“French Francs” CHEESE Crisps

“French Francs” CHEESE Crisps

Table of Contents: APPETIZERS

COOKING TIP: Save the cardboard core from a roll of paper towel to use to uniformly roll the cheese dough.  Have waxed paper on hand.  If available, use a single-wire cheese cutter or an electric knife to slice the dough.  Otherwise, slice the dough with a sharp, non-serrated knife.

6 oz. sharp Cheddar cheese

3 oz. Roquefort or blue cheese

2 sticks (1 cup) butter or margarine, softened

1 ½ tsp. seasoning salt

1/8 tsp. red or cayenne pepper

1-cup pecans, finely chopped

Use a food processor to shred the Cheddar cheese.  Then, remove the shredding blade and replace it with the steel-mixing tool.  Add the Roquefort cheese, butter, seasoning salt, and red pepper to the shredded Cheddar cheese and blend well.  Add the pecans to the dough; then “pulse” the food processor just long enough to mix in the pecans.

Make 3 logs of the dough on waxed paper about the diameter of a quarter coin.  Since the dough will be sticky at this point, roll it in the waxed paper and place the logs in the refrigerator for 1 hour to get firmer.

Lengthwise, cut the cardboard core of a paper towel roll to make it easy to insert the waxed paper covered dough log.  After 1 hour of refrigeration and if the dough log is firmer, remove one log at a time from the refrigerator to insert into the cut cardboard core. Squeeze the cardboard core to fit the dough log and roll forward and backward repeatedly to form a uniform quarter-sized dough log.  Place the rolled log back into the refrigerator to get completely firm, 1 to 2 hours.  Repeat the rolling process with the other 2 dough logs; then return them to the refrigerator to get firm.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  For easy handling, slice each firm dough log into half; then remove the waxed paper from a half log and return the other half to the refrigerator.  Slice the dough log into thin slices (or francs) and place on an ungreased baking pan.  The francs can be placed fairly close to each other on the pan since the francs rise only slightly.  Continue slicing the francs and placing on pans. Bake one pan at a time for 10 minutes or until very lightly browned.  Allow the francs to get completely cold on the pans before removing to a container that can be tightly covered.

Makes: 130 francs.

This recipe comes from my cookbook, DINING ON THE VICTORIAN VERANDAH.  I have added extra details to make rolling sticky dough easier for you.  Perhaps you have an even easier method that you could share with me.  I am all eyes and ears when it comes to anything that can be done easier!  So please feel free to pass along any tips and, of course, your favorite recipes to be used on this Free Online Cookbook at @MagnoliaCollectionRecipes.com