As you can probably tell, I love pretty much all cheese. I get asked a lot what my favourite cheese is or which cheese I would take to a desert island (which are completely different questions; halloumi isn’t my favourite cheese but that’s what I’d take to a desert island). There’s no one answer for it, as it depends on what mood I’m in, what the weather’s like and who’s paying. But Stilton would have to be up there in all its creamily piquant loveliness.
G.K. Chesterton was a very rotund writer famously quoted as saying: ‘Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.’ He attempted to redress this balance by writing a sonnet in praise of Stilton but, instead of reproducing that, I’ll take the tenuous opportunity to quote a humorous exchange between Chesterton and his svelte contemporary George Bernard Shaw:
Chesterton: To look at you, anyone would think there was a famine in England.
Shaw: To look at you, anyone would think you caused it.
Meow! But he was a fool to mess with GBS.
This recipe is for a savoury shortbread in which the flavours of Stilton and rosemary battle it out to happy effect. The only problem with cheese-flavoured biscuits is knowing what to put on them. Cheese or butter seems like over-kill. I solved the problem by drinking sloe gin with them.
Ingredients
70g Stilton cheese, crumbled
55g butter
60g plain flour
25g cornflour
Pinch of salt
Big grinding of black pepper
½ tbsp rosemary leaves, finely chopped
1 tbsp finely chopped walnuts
Cream together the Stilton and butter.
Add both flours and the rest of the ingredients and mix together to form a dough.
Put the ball of dough into the fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180˚C /160˚C fan-assisted/Gas Mark 4. Make the dough into eight cookie shapes. You can use a cutter but I just pressed them in the palm of my hand. Arrange them on some baking paper in a baking tin.
Bake for 10-15 minutes until they are lightly browned. They will still be soft to the touch but will harden up as they cool down.
Because this recipe uses blue cheese I am adding it to this month’s Cheese, Please! Challenge, which you can find here.
I am also adding it to Cooking with Herbs, hosted by Lavender and Lovage.
These look delicious, love the name of your blog and the recount of the witty exchange.
Thank you🙂 They were so delicious that they disappeared in the blink of an eye! I had only made eight in case they were horrid but could easily have made three times that amount.
So much better than the cheese “straws” I grew up on in the American South. I am making these, no doubt!
Let me know how you get one! Although I am partial to a cheese straw too, maybe made with a good strong Cheddar or a soft goat’s cheese…
Lovely….and a bit spooky!! This morning I was watering my rosemary-in-a- pot by the deli door, when a customer,(apologising for ‘disturbing’ me? Er…it’s a shop!!), came to buy some of the local damson gin! And now your post! It seems fate has destined me to make some of your cheesy shortbread ……Thank you🙂
You can’t fight destiny! Cheesy biscuits with gin it must be😉
Sloe gin, yum, Stilton, nom. Shortbread, heaven. Delicious all round.
Er – why would you take halloumi to a desert island?
I have pondered the dilemma long and hard. It would probably be hot and so I wouldn’t want something like a strong Cheddar or Stilton. But fresh cheese wouldn’t keep long. I would also probably be cooking on a fire. Therefore halloumi will cook well and, if I bury it in a deep hole on the beach, say, it might keep for a bit longer. But I am open to other suggestions😉
I believe Robinson Crusoe had goats but I suppose ou can’t rely on that🙂
Hey love your style…. sloe gin the only answer to that dilemma!
If in doubt, reach for gin😉
I like your style – shortbread and sloe gin!
I is a classy lady😉
Ooh, nice!! Lovely recipe ☺️
Very moreish😉
Yum! Those shortbread look divine!
I nominated you for a Liebster Award.
Here is the link back to my blog with all the info:
http://sophisticatedjerseygirl.wordpress.com/2014/04/08/liebster-2/
Cheers!
Gosh, thank you, that is really kind🙂
You’re welcome! Cheese is one of my favorite food groups, so I love reading your posts🙂
These look and sound fantastic, gorgeous flavours.
I’d never really thought about blue cheese and rosemary but they go well together.
These sound amazing.
They are very tasty – and got eaten very quickly!
Such an interesting flavor combo! I’d love to try these😀
If you like blue cheese, I think you’ll like them!
I might spread these with my crab apple and herb jellies. I’ve one with thyme at the moment, but could try with rosemary come the autumn.
Sloe gin is the bomb, isn’t it? I am particularly partial to sloe gin fizz, but that is more of a canape type drink.
Or I guess you could make the shortbread with thyme – that could work. I used to make sage jelly which was rather nice. And yes, sloe gin – yum.
Reading through the comments, it’s interesting to see that you really have taken some time to consider the whole desert island cheese thing! Without giving it too much thought, I’m pretty sure Stilton wouldn’t even make it into my eight cheeses to take to the island. But combined with rosemary in your shortbread… and if some sloe gin was on offer too, I might just pick it as my luxury.
Haha, I didn’t spend a huge amount of time thinking about it, don’t worry😉 That would be a bit tragic.
Yum – definitely giving these a go.
This shortbread sounds sensational. I’ll be drinking mine with wine.
Not quite made it up to Stilton on my cheesy ladder yet but in a biscuit is another matter altogether,I think I could do that!
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