Making of Savoury Parmesan Cheese Cookies
On this blog post, I will be sharing about the recipe of one of my favorite cookies, parmesan cheese cookies. First, I usually prepare 145g of powdered sugar or icing sugar, 1 egg, 250g of butter, 320g of flour, 80g of starch powder, and half teaspoon of baking soda powder and 100g of parmesan cheese powder. The amount of icing sugar and parmesan cheese powder can be increased according to liking but reducing from given amount will affect the taste. The butter must be left to soften in room temperature hours before making cookies if it is previously stored in the fridge.
The butter is then blended with a hand mixer until fluffy.
The icing sugar and egg are added to the butter. The mixture is blended until fluffy and milky.
The half teaspoon of baking soda powder and starch powder is mixed well with flour. The mixture of powder is sieved while added into the previous mixture to ensure proper mixing of the two mixtures later. Without the process of sieving, the powder may clumps up and make it difficult to be mixed well.
Next, the parmesan cheese powder is added. The resulting mixture is mixed well with a spoon until it becomes a soft dough.
Then, prepare the baking tray. It must be washed thoroughly and dried with a clean cloth. The parchment paper or baking paper is cut according to the size of the baking tray and placed on it. The baking paper prevents the cookies from sticking to the tray and absorbed the grease to reduce the burden of cleaning.
Cookie squeezer or non-stick cookie mould can be used to style the cookies. I am not using it here so I just pinch off the cookie dough and roll the pinch into a smooth tiny ball. The balls of cookie dough are arranged orderly with sufficient space in between. The balls of cookie dough may spread in the process of heating later so try not to roll them big and thick or placed them closely packed. It may end up joining with one another in the tray, forming wide flat cookies. The process of styling the cookies go on until all cookie dough is used up.
The oven is preheated at 150 degree Celsius for 15 minutes. The temperature and duration can be adjusted according to the type of oven. This can be done simultaneously during the styling process. It is optional but if you want more decoration, you sprinkle almond nibs or peanut nibs or sesame seeds on the cookies. Then, press them into the cookie dough with gentle pressure. Mixing them with the dough before styling will be more effective.
The baking tray is then inserted into the oven and heated for 20 to 25 minutes or longer depends on the temperature and type of oven. Now you can go on with other work but remember to check on the cookies from time to time. After 20 minutes, take out one of the cookies, cool it and taste it. If the texture is still soft and not crispy, heat the remaining for 10 minutes more. The checking process goes on until the resulting cookie is crispy.
The baking tray is removed from the oven and the oven must be switched off. The cookies are left to cool naturally. It must not be cooled with a fan or other forced cooling method to maintain the crispy texture. After the cookies are cooled totally, they are stored in an airtight container and labelled. You can review the taste and think of any modification desired for the next baking. Remember to drink more water while eating cookies and never let the container open for a long period of time to prevent the cookies from going soft.
