Spiced Cheese Wafers #HolidayNibbles #SundayFunday

Today kicks off new group; a fun group of bloggers will be sharing recipes on Sundays. Low stress, just a great group of gals that I am happy to blog alongside. Thanks to Stacy of Food Lust People Love, Sue of Palatable Pastime, Rebekah of Making Miracles, and Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm for coordinating.  Today, we are opening up with a Holiday Nibbles theme. 

Here's the line-up...

• A Chunky Peanut Butter Dip by Sneha's Recipe
• Barbecue Smokehouse Almonds by Palatable Pastime 
• Cheddar Horseradish Dip by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Fontina Salami Bites by Making Miracles 
• Olive Tapenade by Pandemonium Noshery 
• Spiced Cheese Wafers by Culinary Adventures with Camilla 
• Tomato Bread by Our Good Life

Spiced Cheese Wafers

I have always leaned to the savory side when it comes to snacks and even desserts. So, when I thought about what I wanted to share for a holiday nibble, I immediately thought about cheese and crackers. Since we will be focusing on holiday cheese boards another week, I went with crackers. I love that these are so flexible. One time I made them with Smoked Gouda, another time it was Cotswold. Actually this time it was Cotswold. You will just need to adjust the texture of the dough as a more oily cheese will take longer to bake or you will need a smidge more flour.

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cup flour plus more if needed
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 2 cups shredded cheese (I used Cotswold for this batch)
• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 1 to 2 Tablespoons vodka (or you can use water)
• Also needed: parchment paper, rolling pin, cutters (I used a small bicsuit round or you can just cut by hand)

Procedure

Place flour, spices, cheese, and butter in the bowl of a food processor. Cover and pulse until evenly blended. Add vodka or water until a stiff dough forms. 

Turn the dough into a bowl and press it into a cylinder or disc. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

While the dough chills, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Roll dough to about 1/8" thickness on a lightly floured surface or between two sheets of lightly floured parchment paper.

Cut into desired shapes with a small cutter or cut basic squares approximately 1-1/2" in size. Gently transfer shapes to prepared baking sheet using a thin spatula. For larger crackers, you can use the tip of a chopstick or skewer to make a small hole in center of each cracker. For these, I didn't do that.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the bottoms just begin to brown. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

I served these spiced cheese wafer with a small glass of Sweet Bordeaux wine. More on that soon for our November #Winophiles event. But this is a wrap for this inaugural #SundayFunday post. Next week the bloggers will be sharing recipe with squash. Stay tuned.