By:Nagi
229 Comments
Butter, flour and parmesan. That’s all you need to make buttery parmesan shortbread biscuits. And you’ll be amazed howfast these are to make – no cookie cutter required! Watch the 15 second video here to see how easy these are to make!
PARMESAN BISCUITS
My mother makes these incredible parmesan biscuitsthat I frequently beg her to make.Until recently, I had no idea they were made with just 3 ingredients: butter, flour and parmesan. Nor that they took all of 2 minutes to make the dough.
“Why didn’t you tell me before?!” I exclaimed. “If I’d known they were that easy, I would have been making them myself!”
“I don’t know,” she said calmly. “I just never thought of it. They aren’t that special.”
“Aren’t that special?” I gasped, flabbergasted. “These are myfavouritebiscuits.”
“That’s so typical of you,” she said. “Just because it’s got cheese in it.”
OK, well that’s true. I couldn’t argue with that. And of course, having discovered they were made with only 3 ingredients, I declared them to be so fabulous that I had to share them on my blog.
These biscuits are savoury shortbread biscuits, which means they are buttery and crumbly, just like the sweet ones.
Except these are cheesy. Parmesan cheesy.
You barely need the recipe for this. Butter, flour and parmesan, whizz until crumbs form, form a log, wrap in cling wrap, refrigerate, slice, bake for 12 minutes.
3 ingredient magic. That’s what this is. Honestly, these exact biscuits are sold in a certain up market grocery store in Sydney (which shall remain unnamed!) for close to $10. And you get less than one batch of this!
I have 2 words of caution about these:
1. Making as agift:If you make these with the intention of gifting them, please just make a double batch. Don’t kid yourself into believing that you won’t “taste test” so many that you end up with a dismal scant pile for your friend, so small that you can’t possibly give that as a gift soyouend up doing an emergency present run énroute to the birthday lunch; and
2. To nibble with wine: These are brilliant to have as nibbles. But they go a little too well with wine. What happens is that that the cheesy buttery biscuits make you thirsty, so you drink more, and the more you drink the more you nibble. An endless viscous cycle. So as with #1, just make a double batch. 🙂
OK, so #1 may have happened to me last weekend. And come to think of it, #2 as well. Oops.
Happy weekend! – Nagi x
PS Please do not count the biscuits in the photos below. I can tell you now, there are 5 missing!!!
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Parmesan Shortbread Biscuits
Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats
Prep: 10 minutes mins
Cook: 15 minutes mins
Total: 25 minutes mins
Savoury Biscuits
4.86 from 54 votes
Servings25 -30
Tap or hover to scale
These buttery biscuits have the texture of shortbread with the kick of parmesan cheese flavour. The biscuits are buttery and have a "soft crumble" when you bite into them. IMPORTANT: Please ensure you measure the ingredients by weight. Cup sizes measure between countries and so for accuracy reasons, I have written the recipe by weight rather than cups because this recipe requires accurate measurement of ingredients to achieve the desired result.
Ingredients
- 3.5 oz / 100g salted butter , chopped (Note 1)
- 3.5 oz / 100g parmesan cheese , grated (Note 2)
- 3.3 oz / 95g plain flour
For rosemary flavoured biscuits
- 1 tbsp rosemary leaves , roughly chopped (or 2 1/2 tsp dried rosemary)
Instructions
Two Ways To Make The Dough
Process the butter, flour and parmesan in a food processor until a wet crumbly dough; OR
Alternative method: Place the flour and butter into a bowl and use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour until a crumble dough forms. Then add the parmesan cheese and use your fingers to rub it into the mixture.
If you are making rosemary biscuits, add the rosemary at the same time as the parmesan cheese.
Make the biscuits
Lightly flour a surface and turn the dough out onto it. Knead to bring together, then shape into two logs with a diameter of around 3 cm / 1.2" and about 15cm/6" in length.
Wrap with cling wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. (Note 2)
Preheat oven to 180°C/350F. Line 1 large baking tray or 2 ordinary baking trays with baking paper (parchment paper).
Remove the log from the fridge and use a sharp knife to cut the log into 7mm/ 1/3" thick rounds.
Place the biscuits onto the baking tray at least 2cm / 1" apart.
Bake biscuits for 12 minutes or until light golden.
Stand on trays for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Recipe Notes:
1. If you don't use SALTED butter, please add 1/2 tsp salt.
2. To make this super easy, I use store bought grated parmesan cheese. The fresh kind from the refrigerator section (I get mine from Harris Farm Markets), not the fake parmesan in the pasta aisle!
