Cheese Cookie

Ingredients:

89g Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, finely grated

89g plain flour

60g unsalted butter, cold

11g egg white (about 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon), lightly whisked. 

1g salt

Method:

1. Place flour and butter in a mixing bowl. Use a dough scrapper to cut the butter into the flour. Keep 'chopping' and tossing the flour over the butter until the pieces are about the size of small peas.

2. Add the cheese and use the dough scrapper to fold and cut the cheese into the butter-flour mixture until it looks uniform and crumbly.

3. Add egg white and continue to use the dough scrapper to fold and cut into the mixture. The dough should hold together when squeezed. Otherwise, add a little more egg white.

4. Transfer the dough to work surface and use the heel of your hand to smear the dough away from you once or twice. This is called frisage, it will create very thin layers of butter and cheese. Use the scrapper to bring the dough together and form a log about 4-5cm in diameter. Wrap the log tightly in clingwrap and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

5. Preheat oven to 160 degree celcius, fan mode. Using a sharp knife, slice the log into rounds of 5mm thick. Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. The sliced rounds should be cold when they go into the oven. If they have warmed up while you were slicing, put the entire tray of sliced rounds into the fridge for 10minutes before putting into the oven.

6. Bake the cookies for 10minutes until they are a deep golden brown. Let them sit on the tray for a few minutes to crisp up before moving them to a rack. As soon as the cookies have cooled down, transfer them to an airtight container.