Cream cheese and Herb Biscuits

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Serves: 4

Makes: 8 rolls

Preparation: Allow 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 12 minutes

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This is a Guest Recipe courtesy of Nigel Slater and published din The Guardian 26th May 2024 

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‘These need to be handled carefully and eaten within an hour or so of being filled’: cream cheese and herb biscuits. 

The most fragile of biscuits, these need to be handled carefully and eaten within an hour or so of being filled. Whether you fill them or not, they are best eaten on the day they are made. You can leave them rough edged or, for a neater finish, use a cookie cutter on them as soon as they come from the oven. The trimmings left behind are something to scatter over a dish of pasta. 

 

 

 

Ingredients

 

plain flour 125g
butter 125g, cold
parmesan 125g, finely grated
egg yolks 2, lightly beaten
Aleppo pepper or paprika a generous pinch

For the filling:
full-fat cream cheese 250g
dill, chives and tarragon leaves 1 tbsp each, finely chopped

To finish:
chives, garlic flowers or a pinch of Aleppo pepper

Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. If you have a spare baking sheet, put one in the oven to warm.

Put the plain flour, butter and a grinding or two of black pepper into the bowl of a food processor and reduce to the texture of soft, fresh breadcrumbs. (I rather enjoy doing this by hand, rubbing the flour and butter to velvety crumbs with fingers and thumbs.)

 

 

Method

 

Mix in the finely grated parmesan – and it must be finely grated otherwise your biscuits will fall apart – then, using a fork, mix in the egg yolks and Aleppo pepper. Bring the dough together with lightly floured hands to form a ball, cut in half, then roll each one into a fat cylinder about 5cm in diameter.

Slice each roll of dough into rounds, about 0.5cm thick (you should get about 12 from each roll), then place the biscuits on the parchment-lined baking sheet leaving a little space around each one.

Bake for 10 minutes in the oven on top of the hot baking sheet – they should be a rich golden colour – then leave to settle for 5 minutes before carefully transferring to a cooling rack, using a palette knife. (If you pick them up with your fingers they will probably crumble.)

 

 

To make the filling, scoop the cream cheese into a mixing bowl, then stir in the chopped herbs and mix well. When the biscuits are cool, set half of them aside. Turn one half of them over then place 2 heaped teaspoons of filling on to each one. Lightly press one of the reserved biscuits on top of each one and transfer to a serving plate or board. If you wish, place a tuft of chive or garlic flowers on top, or the merest pinch of Aleppo pepper.