Tasty Tuesday -- Cheese Pennies

Surprise guests can be a joy...and a pain. What to serve guests that make it seem as if you were psychic enough --or brilliant enough-- to know they were coming? This freezer special delights are more savory than stale cookies from a bag.


Cheese Pennies
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
¾ lb Old Cheddar, grated
1 large egg yolk
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon hot mustard powder
¼ teaspoon salt
In a food processor, combine the butter and egg yolk until smooth and creamy. Add the grated cheese and blend well; cheese does not have to be completely incorporated into mixture.
Stir the salt, mustard and flour together until evenly blended.
Add the dry mix to the food processor in one go, clean the sides of the bowl and pulse just until the dough comes together to form a ball. Dough will be very soft; try not to over process or handle too much, as the delicacy of the penny will be compromised.
Ready two sheets of parchment paper. Divide the dough in half, placing each piece on a parchment. Working with one half, gently nudge the dough into a log about an inch to an inch and a half thick, using the parchment paper.
Wrap the log in the parchment and then in plastic wrap: refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours. The logs can be kept up to one week in the fridge or three months in the freezer!

When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 350 F.
Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Remove logs from the refrigerator or freezer and unwrap. Slice into ¼ inch pieces and arrange on lined baking tray. No need to worry about crowding as the pennies don’t expand much. The longer time is for frozen pennies.
Bake until golden, about 10-13 minutes. Makes about 100 pennies.
Serve slightly warm.