Cheddar Cheese Straws

Well, I haven't baked them yet but the dough looks reasonable.  Of course I deviated; what kind of cook follows a recipe exactly? (Evil grin.)  Instead of butter I used ghee; ghee is butter that has had the water (15%) and milk solids (8% or so) removed so it's pure fat (pure butterfat).  I also used pre-grated cheese and as I said initially, the dough looks good, perhaps a bit too oily.

I was puzzled by the "ground red pepper" ingredient.  Would that be cayenne?  That would make some very hot cheese sticks.  I have some Mexican dried red pepper; Pasilla, Ancho, New Mexico, whatever it is, I can't remember, so I used that.  I also added 1/4 teaspoon cayenne to give it some zing.

I also halved the recipe.  And most importantly I converted the ingredients to grams and weighed it. Measuring butter (or ghee in my case) by volume is dumb; so much easier by weight.  Same thing for flour.

Hopefully I can update this review after I bake them; I'm going to let the dough rest for an hour or two first.

I made the cheese straws this evening and they were a hit! Heed the other reviews. I did everything according to the recipe (except the type of pepper). The cheese straws came out beautifully. Hand grating the cheese is work, but the difference is noticeable immediately. The fresh grated cheese looks less dry than the pre-shredded and has a better color. I let it sit out about an hour after shredding to come up to room temperature.

SouthernLights is right on the butter! Mine was a perfect consistency after 20 seconds in the microwave. 

Everything wasblended in my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I dumped it all in, used the whip and let it run. Don't panic if it looks like coarse pie crust in a minute. Stir it to see if it is moist. If it is, leave the mixture alone and let the mixer work a little longer. I almost panicked and added water when the mixture looked crumbly. Then I stirred it and noticed the mixture looked moist, just not wet. It looked much better after a couple more minutes in the blender.

The paprika flavor did not come through well. I would bump that up next time. I was out of red pepper and substituted white pepper with a dash of ground black pepper. The results were good. You can probably go with whatever flavor your family likes best. I'm going to try it with chili powder next time and anticipate that the substitution will go favorably.

My new Wilton cookie press did not come with a star tip. I used the large flat tip instead. The mixture came out easily. This made a cracker sized cheese bite which my family is enjoying.

I read where they should last a week in a tightly covered container. There's no way they'll last that long in this house! My best hope is the straws will make it through tomorrow afternoon.

The butter is your liquid. You must follow the directions exactly for this to work. They become crisp when they cool.

I made these following the recipe exactly.  I watched the video multiple times and read all the reviews that said if the ingredients were at room temperature it should work (mine were).  My dough did not look like the videos. Very crumbly.  I had to add some moisture (water) in order for my dough to go through my cookie press.  I probably added a quarter of a cup of water all together (a tablespoon at a time).  I kept putting dough back in the cookie press to see if it would squeeze out before adding anymore water.  I still ended up with a very difficult dough to squeeze through the cookie press.  I have a bruise on my sternum where my arms got so tired I pressed the cookie press against my chest to squeeze the dough through.  The cheese straws are ok.  I made them for a bridal tea tomorrow so we'll see how they go over with that crowd.  Something must be wrong and if not, I will definitely be looking for an alternate cheese straw recipe.

My mother made these often.  They were so good!  I would always rather have these than a cookie.  I'll be trying this out.

FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS EXACTLY. That's the key, plus having ingredients at room temperature. I like them made with a good dash of Tabasco sauce, but no other liquids needed.

Skip these cheese fries altogether. They tasted like an dense not crisp off band of Cheese Its/Nips. Go for just cheese or pick up cheese crackers. It will save you time and not disappoint like these cheese fries.

Have you noticed the ones who don't have any trouble follow the recipe exactly as it is??

Same recipe I have been using for years; I serve them at Christmas to help balance all the sweeties going around. For the person who complained that the proportions were wrong, and there was no liquid: there isn't supposed to be. This is a VERY short dough, much like a savory shortbread, and the butter and cheese, properly softened, will take in all the flour. It is very important also to wrap and chill the dough in the refrigerator for a bit if you are going to be making wafers, as it allows the dough to settle. Only if you are going right to the cookie press should you proceed directly from mixing to shaping. Using extra-sharp cheddar guarantees plenty of flavor, since "sharp" cheddars can vary a lot in flavor. Try it again, adding no liquid and using the full amount of flour, and be sure to mix it all well.

Amazing! Love these. I get compliments on them every time I make them. You definitely have to have the cheese and butter at room temperature though, to make the straws crispy instead of floury.

My mother in law gave me her recipe for cheese straws almost 15 years ago - and this is the same as hers, except that she used bakery flour, not all purpose. These freeze well and my mother in law would make them, freeze them and then deliver them as small homemade Christmas presents or have them on hand for guests who dropped by for a cocktail or to take as a hostess gift to a party. This recipe brings back many many happy memories of visiting with my mother in law in Helena, Arkansas and of all the good times that we shared there. I will be making them again soon!

I made exactly to the recipe, using extra-sharp Cheddar and about 1-1/2 tsp of the ground red pepper. They were absolutely delicious and got rave reviews from my guests. I think having both the butter and cheese at room temperature is the key to mixing the dough and using the cookie press. I'll be making these often.

This was so disappointing. First of all the proportions are totally off. THere is no liquid mentioned in the recipe to moisten the dough. You need to cut back half a cup of flour at least and have 2 tbsp of milk to moisten and form dough. Aside from this issue the taste, no matter what size or method I tried was so bland. Just not worth the ingredient waste at all. Bake time: I baked at the reccomended time then had to add 10-15 additonal minutes. Never got a crispy product or a browned product. Egg wash on straws helps but again-not worth you time here!

I just had a question...do these freeze well? I would like to make them ahead of time.

Excellent. People who do not have a cookie press, should buy one, AND FOLLOW THE RECIPE THAT IS GIVEN TO THEM. Cookie presses are not expensive and you can use it for a lot of things. Cheese straws need to be pressed from a cookie press. Also, cheese straws are not to be made with wheat flour. PLEASE FOLLOW THE RECIPE THAT THEY GIVE YOU.

I don't have a cookie press, so I made the cheese wafers. The result was a very crumbly shortbread type cookie that tasted cheesy. Not offensive, but certainly not exciting. I did substitute 1 C of wheat flour for the white flour, which may explain why they were so crumbly. But the taste wasn't enticing enough to try to recipe again.

Easy to make. I didn't have a cookie press so I rolled the dough to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick and used mini holiday cookie cutters to cut out shapes and baked as directed. I didn't chill before hand but what I wasn't using at the time, I did put in the frig.