Cheese Stars

Directions

1. 1
   1. Preheat the oven to 200C, or 180C fan assisted. Grease and flour two large baking trays.
2. 2
   2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt, herbs and spices. Crumble in the stock cube and stir well until evenly distributed.
3. 3
   3. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
4. 4
   4. Stir in the cheese until well distributed (I find using two forks to pull apart the clumps of grated cheese is a good method).
5. 5
   5. Mix in the egg yolk with your fingers, working the mixture to a dense dough. You may need to add a splash or two of water to achieve the correct consistency - the mixture should not be sticky, but should not leave crumbs in the bowl.
6. 6
   6. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of around 5mm - this isn't too vital, but will affect cooking times.
7. 7
   7. With a star-shaped cutter, stamp out as many shapes as you can from the dough and place, slightly spaced, on the baking sheets. Re-roll the dough and repeat until you have too little left to work with.
8. 8
   8. Brush each star with a little egg white and bake in the preheated oven for around ten minutes until golden.
9. 9
   9. Remove and cool on wire trays.