Cheese Buttons

Cheese Buttons are a great party nibble. They are small enough to tote around on a cocktail napkin with a green-apple-tini or a fancy umbrella-laced drink, easy to make, unusually delicious, and will make your guests think you are a very talented gourmet who spent forever slaving in the kitchen.

In reality, we never have parties and I just make these for us to keep in a cookie jar to nibble on at will. I don't even like martini's apple or otherwise; but IF you are the type to have parties with martinis and fancy umbrella drinks, cheese buttons would look nice with your spread.

I make mine in the food processor and doing so creates a light, smooth dough. The texture would be more rustic without a food processor, but I believe they would still taste great.

Remember that you can easily change quantities in this recipe.

Be careful not to "whiz" (the scientific term) the dough for too long in your food processor. You want to whiz it long enough to form a lump of dough. If you keep whizzing it after that lump forms the dough will get hot, melting the butter and cheese and creaming everything together. Then it is a mess to work with. So be careful.

Cheese Buttons (Collected and adapted from Southern Living - I think)

1 small package extra sharp shredded cheddar cheese (2 1/2 to 3 cups)
1 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 stick of butter (margarine isn't great but is okay. It makes a different texture and taste)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whiz together all of the ingredients in your food processor. When a lump of dough forms in the bowl it is ready. The lump should form in about a minute. If it doesn't then you need to add a tiny bit more flour. Do so a LITTLE at a time until the lump of dough forms.

Drop rounded teaspoon-full balls onto a greased cookie sheet (or use non-stick aluminum foil). Do not press flat. Bake for 10 minutes. They will stay a yellow-orange color when baked so don't wait for them to turn brown. Brown cheese buttons are like yellow snow - yucky to eat.

Easy Chick-Peasy Hummus

Hummus is delicious and it is so easy to make. In fact, the hardest part of making hummus is cleaning up the food processor when you are finished. This is especially true if you have the same KitchenAid food processor as me. The blade tends to get food stuck underneath and is a pain in the patoot to clean. But, it is still my favorite kitchen gadget.

So hummus is super easy to make and you can be very creative with your ingredients. I make it in a big batch and then my husband takes it to work all week long and I snack on it whenever I walk by the refrigerator. Because our refrigerator isn't on the main path to anywhere I have to purposefully walk by the refrigerator in order to snack, but that's neither here nor there. Except that it is there. And the hummus is really good.

I make my hummus with tons of garlic and cumin. You could go light on either of these and even eliminate the cumin altogether. You could also make this hummus with black beans instead of chickpeas. Tahini paste is essential to hummus and is made from sesame seeds. You can buy it at Whole Foods or an international market. The inital cost is often higher than buying store-bought hummus but it takes me about 3 months to go through a jar and I typically make hummus one to two times a week. I paid $5.99 for the last jar at a Middle Eastern grocery store. It is usually a bit higher at Whole Foods.

Hummus (Collected from a bunch of different ideas added together to make this one)

3 cans of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon minced garlic or as many cloves as you want
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1-2 tablespoons ground cumin
3 tablespoons tahini paste
Olive or sunflower oil
Fresh cilantro

Mince your garlic in the food processor, if it isn't already minced. Add chickpeas, lemon juice, cumin, salt, and tahini paste and mince. When a paste begins to form open the food chute on your food processor and slowly add your oil. When your hummus is nice and smooth you have added enough oil. Be careful not to add too much oil because you can always place a little on top when you serve it. This is how it is served in Middle Eastern restaurants. Garnish with a bit of fresh cilantro.