Jo's Cheese Wafers
- 1 cup pecans
- 2 sticks (1 cup) plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 pound extra-sharp Cheddar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- parchment paper for lining baking sheets
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a shallow baking pan toast pecans in one layer in middle of oven until a shade darker and fragrant, about 10 minutes.
- Transfer nuts while still hot to a bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon butter and salt to taste.
- Cool nuts completely and finely chop.
- Coarsely grate Cheddar and transfer to a large bowl.
- Cut remaining 2 sticks butter into 16 pieces and scatter over cheese.
- Let cheese and butter soften.
- Add nuts, flour, and cayenne and with an electric mixer beat mixture until it forms a dough.
- Divide dough into 8 pieces.
- On a sheet of wax paper roll each piece of dough into a 1-inch-diameter log and wrap logs tightly in wax paper and foil.
- Chill logs at least 8 hours and up to 1 week.
- Dough keeps, frozen, 2 months.
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Working with 1 log at a time, with a sharp knife cut log crosswise into 1/8-inch-thick slices and arrange slices 1/2 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.
- Bake wafers in batches in middle of oven until pale golden and just firm to the touch, 10 to 12 minutes.
- Cool wafers on baking sheet 2 minutes.
- With a metal spatula transfer wafers to a rack to cool.
- Turn wafers over and sprinkle with salt to taste.
- (Crevices on undersides hold salt without letting it roll off.)
- Wafers keep in an airtight container at room temperature 4 days.
pecans, butter, cheddar, flour, cayenne pepper, parchment paper
Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/jos-cheese-wafers-15808 (may not work)