Cheese Coins

December is a big birthday month around here (my brother, father-in-law, and husband all have their birthdays within a 10 day period). Now that the celebrations are more or less over (aside from a small get together on Saturday night), and the kids’ various activities have come to an end for the holidays, it’s time for the Christmas baking to begin.
The first thing on my list for this year was a batch of Cheese Coins, which are basically savory shortbread cookies. They’re rich and flaky and were an instant favorite when I made them for the first time about four years ago. Aside from being delicious, they’re also a very convenient thing to have on hand for the holidays, as the dough can be kept in the fridge or freezer for weeks, and baked fresh as needed.On top of all their other wonderful attributes, cheese coins are also incredibly easy to make, and can be whipped up in the food processor within minutes. I was excited to finally get to crack open the package of paprika that my in-laws brought me from their trip to Hungary last summer. It seems to have a lot more colour than the kind I usually use (the cayenne,which is piled on top of the paprika in the top photo, isn’t nearly as rich and red), which added a bright tinge to the dough. Here’s the dough all wrapped up and ready for the freezer. Once the dough has had a chance to chill, you just slice it up and bake it for 20 minutes. Topped with a dab of sweet red pepper jelly, they’ll be snapped up with lightening speed. Come to think of it, I might have to make another batch. This batch is looking not quite right for some reason. It may be that I didn’t let it chill long enough before baking it (I had to show you the end result!), but I also may have overdone it a bit with the cheese – I grated a bit too much but threw it in anyway. Thankfully, they taste just fine!

If you’d like to try them out for yourself, you can find the recipe here. The only adjustment I make is to reduce the cayenne by half (for the kids’ sake).

On another note, something strange has happened so that all of my photos on Blogger enlarge to a ridiculous size. Does anyone have any idea what might be going on? I didn’t actually change anything (that I know of) with my camera or blog settings. If you have any suggestions, I’d be very grateful!