Cheddar Penny Breakdown

I have been defeated. By cheese.
Well, not defeated..I'm just being dramatic. But I had my first failed experiment!
To be honest, I'm glad it happened with the cheddar pennies and not with a different delicious (chocolatey) dessert!

They were supposed to be little crisp things-- According to the picture in the book, anyway. And I was expecting a crispness, sort of like a Better Cheddar.

However, what I got was a big mess. They got HUGE, and spread a lot. The recipe calls for 1/3 cup flour and I admittedly put in a little less, but the dough was getting crumbly already! But that was probably the mistake. Also, despite following the recipe they came out bigger than I expected them to (even at the start, when I was cutting them.)

I'm not sure how to fix them, but the recipe is easy enough that maybe I'll suck it up and make them again one day!

Sigh. Next week will be better!

Cheddar Penny Recipe

• 4 tbsp butter at room temperature, diced
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup flour
• pinch of salt
• pinch of chili powder

Preparation

• Cream the butter with an electric mixer.
• Use a spoon to stir in the cheese, flour, salt, and chili powder.
• Use your hands to form the dough into a ball.
• On a lightly floured surface, shape dough into a "long cylinder" about 1 1/4" in diameter.
• Wrap in waxed paper and chill for 1-2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350°
• Either grease two cookie sheets, or cover with parchment paper.
• Cut dough into 1/4" thick slices and put on the cookie sheets.
• Bake for about 15 minutes.

My tips:
Use all of the flour, and maybe a little more. Mine came out "greasy", so extra flour could cut down on this and also keep them from spreading.

Roll the dough into a slightly thinner rope than you think is good.

Cut the pennies slightly thinner than you initially intend to.

Make a double batch! Even if you have a successful batch, this recipe doesn't make a lot!