(Chilli) Cheese Straws

Makes approximately 36

Cheese straws are great as a nibble with drinks, and making your own is easy and you can choose which cheese to flavour them with.

Using a ready-rolled puff pastry makes it super quick to prepare and you don’t have to worry about rolling the pastry out to an exact thickness.

I used Mexicana as I wanted to make a slightly spicy straw. That said, using 100g keeps the heat to a gentle background flavour. Obviously if you want more heat or more cheese just add more. 100g is the minimum amount you’ll want to use.

• Ingredients:
• 1 sheet of ready-rolled puff pastry
• 100g hard/semi-hard cheese, grated (I used Mexicana)

Step 1: Preheat an oven to 180-200c and line one or two baking sheets with baking parchment.

Step 2: Lay out your sheet of puff pastry on a board, but keep it on the grease proof paper.

Step 3: Use a sharp knife to carefully cut in two lengthways, then in to strips roughly 2cm wide.

Step 4: Sprinkle the grated cheese over the pastry and then carefully fold each strip in half lengthways, gently pressing down as you go.

Step 5: Pick up each piece and gently stretch and twist, and lay on the lined baking sheet. Repeat with each piece and ensure there is a couple of centimetres gap between each one.

Step 6: Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until risen and golden.

Step 7: Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Keep in an airtight container, best eaten within 24 hours.

For extra oomph try brushing the pastry with a little mustard before sprinkling the cheese. Add thin strips of Parma ham (along with the cheese) for a meaty version.