Savory Rosemary Cheese Spritz Crackers

In my quest to find savory recipes to make, I found this one.  I love it because it takes you through the motions of baking but won't leave you with an aching sweet tooth!

Clovers in honor of St. Patty's Day!

Savory Rosemary Cheese Spritz Crackers

Source: Foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1 large egg yolk

6 tablespoons heavy cream

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup finely grated Pecorino cheese

1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary leaves

1 teaspoons fine salt

Pinch freshly ground nutmeg 

Special Equipment: Cookie press

1. Bring all ingredients to room temperature.

2. Beat the butter and lemon zest with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, about 30 seconds. Slowly beat in the egg yolk and cream. OR: mix by hand like I do.

3. Whisk the flour, pecorino, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, sugar, rosemary, salt, and nutmeg together in a bowl. 4. Gradually add the flour mixture into the butter mixture while mixing slowly. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then beat on medium speed to make a slightly sticky dough.

5. Fill the cookie press with the dough. Assemble the press with the desired disk shape (see cook's note), and press cookies onto ungreased baking sheets. Leave about one inch between cookies. 

6. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan and refrigerate cookies for 20 minutes.

7. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

8. Bake cookies, rotating pan halfway through, until golden, the cheese browns a bit, and the cookies smell nutty, about 20 to 25 minutes. Briefly cool the crackers on the baking sheets, then transfer to racks to cool. Serve or store in a tightly sealed container for up to 1 month.

Cook's Notes (from Foodnetwork.com): These freeze beautifully. Press the cookies out into desired shapes on cookie sheets and freeze. Transfer frozen crackers to a plastic bag, seal, and keep frozen for up to 1 month. When ready to bake, lay out frozen crackers on cookie trays and bake from frozen for 25 minutes.

Some disk shapes work better than others. Since this is savory cracker, we liked the cutters that result in a cracker shape cookie, like the ribbon, clover. Stars and and snowflakes work, too. 

My notes: 

- My crackers foamed with butter in the oven.  If this happens to you, make sure to be careful when turning the tray and removing them from the oven because they will slide around.  I put them on a cooling rack topped off with a paper grocery bag and paper towels to absorb some grease.

- I made these with the intention of sharing them on St. Patty's Day, but they were so good we ate all of them.  That's a lot of butter!

- I used only Pecorino cheese for simplicity's sake and they were delicious!

Here you can see my system for grease removal. 

Valentines Day! Part Deux (Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies)

Happy Valentine's Day!


A couple of weeks ago, Val passed on to me a vintage Mirro Cookie Press.  Even though press cookies are traditionally made for the holidays, I didn't want to wait another 10 months.  Plus, I could use some practice before next Christmas!

Vintage cookie press- still in (what's left of) the original box!

Speaking of Christmas, Karen sent us some delicious spritz cookies this year and I decided to use her recipe.

Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies from Fine Cooking Holiday Baking Winter 2004

See Karen's post here.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened at room temperature

3 oz cream cheese softened at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 lg egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla extract

11.25 oz (2 1/2 cups) flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Beat butter, cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
3. Add egg yolk and vanilla and beat again until blended. Add flour and mix on low until well blended.
4. Follow directions of cookie press and press cookies onto ungreased baking sheet about 1 inch apart.
5. Bake until just golden around the edges...10 - 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring.
Store at room temperature or freeze in an airtight container, separating the cookie layers with wax paper.

Notes:
- Since my mixer died (twice) a couple of weeks ago, I have been making everything without it.  Hopefully this will result in some nice arm muscles AND it is definitely doable.  A pastry blender/ cutter works wonders when a whisk won't do the trick.  I have wanted a Kitchen Aid stand mixer forever, but since I'm getting by without one I'll probably keep putting it off.
- If you are a new cookie press user like me, I suggest starting with a few test batches to get the hang of things.  Press a couple of cookies onto the sheet and bake them off just to see how they turn out... make sure to eat your mistakes so nobody knows.  At least that is my rule.  Hehe.
-I recommend a light colored and/or insulated cookie sheet.

The plate above actually results in heart shaped cookies with lovely scalloped edges.  The booklet that came with the press is full of little ditties like "Party time is Pastry time."