| Every end of term at my daughters' | | | | settled on baked potatoes as a minimal effort |
| kindergarten, finds us baking cheese biscuits for | | | | supper. The oven was on anyway for the biscuits |
| their festival. These are delicious, easy to make, | | | | and bread so it was all in aid of energy |
| light flaky mouthfuls of crunch, just like cheese | | | | conservation...mine and the world's in equal |
| straws only more fun, as you can use any | | | | measure. |
| shaped cookie cutter you like. We have pigs, | | | | Here is the recipe for the cheese biscuits: |
| bunnies, stars, moons, hearts, fish. They are the | | | | 100g/4oz finely grated cheese |
| perfect answer to the dilemma of providing a | | | | 50g/2oz self-raising flour |
| treat snack for school feasts and festivals, that | | | | 25g/1oz soft butterpinch of cayenne pepper |
| doesn't break the school guidelines of minimising | | | | For the cheese you can use a mature cheddar or |
| sugar but is still fun for the kids. They are also an | | | | 80g mild cheddar with 20g parmesan cheese. Put |
| essential item at birthday parties for my children. | | | | everything into a bowl and rub in, squidge and |
| The last birthday had me frantically rolling and | | | | knead for about 5 minutes until it comes together |
| cutting out these cheese biscuits, in between | | | | into a soft dough. It will do, just as you are about |
| trying to get a roast lunch on the table before | | | | to give up hope of it doing so unaided. Roll out the |
| the afternoon party. The original plan had been for | | | | dough on a lightly floured surface to about 2.5mm |
| the kids to do all the work, to keep them | | | | 1/8" thick and cut into whatever fancy shapes |
| entertained and gainfully employed in the lull | | | | you have cutters for. Bake at 200C/400F for |
| before the party, but the birthday girl was too | | | | 10-12 minutes until golden. Cool on a rack. This |
| busy playing with her new toys and the others | | | | amount disappears very quickly, even before |
| too busy bemoaning the fact it was so long | | | | you've turned your back on them sometimes, |
| before their birthdays, so that I got left with the | | | | they're very light and moreish, so I usually make |
| job at the last minute! | | | | double or triple quantities for the festivals. |
| Today though I had the five year olds in charge | | | | The cheese biscuits go down very well with adults |
| of the cheese biscuits, kneading then rolling out | | | | too. At the last birthday party one father polished |
| and cutting out with animal shaped cookie cutters. | | | | off a whole plateful, rather than sample the |
| This still required a fair amount of timely | | | | birthday cake. They would make a great |
| intervention, to get the dough to hold together | | | | accompaniment to drinks before dinner. You could |
| before frustration set in and make sure my | | | | cut them into long strips and give one twist to |
| youngest got a chance to cut out some shapes | | | | make them into cheese straws, then sprinkle |
| without destroying her older sister's carefully | | | | them with extra parmesan or find a more |
| ordered scheme of things. I also had to get a | | | | sophisticated shape as a cookie cutter - the star |
| batch of bread done while they were cooking, as | | | | shapes would still be good. Mind you most |
| we had finished up the last slice at lunch, but that | | | | laid-back adults would be just as happy as the |
| used up the rest of my energy reserves so I | | | | kids to be eating pigs and bunnies! |