Cheese straws

My dad was complaining about all the sweet things I've been baking lately and why I haven't made cheese scones or straws. I decide that cheese straws sounded nice so found a recipe in Simply Baking by Sybil Kapoor. The recipe was simple enough but not cheesy enough for my dad so I would recommend adding extra cheese if you like cheesy cheese straws.

Makes around 30
Ingredients
225g plain flour
1 egg
1/2tsp salt
1tsp paprika
115g butter
115g cheese, grated (more if you want them extra cheesy)

Method
1. Lightly oil three baking sheets.

2. Shift the flour, salt and paprika into a large bowl. Using your fingertips, lightly rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the cheese. Mix in the egg and between 2-5 tbsp of cold water until the crumbs begin to hold together, turn out onto a lightly surface. Lightly knead until smooth.

3.cut the dough in half and roll out the first half to about 5mm thick. The pastry needs to be thick enough to twist without breaking. Trim the edges and cut into strips, each about 20cm long and 1cm wide. Gently twist each strip and lay on a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pastry till you've made around 30 straws 

4. Carefully burst all the straws with beaten egg or milk. Chill for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180c.

5. bake the straws for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire wrack.

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Karen