100g/3.5oz parmesan cheese is approximately 3/4 cup BUT it is important to weight it rather than measure it by cup because the weight by volume of grated parmesan cheese varies greatly between brands, freshly grated vs store bought grated.
3. Sometimes, you will end up with a small ridge around the rim of the biscuit. You can see it a bit in the photos but sometimes they are even more prominent. If you want a perfect, evenly golden surface with no ridge, use a flat bottom glass and lightly press on the surface of each biscuit on the baking tray.
4. Adapted from this recipe from Taste.com.au.
5.Nutrition per biscuit assuming 30 biscuits.
Nutrition Information:
Serving: 10gCalories: 46cal (2%)Carbohydrates: 2.5g (1%)Protein: 1.4g (3%)Fat: 3.4g (5%)Saturated Fat: 2.2g (14%)Cholesterol: 10mg (3%)Sodium: 50mg (2%)Potassium: 4mgVitamin A: 100IU (2%)Calcium: 30mg (3%)Iron: 0.2mg (1%)
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Hi, I'm Nagi!
I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative!
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229 Comments
Kathleen J. Morin saysThank you for this recipe – I am now on a “kidney watch” diet so the low sodium and potassium is just what I am looking for. I really hate most vegetables and fruits (my mom was the youngest of 13 and never cooked); I don’t like eating peppers, onions, etc – the flavor is okay (I take the onion out of the ring and eat the batter!). I am a corn and green bean person; I make most everything from scratch because my husband had cancer – I have so many of your recipes and wanted to thank you – you explain stuff and why – and they are mighty tasty too – our love to Dozer ☮ ☮ ☮
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- Fran says
They taste like the best part of Cheds – delicious!!
- Rachael says
The perfect gift with a bottle of bubbles!
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- AP says
Ridiculously easy and deliciousReply
- Naomi says
The flavour of cheesey goodness with a crumbly texture – what more could you want!Reply
- Sara Poulson says
This is such an easy yet spectacular recipe. How to impress your friends in one simple recipeReply
- Juliette Todd says
Can you make these Parmesan shortbreads with gluten free flour?
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- Stacey says
Omg so easy so delicious. Made these to gift for Christmas thankfully took advice to make double batch!Reply
- Chloe Pickering says
SO easy (especially if you have a food processor) and SO delicious! I’ll be making this as gifts and to take to Christmas celebrations this year – thanks Nagi!Reply
- Claude says
I’ve made these… scrumptious.
What other nibblies would go well with the Parmesan shortbreads?Reply
- B Lestrange says
Got to admit, these were a bit of a disaster at first. Even though my butter was icy cold, and my fingers icy cold, and my kitchen nice and cool, I could NOT get the butter rubbed into the flour. There just did not seem to be enough flour for it to go smoothly, no matter how many times I stuck the whole bowl back in the freezer, or how many extra tablespoons of flour I added. I might need new scales? Who knows. I decided to continue, even though there were still many lumps of butter visible, went to retrieve my cheese… no parmesan. NO. PARMESAN. Oh noooo…. so I used aged cheddar. Then kneaded the snot out of the whole lot to try and distribute that butter a bit. I didn’t have great hopes of ending up with anything like shortbread, not gonna lie. I’ve just cooked the first batch, and of lordy. Perfect! The rosemary makes them for me. I’ve got a giant rosemary bush in the front yard, so there’s just no stopping me now- not even a lack of the right cheese!
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- Stacey Groves says
made them, they were delicious, but i cut them too thin… i got lots!!! very crispy!! i’m gonna make ’em again… i’ll try the correct thickness next time!!! xxxx
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- Lea says
Could these be made with olive oil rather than butter?
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- Kath says
This recipe rocks! Plan on making two batches because one will mysteriously vanish post haste. Another winner, Nagi!Reply
- Audrey says
Fab simple tasty recipeReply
- Kyo says
Better than store-bought savoury biscuits. I’ll make these again and again. Oh yeah!Reply
- Lesley says
For the biscuits could I replace the flour with almond flour?
Thanks
LesleyReply
- Valerie says
I have made and eaten😋these lovely morsels-question..are they supposed to be crispy or soft? Delicious anyway👍
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- Mary Daley says
I made these last week. Divine 😋
Can I make the dough and keep it in the fridge for a week before baking.Reply
- Andrea Voigt says
I have frozen a log quite successfully.
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- Leslie Jones says
Hi, Nagi
Just made a batch of these beautiful biscuits. They are really morish!
Can they be frozen?
Thanks,
LeslieReply
- Nagi says
Yes they freeze well Leslie! N x
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