Rosemary & Cheese Biscuits

A memorable cheddar and puffed rice treat twisted with flavours of an Aussie summer holiday.

Cheese biscuits served on a rosemary and cherry tomato wreath • Photography © Bottle and Brush Studio 2018

What we do in the holiday season? We gather, sing and nibble and that’s okay, it only happens “une fois par année”*! This crispy cheese biscuits recipe is adapted from a popular recipe my mum sometimes made when I was a child and my sister and I were crazy about it. I’ve modified some ingredients, adding rosemary, which is a popular herbal flavour that is also often used in recipes and to decorate the summer holiday table. I also added some bushspices as an Australian native taste. Tomato bush, wattleseed and pepperberry have been a revelation to me, especially combined with cheese. If you can’t find these spices, the rosemary alone will also taste so good and while cooking those biscuits, the perfume coming from the oven is just amazing. The biscuit base is made with crispy rice cereal, cheddar (called “tasty” cheese in Australia), flour and butter. They can be served as part of a festive grazing buffet table or afternoon savoury snack.

*Referring to a part of the lyrics line from a Québec traditional holiday song “Dans le temps du jour de l’an” of La Bolduc (and no we are not related), meaning “let’s just enjoy it, it only happens once a year”.

Biscuit platter to add on a holiday grazing table • © Bottle and Brush Studio 2018

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS (for about 30 biscuits):

1 ½ cups of cheddar (tasty) cheese

1 cup plain flour

1 cup crispy rice cereal (organic if you can find, or Rice Krispies that is called Rice Bubbles in Oz)

125g butter

1 egg

1 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped (plus extra sprigs to display on the dish to serve)

Pinch of Australian bush spices like bush tomatoes, roasted wattleseeds or pepperberry (optional)

PREPARATION: Preheat oven at 180C/350F.

Mix flour and butter using 2 knifes to chop it into small pieces.

Add cheese, cereal, spices and rosemary.

Beat the egg and pour over all ingredients, mix it all well.

Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.

Form little balls of 3 cm diameter and place on the trays.

Flatten the balls with a fork.

If your oven does not fit both trays on the same shelf, do one at a time.

Cook about 15 to 20 minutes until the biscuits are looking golden.

Let cool down before serving.

Can be stored in cool dark space or fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Note: placing them on paper towel will help to remove excess oil.

#thecheeseplatter