My little (big!) girl has turned into quite a chef lately. She has always loved to help in the kitchen, and has even been known to purchase cookbooks with her own money. (A smoothie cookbook that she uses regularly!) For her 9th birthday, we bought her DK’s Cookbook for Girls, and recently she has made several things from it. In fact, in the last week, I think she’s cranked out about 5 different items!
But, the cheese and pesto straws have been everyone’s favorite. The only gluten free substitution we needed was the flour – everything else is naturally gluten free. We even had the handy pesto pops in the freezer, which saved a trip to the grocery store for jarred pesto. These are wonderful with soups, salads, or just as a snack by themselves. They are not difficult to make; in fact, Kayla completed the entire process by herself!1 1/2 cups GF flour
pinch of salt
1/2 cup chilled butter, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup Gruyere or Cheddar, finely grated
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 whole egg, plus one egg yolk
2 Tbsp pesto
Sift flour and salt in a mixing bowl, and add butter working it into the flour with fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in 3/4 cup of the cheeses. Beat together whole egg and egg yolk, and stir into flour along with pesto sauce. Mix until it resembles dough. Roll it out onto a floured surface, and cut into narrow “straws.” Transfer straws to a cookie sheet, and sprinkle the remaining cheese on the tops of each straw. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 350*. Let cool on a wire rack. Yum!
P.S. The kombucha is still sitting in the cabinet above my frig. I see bubbles around the rim of the container, as well as gatherings of bubbles on the surface of the tea. So…something is happening, but it might be another week or so before the “mushroom” forms. Stay tuned…..
Sounds yummy!!! Kayla is such a beauty!! 🙂
I came upon your site googling the quote about a woman's home being the best convent… and lo and behold, it's like looking into a mirror – in ways. Hubby is a pastor. I have 3 children (though all boys 🙂 I'm looking into gluten free cooking, as I suspect an intolerance or sensitivity in one of my children, and just this morning was looking at some info about that. I classically homeschool my children. My dream is to have a chicken coop. (although we just moved to a new church and a new home in town, so we've been scoping area acreages/hobby farms that we could put a few animals on). Even though we are surely different in many ways, it's neat to meet someone very similar 🙂
From Alberta Canada,
Marlene
Thanks, Cory!
And Marlene…so nice to meet a "kindred spirit" even if we are so far apart geographically! Thank you so much for introducing yourself! I will enjoy checking in with your blog!
I can't wait to make these! You have no idea how much I LOVE pesto!! I've also never been able to find a gluten free "cheese straw" and never thought of making my own. 🙂