In the foregoing pages a large number of recipes have been included in which cheese is combined with materials without cooking, as in salads, or used in cooked dishes of creamy or custard-like consistency, as in soufflés and Welsh rabbit or in combination with vegetables or cereals, such as rice.
There are a number of cheese dishes of quite different character in which the cheese is combined with dough, batter, or pastry in various ways, and a number of dishes in which cheese or cheese curd is used in combinations suitable for dessert. Such sweet dishes were once much more common than they are to-day, as reference to old cookery books will show, but some of them are well worth retaining.
In cheese sweets, flavor and richness are both contributed by the cheese.
When cheese is used in pastry or dough it may serve simply as a flavor, as in cheese sticks or cheese straws, or it may wholly or in part replace with its fat the usual shortening, as butter or other fat, and with its protein (casein) the protein (albumin) of eggs. As an illustration of such a use of cheese, cheese gingerbread may be cited.
Using cheese in this way is often an economy when eggs are scarce. Better results will be obtained if soft cheese is used which can be worked into the dough in much the same way as butter or other shortening. To those who like cheese the flavor which it imparts would be an advantage. However, if a very mild cheese is used in combination with molasses or spice the dish differs a little in flavor from one prepared in the usual way.
| 2 cupfuls of flour. | ¼ teaspoonful of salt. |
| 4 teaspoonfuls of baking powder. | Grated cheese sufficient to give desired flavor. |
| 2 tablespoonfuls of lard or butter. | |
| ⅞ of a cup of milk. |
Mix all the ingredients excepting the cheese as for baking powder biscuits. Roll thin, divide into two parts, sprinkle one half with grated cheese, lay the other half of the dough over the cheese, cut out with a small cutter, and bake.
| ¼ pound of soft cheese. | 4 teaspoonfuls of baking powder. |
| 2 cupfuls of flour. | 1½ teaspoonfuls of salt. |
| 1 cupful of water. |
Mix and sift the dry ingredients, then work in the cheese with a fork or with the fingers, and add the water gradually. The approximate amount of water has been given; it is impossible to give the exact amount, as flour differs in its capacity for taking up moisture. Toss the dough on a floured board and roll out and cut with a biscuit cutter. Place in a buttered pan and bake in a quick oven from 12 to 15 minutes. The biscuit may be sprinkled with cheese before being put into the oven.
If the cheese is sufficiently soft it can be measured just as butter is. This recipe, then, would call for ½ cupful.
| 2½ tablespoonfuls of milk. | 1 egg. |
| 1 teaspoonful of butter. | 2 tablespoonfuls of grated Parmesan cheese or dry American cheese. |
| 1¼ cupfuls of flour. | |
| ⅛ teaspoonful of salt. |
Heat the butter and milk to boiling point, add the flour and the salt and stir thoroughly. Remove from the fire, add the egg and cheese and stir until well mixed. When cold, drop in small pieces in deep fat and brown. This makes a good addition to any clear soup or to consommé.
Spread grated cheese on thin crackers, heat in the oven until the cheese is melted. Serve with soup or salad.
Spread bread which has been toasted or fried in deep fat with grated cheese, or with grated cheese mixed with a little mustard, then heat in the oven until the cheese is melted. This may be served with salad, or as a relish to give flavor to some dish such as boiled rice or hominy, which has no very marked flavor.
Roll out plain or puff paste until one-fourth of an inch thick. Spread one-half of it with grated cheese. Fold over the other half and roll out again. Repeat the process three or four times. Cut into strips and bake. Serve with soup or salad.
| ½ pound of cheese. | 1½ teaspoonfuls of salt. |
| 2 cupfuls of flour. | 1 cupful of water. |
| 4 teaspoonfuls of baking powder. |
Mix as for cheese biscuits No. 1 or No. 2, depending on whether the cheese is hard or soft. (See p. 36.)
| 1 cupful of molasses. | 2 cupfuls of flour. |
| 4 ounces of cheese. | 2 teaspoonfuls of ginger. |
| 1 teaspoonful of soda. | ½ teaspoonful salt. |
| ½ cupful of water. |
Heat the molasses and the cheese in a double boiler until the cheese is melted. Add the soda and stir vigorously. Mix and sift dry ingredients and add them to the molasses and cheese alternately with the water. Bake 15 minutes in small buttered tins.
| ½ cupful of molasses. | 1 teaspoonful of soda. |
| ½ cupful of sugar. | 2 teaspoonfuls of ginger. |
| 4 ounces of cheese. | ½ teaspoonful of salt. |
| 2 cupfuls of flour. | ¾ cupful of water. |
Rub the cheese and the sugar together. Add the molasses. Mix and sift the dry ingredients and add them to the cheese mixture alternately with the water.
| 1 cupful of grated cheese. | Yolks of 2 eggs. |
| ½ cupful of cream or rich milk. | A speck of salt and of paprika. |
Mix the cream and the cheese and heat until the cheese is melted. Remove from the fire and add the yolks of the eggs. Bake in paper cases or buttered ramekins. Serve with jelly or preserves.
| 1 quart of milk. | A speck of nutmeg. |
| Rennet. | 1½ ounces of butter. |
| 1 ounce of sugar. | 1 ounce of dried currants or small raisins. |
| Yolks of 2 eggs. |
Warm the milk and add the rennet, using the amount prescribed on the package. Let the milk stand until the curd forms, then break up the curd and strain off the whey. Add the other ingredients to the curd; line patty tins with pastry, fill them with the mixture, and bake.
Arrange in a deep earthenware baking dish, alternate layers of bread crumbs and thinly sliced apples. Season with cinnamon, also a little clove if desired and brown sugar. Scatter some finely shaved mild full-cream cheese over each layer of apple. When the dish is full, scatter bread crumbs over the top and bake 30 to 45 minutes, placing the dish in a pan of water so that the pudding will not burn.
If preferred, this may be sweetened with molasses mixed with an equal amount of hot water and poured over the top, a half cupful of molasses being sufficient for a quart pudding dish full.
Cheese may be used in place of butter in a similar way in other apple puddings. Apple pie made with a layer of finely shaved cheese over the seasoned apple and baked in the usual way is liked by many who are fond of cheese served with apple pie.