Dec 9, 2009
Cheese&Rosemary Halfmoons
These pleasantly salty and buttery Cheese&Rosemary Halfmoons are perfect to serve with root vegetable soup. They are made with a semi-soft to firm sort of cheese with a mild flavour – something like Havarti, for example. We used a sort which is called Russian cheese here. And the fresh rosemary that I bought comes from Israel. This rosemary grew on a sunlit land and made such a long way to be eaten here, in this small Northern country! Poor herb. I cherish the hope of planting my own tiny herb garden next year, although I’m not sure the delicate herbs would stand the Latvian weather. There’s a joke about Latvian weather which explains the difference between winter and summer: you wear your coat fastened in winter and unfastened in summer. That’s true. Not that it’s so freezing cold in winter - but it’s almost equally mm…fresh outside all year round. I’m very picky about choosing a coat for myself because I know I’ll be wearing it October to April. And April to June I’ll be wearing a jacket :) Then I’d be off to a warmer corner of the world - I hear, however, that some people go swimming here as well, in mid-July, when the temperature of water in the sea reaches whole 18C. Haha!
Ingredients
200g butter, room temperature or warmer
200g semi-soft cheese (Russian cheese, in our case)
1 cup wheat flour
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp baking powder
1 ½ tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped very finely
Grate the cheese on a medium grater.
Add butter, egg yolk, flour, and baking powder. Add chopped rosemary.
Knead the dough until smooth and non-sticky. Let sit in a cool place for 10-15 minutes.
Form the dough into small (size of a matchbox or so) halfmoons and put them on a non-stick baking surface.
Bake over a low heat until light golden. The cookies may remain slightly soft inside, in the center. In fact, that’s why we added some baking powder to the dough ;-)
Similar Posts:
Print This Post
Hello, I have only recently found your site and have really enjoyed going through your archives. I’ll start trying a couple of your recipes soon. I see that your weather is quite similar to the one we have here in Ireland (it’s raining as I speak!). Best wishes for Christmas to you both
These look wonderful. I am going to try and find a cheese here in Canada that will work. I’ll keep you posted.
Those look really yummy! I live in Japan where many of the ingredients you use are not possible to buy. But I have everything from this recipe so my family will get a nice breakfast treat this Sunday!
What you say about the weather reminds me of home (northern Canada). Now I just leave my big wool coat in Canada for anytime I visit that is not July or August. ;)
Nath: thank you! Merry Christmas to you and your family too! Is it usually a white Christmas in Ireland?
Kim: thanks, I’m sure ANY kind of mild-flavoured semi-soft cheese would do! If the cheese is too hard, it will not blend with the other ingredients to form a smooth dough, that’s the only problem!
Medea: you live in Japan?! How exciting! Hmm I thought Canada was generally more sunny! But of course it’s such a huge country and it must be cold in the North! Thank you so much for dropping by!
Thank you. No, not in Dublin really. We get a day or so over the winter. I’ve been living here for 15 years and I don’t remember one white Christmas (sigh). Although other parts of the country get more - we get to see some on the Dublin mountains from our area.
Hi ladies! I love your blog and this weekend I tested out some of your recipes. I made the havarti rosemary crescents and the rye/cranberry dessert. Both were HUGE hits in my house. I served them with a hearty beef stew and they were perfect compliments.
Thanks so much!
These look wonderful. I am going to try and find a cheese here in Turkei
[...] Of course you can make your own tartlet shells by your favourite recipe, or use our pastry for Cheese&Rosemary Halfmoons. Then fill your tartlets with the mix of sweet carrots, mild-flavoured cheese, and tangy garlic. [...]