evenly with 1¿4 cup of the Parmesan, 1¿2 cup of the Gruyère, 1¿2 teaspoon of the thyme, 1¿2 teaspoon of the salt, and some pepper. With the rolling pin, lightly press the flavorings into the puff pastry. Cut each sheet crosswise with a floured knife or pizza wheel into 11 or 12 strips. Twist each strip and lay on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
• Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until lightly browned and puffed. Turn each straw and bake for another 2 minutes. Don't over bake or the cheese will burn. Cool and serve at room temperature.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Put the softened cheese and butter in the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer. Using the heaviest mixer paddle attachment, beat until the mixture has the consistency of whipped cream, 15 to 30 minutes.
• In a large bowl, sift 3 cups of the flour with the salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and garlic powder. Gradually add the seasoned flour to the cheese mixture by large spoonfuls, beating well after each addition. Add the remaining 1 cup unseasoned flour incrementally until the dough is somewhat stiff but still soft enough to be pushed through a cookie press; you may not need to add all the flour.
• Lightly spray 4 cookie sheets with cooking spray. Put a portion of the dough into a cookie press fitted with the star tube and press the dough onto a cookie sheet in long strips that run the length of the pan. Repeat until the pan is full. Bake until straws are golden brown and crisp, about 20 minutes.
• With your hands or a sharp knife, break or cut the long strips into 3-inch lengths. Use a flat, thin spatula or an egg turner to remove the cheese strips from the pan. Allow them to cool on a wire rack. When they are completely cool, serve or store in a tightly covered container.

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 200C, or 180C fan assisted. Grease and flour two large baking trays.
• 2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt, herbs and spices. Crumble in the stock cube and stir well until evenly distributed.
• 3. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• 4. Stir in the cheese until well distributed (I find using two forks to pull apart the clumps of grated cheese is a good method).
• 5. Mix in the egg yolk with your fingers, working the mixture to a dense dough. You may need to add a splash or two of water to achieve the correct consistency - the mixture should not be sticky, but should not leave crumbs in the bowl.
• 6. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of around 5mm - this isn't too vital, but will affect cooking times.
• 7. With a star-shaped cutter, stamp out as many shapes as you can from the dough and place, slightly spaced, on the baking sheets. Re-roll the dough and repeat until you have too little left to work with.
• 8. Brush each star with a little egg white and bake in the preheated oven for around ten minutes until golden.
• 9. Remove and cool on wire trays.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Line each cup a mini-muffin pan with a wonton wrapper, carefully pressing each into the shape of a cup. Take care to not tear the wrapper as they will tear easily.
• Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer 'cups' to a baking sheet; repeat until remaining wontons are all baked.
• Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir sausage in the hot skillet until browned completely, 5 to 7 minutes; drain and discard grease. Set sausage aside to cool.
• Stir cooled sausage, Colby cheese, green onions, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, and ranch salad dressing together in a bowl; spoon into the wonton cups.
• Bake in oven until cheese has melted and is beginning to bubble, 15 to 20 minutes.

Steps:

• Unroll the pastry and sprinkle most of the cheese over one half of the sheet. Fold the pastry in half to cover the cheese and seal it in.
• Dust your rolling pin and work surface with a little flour and put your pastry sheet on it. Roll it out until doubled in size.
• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and line two baking sheets with baking parchment.
• Using cookie cutters, cut the pastry into shapes and put them on the prepared baking sheets. (Put the cutters on the dough close together so that less pastry is wasted. You can fold the trimmings back on themselves and re-roll to cut out more shapes.)
• Brush the shapes with milk and add a pinch of cheese and a sprinkling of your chosen topping, if using.
• Bake in the oven for 10-12 mins or until risen and golden, then transfer to a serving plate. Will keep in an airtight container for 3 days.