Since my youngest daughter Kara lives in Mississippi, my love of Southern cooking has become even stronger. When my reader Deb Pennington sent an Alabama cookbook along with a great pile of other cookbooks, I knew right away it was time to try another Southern recipe. I have learned from Kara that Southerners love baking with pecans. In fact, I have never seen such huge, beautiful pecans than I have in the South. I have also learned on my travels to the South that cheese straws are very popular, both homemade and commercially prepared. In Deb’s Alabama cookbook I found a recipe for cheese wafers that taste like straws in a flat form, and each topped with a pecan half. Delicious!
Thank you, Deb for all these great books! They will definitely be enjoyed in the months to come, especially for holiday cooking and baking.
I love this cookbook from The American Cancer Society, Alabama Division. Recipes from each of Alabama’s 67 counties are included in the publication. Alabamians are proud of their tradition of good cooks and unique recipes. The recipes cover everything from tasty appetizers to delectable desserts. There are so many pie and cake recipes, coconut and lemon flavors abound; seafood recipes with crab and shrimp; lots of casseroles, and specialty game recipes. The recipes are timeless Southern classics. I love this book.
Here are the cheese wafers. The recipe makes over 100 wafers and I couldn’t fit them all in a photo!
- 1 pound extra sharp Cheddar Cheese
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Pecan halves (100 or a little more)
- Heat oven to 400 degrees. Have 2 large ungreased cookie sheets ready.
- In large bowl of electric mixer, beat cheese and butter until well mixed. Add flour, salt, and cayenne pepper. Mix well to form a stiff dough.
- Form into ½-inch balls. Place on cookie sheets (they will not spread much) and flatten slightly with a fork or bottom of a glass. Press a pecan half into each ball. You will have 100 or a few more wafers.
- Bake about 10-11 minutes until slightly golden. Remove from oven and let sit on cookie sheet for a minute or so before removing to wire rack to cool completely. Good served with white wine as an appetizer,
When the wafers cool, they are crispy and cheesy with a big bite of a pecan half that gets nice and toasted. Since there were so many, I packaged them up and put them in the freezer.
I hope they freeze well, because we never could have eaten them all! They taste especially good with a glass of white wine.
Aren’t they cute little morsels?
Now I have to tell you my story of making these wafers. On the day I made them was not a good day and I was trying to distract myself from my knee that I twisted earlier. It was also raining and dreary and I was tired. So tired in fact, that when I quickly glanced at the recipe that called for 1 pound of cheddar cheese and 1/2 cup butter, my tired eyes saw 1 pound of butter! I whipped up the butter slightly before adding the cheese (thank goodness) and thought it seemed like a huge amount of butter. I went back to the cookbook and realized what I had done. I scooped up the nice whipped pound of butter, placed in a container and into the refrigerator. I’ll be using that for weeks, or maybe will make some compound butters. I wonder if the Southern cooks are getting a kick out of this Yankee’s mistake!
I bet these simply melt in your mouth! (The pecans alone look delicious – so large and plump!) Your photos are beautiful, Debbie. Thanks for sharing the recipe and for all the enjoyable details you included. Good thing you caught your mistake early! I’ve do that but don’t always catch it before adding other ingredients. Then I end up making a larger batch than intended. Can you imagine even doubling this batch? I hope your knee heals. That sounds painful.
Denise, they were addictive! I had to freeze them right away so Bill and I wouldn’t eat any more. I’ll be using all the mistakenly whipped butter forever. That amount would have made enough wafers for an army!
Wow! You have made this southern gal’s day !!! The article is awesome! You have touched my heart! The Alabama one i have passed on to you was my all time favorite passed to me from my mom. I know you will treasure it like i did and the wonderful recipes. I wanted to pass on to you and your love of cookbooks and cooking. It makes me so proud it has found a new home to be shared with your love of cookbooks!! The others I sent are also loved and used! So thank you Debbie from a southern gal and her love of cooking and her cookbooks.
Deb, it was my pleasure to write about you and the wonderful books you sent. Your generosity is much appreciated. The books have a good home here and I love each and every one that is sent to me. I will especially love the Alabama book since it was passed down from your mom, which makes it so special. You made my day too!