Merry day-before-Christmas-Eve, friends! I’m going to keep this post short in case you are in the throes of last-minute gift shopping, menu planning, working (boo) or, more hopefully, sitting by the fire with your friends and family enjoying copious amounts of nog and good cheer.
If you’re the kind of people who like to snack throughout the holiday (my family are those people), I highly encourage you to add these smoked gouda cheese straws to the spread. They’re ridiculously simple to make, they taste like cheese and a little like bacon (YES) and you may want to just go ahead and quadruple the recipe below because man, they go fast. As in, I brought them to our Bible study Christmas party last week and left with one straw (which I promptly devoured myself, natch).
Serve these straws on their own, or with a yummy dip on the side. I also thought about dipping them in chocolate for a millisecond — too much? I might still try it. Cheese + chocolate = one very merry Christmas.
I wish you all glad tidings this Christmas and dreams of sugar plums and cheese straws.
Gouda Cheese Straws
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups smoked Gouda cheese, about 6 oz, shredded
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut into quarters
- ¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together shredded cheese, butter, flour, salt and red pepper flakes until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add cream and process 10 to 20 seconds until a dough ball forms.
- Unroll a piece of parchment paper (big enough to fit a baking sheet) on a countertop and lightly dust with flour. Roll out dough to an 8-by-10-inch rectangle about 1/4-inch thick.
- Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, slice dough into thin strips about 1/4-inch wide. Dust off excess flour and carefully transfer dough, on parchment paper, to a baking sheet. Line another baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide strips between baking sheets, setting them about 1/4-inch apart on the sheets.
- Bake 15 minutes until straws are slightly puffy and lightly golden on the ends. Transfer baking sheets to cooling racks to cool straws completely.
- Serve cheese straws at room temperature.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
We need some more snacks around this time of year. These sound delicious!
Oh my god. These are genius. I love smoked gouda, but crispy and baked? I need to never make these or else I’ll be forever addicted I’m pretty sure. (And by that, I mean, I need to make them ASAP!)
My family is definitely a snacking family! These need to be made ASAP!
It’s Christmas eve here in Australia… well, by about 8 minutes, that is! Excitement. Love the look of these gorgeous cheese straws, I can definitely imagine munching my way through this entire batch! Yum. Thanks for the recipe Steph! Merry Christmas to you and yours x
Kelly — Do it! They’re super duper easy. Thanks!
Erika — That’s a good way to live. 🙂 Thanks, dear! Merry Christmas!
Marissa — YES to all those cheeses. Anything goes! 🙂 Thanks so much for pinning!
oh my gouda! Love it. I buy packaged cheese straws more often than I’m proud of, so I’m totally making these.
Smoked Gouda is hands down my favorite. I might add it to everything. Now I want to add it to cheese straws.. Happy Holidays to you!!
Ah, gouda is one of my favorite cheeses! I have to try this! Imagine if you did shredded pepper jack or even shredded habanero cheese…? Mmm. Pinning now!