A savoury cheddar cheese dough filled with hot pepper jelly for adult tastes — or very adventurous kids! The dough is a perfect salty complement to the spicy sweet hot pepper jelly. These are great for appetizers or to serve with drinks. Just don’t set them out with the other Christmas cookies without a warning!
Ingredients
1-1/2 cups shredded white sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup finely chopped pecans or unblanched almonds
1 cup hot pepper jelly
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 F and line baking sheet with parchment paper. In food processor, pulse together cheddar and parmesan cheeses and butter until smooth. Add egg yolk and pepper; pulse until blended. Add flour; pulse just until soft dough forms. Place finely chopped pecans or almonds on plate. Place 1 cup water in bowl. With hands, roll scant tablespoonfuls (15 ml) of dough into 1-inch balls. Dip in water; roll in nuts to coat. Place on prepared baking sheet. With thumb, make indentation in center of each. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Bake 15 minutes or until firm outside and lightly golden. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and place the baking sheet on a cooling rack, allowing the cookies to cool directly on the baking sheet. If the indentations have filled in, you can press them again gently while still warm. When thoroughly cooled, cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature, or frozen. Before serving, fill indentations with hot pepper jelly. If you have stored the cookies for a time before serving them, you can re-crisp them by baking them at 350 F for 3 minutes, then allow them to cool fully before adding the jelly.
Notes
- We had some complaints that “kids didn’t like these” or that they are “too spicy for kids”. Please take into consideration that hot pepper jelly is…HOT (it’s right there in the name, people)…before giving this to little ones! I consider this to be an adult cookie and expect people to use their judgement in serving this to people. Like…don’t serve it to anyone allergic to nuts, either!