When you’ve lived away from home for a while but still go back for Christmas, you get used to hearing, “Is there any particular food you want me to get in?” around the first week of December. This year, there was one less thing on my usual list of Christmas visit must-haves, because my mother entrusted me with the secret of these two-cheese biscuits. They don’t look much, these wee biccies, but oh boy do they pack a punch. Supposedly, they taste even better after a few days, but they’ve never been around long enough for us to test that theory.

Although I’m posting these as a Christmas gift (in-laws, I’m lookin’ at you), they’d also be great after Christmas to help to use up the leftover nuts and Stilton you just couldn’t fit into your stomach. Yep. they’ve got Stilton in them – but in my experience, even Stilton haters love these.

Recipe makes around 50 biscuits 5cm in diameter – perfect to pop straight in your mouth! They are happy to be frozen (and I confess to sneaking to the freezer to eat a few there and then. Oops). 

Ingredients:

225g chilled unsalted butter
225g self-raising flour
75g Stilton
75g cheddar
75g nuts (pecan, walnut, or hazelnut will do the job lovely)
Pinch of salt, cayenne

Method:

1) Throw everything into a food processor and whizz until it all comes together in a dough.

2) Roll into a ball, cover in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 mins.

3) Roll out the dough to between 5 and 8mm thick and use a cutter around 5cm in diameter to cut out your shapes.

4) Place onto a greaseproof papered baking tray and bake for 8-10 mins on 160C, until just starting to brown. Keep an eye on them as they do turn quickly – and although they’re still nice a little more “caramelised” they don’t melt in your mouth in quite the same way!

5) Serve on their own or topped. We usually have them with soft cream cheese and smoked salmon, as pictured (well, you’ve already had two cheeses, why not go in for a third?).