Blue Cheese & Walnut Crackers

I can see it, already– placing these out on the food/snack bar New Year’s Eve.  I will be doing that, myself.  It’s not yet Halloween night, and I’ve already began planning what to have on New Year’s; silly.  But why not.  Time goes that quickly.  Friday pushes into Monday before it is Saturday.  And if you can agree with me, this year has gone the fastest, every year quicker ’round the corner.  Time, slow down, slow up!  Let us have a little more time! 

I like how these crumble in the mouth, melting savory on the tongue to taste the pleasure of something you don’t eat every day.  No, I didn’t put those two words together…

I like the story behind this recipe from the Brass sisters.  I thought it was sweet, so authentically classy, the memory of their grandfather, in this particular story–

“OUR GRANDPARENTS, CELIA AND JOSEPH KATZIFF ran a mom-and-pop grocery store on Shirley Street in Winthrop, Massachusetts, and when Grandpa Katziff wasn’t taking Sheila to East Boston to buy hair ribbons or toys, he was bringing home special treats like waffled cheese crackers from their store.  Our friend, Nick Malgieri’s recipe for Peppery Cheddar Coins comes the closest to replicating the taste of those treats from the 1940s.  We substituted the blue cheese and walnuts, but you can make them with the original cheddar.” — Heirloom Cooking with the Brass Sisters Queens of Comfort Food

Combine flour, salt and pepper in a bowl and set aside.  Combine blue cheese and butter in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade.  Pulse five or six times to combine.  Add flour mixture and pulse until mixture forms a ball.

Remove dough from bowl of food processor, form into a log 1 1/2-inches wide, and wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap.  Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

Set the oven rack in the middle position.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with foil, shiny side up, baking spray on the foil sprayed, or a lightly greased stoneware baking sheet, having to grease only once. 

Cut dough into 1/4-inch slices.  Place slices on baking sheets, no more than 16 crackers to a sheet.  Sprinkle crackers with chopped walnuts.  Place a square of wax paper on each cracker and press gently with a jar, to flatten and adhering walnuts to the crackers well.  Bake 15 to 17 minutes.  Transfer carefully to a rack and let cool.  These will be easy to fall apart.  Store between sheets of wax paper in a covered tin box.

(My mother told me about these, as we are always trading recipes over the phone across miles of wire.  We try to bake or cook the same things, sometimes; and that is a lot of fun.  It’s like being in the same kitchen together even though we are not, for the miles between us.)

I promise you– You will like these on New Year’s.