I’m not afraid of using butter! Not at all, I just prefer using lots of butter on special occasions, or when I’m having female issues, you know?

Italian cheese cookies. Italians sometimes really do it better! Tasty, savory biscuits with lots of cheese, rosemary and sun-dried tomatoes. See! Cookies don’t just go with coffee and tea, they also go with wine and fun evenings with friends!

These are so fantastic you would never believe they have so very few ingredients. I would never tell you what to make or what to do, but you simply have to try these. They’re easy to make, have no fancy ingredients, but are so good you’ll keep eating them.

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I always try to keep the ingredients I use simple – things most people have stored in their kitchen cabinets or can easily buy at their local supermarket. I personally prefer using fresh herbs, but this also works very well with dried rosemary! You can choose between grating your own Parmesan or using pre-grated. Both are fine. If you really want to get snobbish fancy on me, just use a cheese like Parmigiano Reggiano, but I won’t :)

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1 cup Parmesan, grated (100 gr)
1 stick salted, cold butter, diced (roughly 120 grams)
Rosemary, minced or dried
2 or 3 sun-dried tomatoes (on oil), minced finely
Dash cayenne
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

This all there is to it.

Now I always use my food processor for things like these, but you can use a hand mixer, or your hands, as well. Combine flour, cheese, butter, rosemary (I roughly used 1 sprig) cayenne and salt.

If only I could afford a Kitchenaid! Nah, I’m very happy with this one as well, it does the job just fine, but one of these days ……

Pulsate a few times until the dough forms a ball, take it out of the food processor and place it on your kitchen counter or cutting board.

Add the minced sun-dried tomatoes and knead until it’s a supple dough. Shape the dough into a log and place it on top of a piece of foil or wax paper. Wrap tightly.

Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. See the blackish photo at the left top? That’s peeking inside my uterus. Ahhh the wonders of modern day technology.

Preheat your oven to 400F (200c). Use a really sharp knife and slice the dough in fairly thin slices. Don’t be fussy about it -they’re home made cookies and there’s simply no need for them to be absolutely, perfectly round! Part of their charm is the imperfection and the huge amounts of love you put into making them! Now press a single rosemary leave in a few cookies.

Bake the cookies for 10 to 15 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Let them cool on the rack and serve with really cold wine. Or serve with Mojito’s, or exotic cocktails, or wine or beer. Did I say wine already?

Tags: cheese, cookies, italian, parmesan, sundried tomatoes