Quickest and simplest cheese straws

Hello my loves,

I don't really have a sweet tooth - sure, from time to time I crave to indulge in chocolate fudge brownies or Ben and Jerry's ice cream. But, on the whole I'd rather have a sausage roll or packet of crisps over a cake or packet of biscuits. I find this as a bit of a blessing (usually less calories), but I always prefer to bake sweet treats rather than cook a savoury snack. Cheese straws are an exception, I love them! I loved to eat them when I was little, and still do, but better yet they are so quick and easy to make. Thought I'd do a post on my little recipe - if you can even call it that - and how I cook them.

Here's what you need...

- Roll of puff pastry; you can make it but it's so time consuming and tricky to make well (you could use shortcrust too)

- English mustard; again, you can use wholegrain or even marmite!

- Cheese; I'm using mature cheddar but use whatever is your favourite

And this is how to make them...

Take your pastry roll out of the fridge 20 minutes in advance. Now roll out you sheet of pastry slightly (put flour down first to ensure it doesn't stick to your work surface) and slice it down the middle into two equal slabs.

Brush a thin, equal layer of mustard all over one half of the pastry. You can use whole grain mustard if you wish to... marmite is also another really good one to use.

Grate some cheese - however much you think is enough for your taste. As you can see, I like it cheesy lol. I recommend using the side of the grater that grates its a bit thinner, the thicker side can be a bit much and also falls out when you start to twist it.

Now place the other half of the pastry over the top, roll slightly and trim the edges to neaten.

Now cut into lengths. Try to make them the same width - it will help with cooking times as they'll all cook at roughly the same speed and rate.

Now twist each length... once you've done one you kind of get into the rhythm, it's kind of like twisting your hair lol! Place them onto a baking tray - whether you use greaseproof if totally up to you, I use it just in case these stick (they generally don't).

I then put them in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees, and this should take about 10-15 minutes. But basically, just keep an eye on them until they go golden brown like this. Don't they look so delicious?!

Sorry this was such a mammoth, picture heavy post. I got a bit happy snappy and apparently I like taking pictures of food! Have you ever tried making cheese straws? What's your favourite savoury snack? Hopefully this was helpful and you try it out :D

natalieslovex