A "Double Take" on Munchy Cheddar Bites
With the Super Bowl fast approaching, many people are beginning to think about what to serve during the year’s most important game day.
Barbecued ribs and chicken drummettes are de rigueur for Super Bowl parties.
But what about those in your party crowd who don’t eat meat? Why not serve up something a little more ambitious this year. . .and something that will appeal to every palate?
To the rescue comes the new book “Double Take: One Fabulous Recipe, Two Finished Dishes, Feeding Vegetarians and Omnivores Together.” Co-authored by my buddy A.J. Rathbun (a renowned Seattle mixologist and prolific, award-winning author) and his friend and meat-loving chef, Jeremy Holt, “Double Take” is an engaging way of looking at life from both sides of the culinary fence.
“‘Double Take’ came out of having meals with family and friends, or being invited to meals, where the vegetarians and the omnivores would have different dishes—meals that didn’t seem to reflect the communal nature of dining,” Rathbun (who has been a vegetarian for 23 years) says. “Eating with family and friends should be something that brings people together, not drives them apart.”
So today, for your Super Bowl dining pleasure, we offer up a recipe straight from the pages of “Double Take:” Munchy Cheddar Bites. The vegetarian version is similar to buttery Cheddar straws. The meat-lovers option includes what else? Crisp-cooked bacon crumbles!
A.J. suggests serving these cheese-y bites with warm apple cider, either virgin or spiked. For the spiked version, add rum and cinnamon schnapps to taste and garnish with cinnamon sticks and a few whole cloves.
Sounds like the perfect food-and-beverage pairing for this year’s Super Bowl extravaganza.
Munchy Cheddar Bites
Makes 30 bites: 15 for vegetarians and 15 for meat eaters
4 cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups finely shredded cheddar cheese (6 ounces)
1 3/4 cups milk
3 bacon slices, cooked until crisp
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and mustard. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry blender (or, if you don’t have one, use two knives). Keep working with the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Add the cheese to the bowl, and stir until the cheese is combined with the other ingredients. Add the milk and stir with a spoon until it is completely mixed into the dough.
3. Split the dough into equal parts, and transfer one part to a new bowl.Crumble the bacon and add it to the dough in one of the bowls. Using a spoon, mix the bacon into the dough.
4. Wash your hands, if necessary, to remove any bacon, and lightly grease two baking sheets. Starting with the bacon-free dough, form the dough into small rounds using a spoon or your hands, then place the rounds on one of the baking sheets. Repeat the process using the dough with bacon and the second baking sheet.
5. Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. If you had the sheets on different racks in the oven, carefully switch the position of the sheets. Bake for 10 more minutes, until the bites are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into one of the bites.
Serve warm.
Make It All Vegetarian: Omit the bacon, and skip step 3. Form the dough into rounds and bake as directed.
Make It All Meat: Increase the amount of bacon to 6 slices. In step 3 don’t divide the dough before adding the bacon. Form the dough into rounds and bake as directed.
Robinson Lighting on July 04, 2011 at 02:44 AM
wow is very tasty . i like this recipe . thank you.
http://www.robinsonlightingcentre.com/
Bettye VanderVeen on April 13, 2012 at 04:31 AM
I have collected recipes from friends and family for over forty years. Finally my husband and I wrote a cookbook, a life long dream. Recipes were tested many times before including in cookbook.
One of my recipes was fron a friend in Scottsdale Az. The recipe was for Cheese Straws. This recipe said to use Margarine instead of butter. Every other recipe in my cookbook I use butter! The margarine you must use needs to have 100 calories per tablespoon (will tell you this on the box). You will be surprised how much crisper (or at least I was) the cheese straws were than when you use butter. Spreads want work too much water. Now, if I am making any kind of cheese biscuits or cheese straws, I always use margarine. Thanks Bettye VanderVeen
party bus rental ny on May 16, 2012 at 09:48 PM
These orders and entrees are guilt free and heavenly. Why can't parties grab this concepts?