SESAME CHEESE TWISTS

Serves:

40 sticks

Cooking time:

15 minutes

From:

Low Calorie Cookbook, Reader's Digest Canada

These crisp cheese sticks are delicious served fresh from the oven. Enriched with egg yolks and flavored with Parmesan cheese, they are made with a combination of whole-wheat and all-purpose flours, so they are substantial without being at all heavy.

Ingredients

85 g whole-wheat flour, preferably stone-ground
85 g all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
¼ teaspoon salt
45 g butter
45 g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 large egg
2 tablespoons low-fat (2%) milk
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Sift the flours and salt into a bowl, tipping in the bran left in the sifter. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Stir in the Parmesan cheese.
2. Beat the egg and milk together. Reserve 1 teaspoon of the egg mixture, and stir the rest into the dry ingredients to make a firm dough. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth, a few seconds.
3. Sprinkle the paprika over the floured surface, then roll out the dough on it to form an 8 inch square; trim the edges to make them straight. Brush the dough with the reserved egg mixture and sprinkle the sesame seeds over. Cut the square of dough in half, then cut into forty 10 cm sticks that are about 1 cm wide.
4. Twist the sticks and place on the cookie sheet. Lightly press the ends of the sticks down so they do not untwist during baking.
5. Bake until lightly brown and crisp, about 15 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes, then serve warm, or transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. The sticks will keep in an airtight tin up to 5 days.

Nutrition Facts

Per stick: cals 32, protein 1 g, fat 2 g (of which saturated fat 1 g), carbohydrate 3 g (of which sugars 0.1 g), fibre 0.3 g.

Reader's Digest