Directions

1. Add a pinch of salt and cayenne pepper to the soft butter and beat the butter till it looks creamy.
2. If using semi-firm cheese, grate it on the coarse grating side of the grater, if hard cheese – on the fine side of the grater. Stronger flavour cheese will have stronger flavour in the cookies. Add the cheese to the butter and mix well.
3. Sift flour in the bowl and mix to form consistent dough. If the dough is too wet, still sticks to your hands, add a little more flour (half a tablespoon, tablespoon at a time). Work the dough just enough to have it consistent, otherwise the butter will keep softening because of warm hands.
4. If you want to add sun-dried tomatoes to the cookies, drain oil from the tomatoes, chop them in small pieces and mix in the dough. If the dough gets wet and sticky from the added oil and tomatoes, add a little more flour.
5. Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and put in the fridge for about an hour or till ready to bake.
6. Heat the oven to 180° C or 400° F and put a silicone baking mat or a piece of parchment paper in a baking tray.
7. Dust a little bit of flour on the kitchen countertop, roll the dough and shape the cookies. I roll the dough like a sausage, cut into small pieces and roll each piece into the shape of a crescent.
8. Arrange the cookies on the baking tray, leaving a little gap between them as they will expand a little while baking.
9. Bake the cookies for about 10 – 15 minutes till they just lightly start to show colour. It is important not to overbake the cheese cookies as they can get bitter if baked too long.
10. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking tray for a few minutes. They are soft, but will harden a bit when cooled down. And enjoy!