Cheddar Cheese Straws...another Bridal Tea Party feature

Gooooooooooood Morniiiiing Peeps!!!

Happy happy happy Monday to you?  Where on earth did the weekend go?  I mean I blinked and it was over!!!   Hope you all had a lovely weekend and now we are back to the grind of the week.  I'm posting this little gem for you guys and then running a quick vacuum over the wood floors then I'm off to find a dress for the wedding.  Yep...you heard me, the wedding is in less than 2 weeks and I don't have a dress!!  I ordered one and it took way longer than expected to come in and then it didn't fit right and Mr. Cho the tailor said "dress cheap, send back" "me can't fix that".  Yeah...Mr. Cho is hilarious!!!  So as you can imagine it's crunch time!!

In the meantime I'm going to share with you my Cheese Straw Recipe.  I loved it, just a tiny bit of spice and completely Southern.  I mean really can you have a Tea Party in the South without Cheese Straws?  Surely the Southern police would come and revoke your right as a Southern Girl if you did and then wonderful sayings like this wouldn't apply anymore..... and that would be sad.

Ok...enough lolly gagging around let's make some cheese straws!!

10 oz. block sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces & softened

1 tsp. salt

1/4-1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 Tbsp. half and half

Pulse the first five ingredients in a food processor at 5 second intervals until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add half and half and process 10 seconds or until dough forms a ball.

Just a side note, I shredded my cheese in the food processor first.  Process was much faster!

(Make ahead note: you may wrap the ball of dough in plastic wrap then seal in a zip loc freezer bag and  keep in the refrigerator up to 3 days before baking.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Prepare dough and turn out onto a well floured surface.

Divide in half. Roll each half into a 12x8 rectangle about 1/8 inch thick.

(no mine wasn't exact and the cheese world did not stop turning!)

Cut the dough into 3/4 inch wide strips using a sharp knife or a fluted pastry cutter.

(another side note:  I used the fluted pastry cutter that I found in the wedding cake section of my local wally world and it was about $2.50...completely worth it!)

Make sure to run your wheel or knife through the flour frequently to prevent sticking.

Place strips on parchment lined baking sheets.

Bake 18-20 minutes or until edges are browned.

Cool on wire racks for 30 minutes.

You can also make these ahead of time (a few days) and store in an airtight container, if you can hide them from your family so they don't get eaten before you need them!!

Cheese Straws or "homemade cheez its" as the boys called them.

 No Sourthern party table is complete without a nice platter of cheese straws.  

On a slightly sad note.  I had to toss out all the flowers today.

***sigh***  they just couldn't make it longer than 9 days.

They were gorgeous while they lasted.

So we have 2 more Tea Party recipes this week then I have an amazing pasta salad and a summertime favorite pie to share with you this week.  Hang on to your hats my peeps it's going to be a wild ride!!!

Peace, Love & Southern Yummies!!!