Red Leicester & poppyseed shortbreads

These delicious biscuits will give you heart-attack with every bite, but they're worth it!

I used an artisan red leicester cheese - the lovely people at Neil's Yard Dairy hooked me up with a nice big chunk! 

The recipe is from Dan Lepard's How to Bake series for The Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/30/red-leicester-biscuit-recipe-lepard

175g plain flour

½ tsp salt

A few good twists of freshly ground black pepper

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

125g unsalted butter, softened

150g red Leicester, grated

Lightly beaten egg white

Poppy seeds

Put the flour, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper in a large mixing bowl and rub in the butter. Add the cheese and work the mixture to a smooth dough. Roll the dough into a cylinder about 30cm long, wrap it in nonstick baking paper and freeze for half an hour.

Remove the dough from the freezer, peel off the wrapper and stand the stick of dough on its end. Brush the outside all over with egg white, then roll in a scant layer of seeds, so they stick firmly to the outside. Wrap and chill the dough until needed.

To cook, heat the oven to 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4. Slice the dough into 0.75cm rounds, lay on a tray lined with nonstick paper and bake for about 20 minutes, until golden.