Cheese Straws

A sound recipe, but written for a cook who already knew what cheese pastry should feel like. Two things need pinning down before you start: what "cream cheese" meant in 1920, and how much flour "flour to make soft dough" is.

• The hinge: add flour by feel, a little at a timeThe dough should just hold together and roll without cracking — no more. Every extra spoonful of flour trades cheese flavour for cardboard. Expect somewhere between 1 and 1 1/2 cups for 1/2 lb of cheese, but stop when it stops sticking to your hands.
• "Cream cheese" hereIn American books of this period the phrase was often used loosely for soft fresh cheeses, and the instruction to "grind cheese if not soft enough to mash" suggests something firmer than modern block cream cheese. A well-drained farmer cheese gives straws with flavour; today's foil-wrapped cream cheese is wet enough that the dough will want more flour.
• No butter, by designThe fat comes entirely from the cheese, which is why a fatty cheese matters and why the dough is short rather than flaky.
• Moderate ovenReckoned at roughly 350 to 375F. Thin straws take 10 to 12 minutes and should be pale gold, not browned; cheese pastry scorches easily at the edges.
• Rolling and cuttingAbout 1/8 inch thick. Cut straws roughly 1/4 inch wide and 4 to 5 inches long; the rings are cut with a round cutter, then the centre removed with a smaller one.
• The rings and straws trickBake both separately, then slide a small bundle of cooled straws through each ring to serve — the ring is a collar, not a container. Both are fragile hot, so let them firm on the sheet for a minute before moving them.
• CayenneA pinch is enough for the whole batch; it should warm the finish, not announce itself. Salt lightly if the cheese is already sharp and salty.
• Yield and servingRoughly three dozen straws. They belong beside a salad or a clear soup and are best the day they are baked; crisp them briefly in a low oven if they soften overnight.