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Italian Cheese Cookies
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?
Looks so good! Nice post :)
What a fantastic idea! They look great. I’ll be making these for sure.
I just tried this recipe…very nice, but a bit crumbly/dry. I might recommend a bit more butter, or a bit fewer dry ingredients.
Mike, you always have to play a bit with the ingredients in recipes, if it seems too dry, add a little butter while kneading if you feel you need it! Maybe you didn’t use the butter straight from the fridge? That seems to work best. Make the recipe your own!
Kay – you’re absolutely right about playing with the ingredients and making a recipe one’s own. While I’m pretty good in the kitchen, this was the first time I’ve done any baking in a very, very long time. I’ve found that the biscuits are much tastier and somehow less dry the day after. Thanks again for the recipe!
Now that’s new to me. They always go so fast here they don’t last a day! :) I’m gonna try making them the day before I need them and see what happens. Thanks for the tip!
Indeed. These do go perfectly with nice cold wine. Oh I’d eat a few of these beauties for sure.
Hi! love ur blog and ur fotography is just fantastic! I’m still working on mine . wld appreciate some tips. btw since ur from holland is it true that ur country’s national dish is sambal belacan and rendang? I remember reading it in some encyclopedia somewhere. Couldn’t believe it? :) anyway like I said ur fotos are just fabulous..love them…I just put ur link on my blog.
Zurin:
Thank you so much for the compliments! No, that’s not our national dish. It’s Indonesian, not Dutch, even though our cooking wil often have Indonesian influences. I don’t even think we have a national dish, to be honest, or it would have to be something along the lines of Dutch split pea soup or curly kale hodgepodge with smoked sausage. Tasty as they are, we’d look bad, real bad, if either one was our national dish :)
Just peeked at your blog and I absolutely love your scrapbook kind of style. Your photos are superb!
I just came over from PW to check for a cookie recipe. I’m so excited to try the Italian Cheese “cookie” … what a fantastic recipe and so easy. I’m off to get some fresh rosemary to make these tonight! Thanks!!!
amazing pictures! interesting recipe! will definitely try it!
Hi. In the photo, there appears to be a very yellow fluid in the food processor, but the ingredients don’t show one. The butter is cold but not in fluid form. What is that in the processor? Thanks
@Caki:
That is actually butter. In the netherlands they sell fluid butter.
These look so interesting, I have to try it! AND I have all the ingredients, yay!
I just tried this recipe for the first time and they’re so yummy! It might take a few more times to get it just right but as someone who doesn’t spend any time really in the kitchen this is an accomplishment for me. Very easy and delicious recipe. Thank you!
If I have to use dried rosemary instead (fresh is expensive here in Singapore) how much of it would I need to use? Dried herbs tend to be less/more pungent I can’t remember…and should I sprinkle a little on top of the cookies as well?
thanks for posting this! I will definitely give it a try~~
Saw your blog bookmarked on Digg.I love your site and marketing strategy.
i love italian cheese cookies. they are sooooooooooooo good
I saw this recipe re-posted on The Kitchn, and I had to make it. These cookies are absolutely spectacular, and so easy. Thanks for this post- this will be in my recipe book for a long time.
ok these are one of my favorites to this day. I successfully veganized them!!! I used Earth Balance instead of butter, and Daiya instead of cow’s milk cheese.
I noticed people above complained about moisture, but I didn’t have any issues. I have never heard of or seen fluid butter. Is something added to the mixture besides milk/salt? I can see a liquid affecting the dough differently than something that isn’t liquid. I’m really curious about fluid butter. I’ll do some research to see if it’s just Americans that miss out on this!
Just making these up for a potluck tomorrow night — can’t wait! They look delicious, and I’ve been dying to use saving the recipe for about two months now :) I know the wait will be worth it!
Fabulous savory cookies! But here in Central PA when you say “cookie” everyone expects SWEET. So I called these crackers. I made 4 batches of them! I varied one batch of the recipe by adding lemon zest and eliminating the sun-dried tomatoes. Another batch I varied by using Kraft parmesan cheese and I can’t believe it’s not butter. Not as good but “diet” compared to the original recipe which is my favorite!
I made them for our company bake sale for United Way. Plus I am making them for my neighbors now who are already clamoring for the recipe! I love this and your writing style! Will be looking over more of your recipes! GREAT JOB!
I’ve have tried this recipe twice now. First time using only cold butter and the second time substituting (good) olive oil for the butter. I must say that everyone preferred the oil version. This is a great website and I am so happy to have run across it. Just love the design of the site and the humor behind it!
OH WOW! just made these and they’re so yummy! i did have to add a little water in the food processor as the dough didn’t come together, and i used dried rosemary instead of fresh, but even the house smells amazing! great recipe – so simple and easy!!