Crispy, cheesy with a little kick of spicy heat, these light pastry treats are eminently snackable - equally at home with a beer during the footy, or as part of a spread welcoming guests to your dinner party.
Your cheese selection needs to be pretty punchy here - full of flavour and with a relatively low moisture level. I go half parmesan and half aged cheddar, however I am not the boss of cheese - yet - so feel free to mix and match to your heart's content. It's not just the cheese you can experiment with either. There's paprika in here because I'm a big fan of the flavour, and it adds some extra colour, but you can go with your own herby and/or spicy preferences.
For the time- or effort-poor people out there you can forgo rubbing the butter into the dry ingredients and instead get a trusty food processor to complete this step for you. However, I definitely recommend using the knife to mix in the egg, just because it's fascinating to watch this process happen.
Oh, and scatter some extra grated cheese over the straws just before you slide them in the oven. It's going to crisp up real nice and give your straws some next level crunch.
MAKES
35
PREP
35 minutes plus resting
COOKS
12-15 minutes