A few weeks back the people from Barber's 1833 Vintage Cheddar sent me a pack which included everything in it to make Spinach and Cheese Souffles. I love it when that happens. I made the soufflees the very next day. I just could not wait to make them. Everything was so fresh and looked so good.
I am a very experienced cook as you know. As I was making them I queried a part of the recipe, which didn't quite look right and I almost went with my gut feelings and did it the way I thought it should be done . . . but then I thought to myself, no . . . you need to do this the way "their" recipe says to do it and so that is what I did.
What I ended up with was some very tasty failures as soufflees. They were more like omelettes, and they took twice as long as the recipe stated to bake . . . they were not soufflees. We ate them anyways, and they were good, but not near what they should have been.
I should have gone with my gut instincts and done what I thought in the first place, but live and learn. I will not give you their recipe as it is in error. I didn't have any spinach left to do more and had in mind to buy some more and try again, but I just haven't gotten around to that, so today I picked another recipe from out of their booklet and made these . . .
Cheddar Cheese and Caraway Sables from on the Barber's 1833 Vintage site. I thought they would make the perfect pre-dinner nibble for Valentine's Dinner.
They turned out beautifully. The dough was quite sticky. I ended up freezing it prior to slicing it for baking and that worked perfectly. I used a very sharp knife.
They were crisp, and buttery and filled with lots of beautiful cheese flavours. Success! The caraway went very well with the cheddar. We love these.
*Cheddar Cheese and Caraway Sables*
Makes about 4 dozen
Note: You can also freeze the dough, wrapped tightly in freezer proof paper. I was able to cut it quite easily with a sharp knife from a frozen state, and they baked in the same amount of time. They are so thin that the dough was completely thawed by the time I had sliced, brushed and sprinkled.
The Barber family have been farming and making cheese at Maryland Farm in Somerset since 1833. It is always matured for a minimum of 24 months. I do so hope that they are ok with all the flooding that's been going on in Somerset.
I found the Barber's 1833 Cheddar to be an exemplar product.It had a lovely flavour, intense, with a delicious depth to it. It is kind of brittle with a somewhat crunchy texture from little crystals which are scattered throughout. These are a result of it's long slow aging and only added to this lovely cheese's charm.
I would buy this cheese in a heartbeat! It was easily one of the best cheddar's I have eaten since coming to the UK, and I have been able to try quite a few different ones. This was to be perfectly honest . . . simply beautiful.