Baking Cheese Straws

Our youngest is coming to spend a little time with us and we always try to have cheese straws when she comes.  When I first tasted these goodies and got the recipe, my sister-in-law was making them — John and I both fell in love with the straws.  Joyce used a Cookie King cookie press, because the little plate that fits in the bottom of the cylinder has to have the right kind of opening for the dough to come through and shape the straws.  Well, Cookie King is made no more so I bought another kind.  That was wrong — it wouldn’t do what I wanted done and then I went to E-Bay.  I finally found one I could afford and it had to come from Canada.  It took several weeks, but it finally arrived and we’ve been using it for several years.

John does the turning of the little crank, then I cut the dough into serving size pieces.  The recipe says to bake at 350 degrees; however, my oven seems to be cooler and I bake mine at 400 for about ten minutes — they are not supposed to be brown.  Let them cool for a few minutes after removing them from the oven before taking them up.  They are somewhat crumbly and have to be handled with care.  About the hot pepper — I have a new container of red pepper, but it doesn’t have much power to it, so I used more pepper than the recipe calls for and, too, it depends on how hot your like yours.  Enjoy — this is one of the best parts of country living.

Ingredients

Cheese Straws

1 lb. sharp or extra sharp cheese – grated
2 sticks of margarine – soften
3 cups plain flour
1 tsp hot pepper
1 tsp salt
Combine the ingredients, put in the cookie press a little at a time and bake at 350 degrees.

John turns forces the dough out