Blue Cheese and Fig Shortbread
Lightly sweet and delicately savory, these cheesy, buttery cookies are as good with a cup of tea or coffee in the afternoon as they are with a glass of sherry or wine in the evening.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup crumbled blue cheese such as Point Reyes Bay Blue, tightly packed, divided
- 6 tablespoons very soft unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 cup all-purpose flour plus more for kneading and rolling dough
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 16 small dried mission figs
Instructions
- In large bowl, mix together ½ cup blue cheese, butter, and sugar with wooden spoon until well combined. Add egg yolk, and mix well to blend. Stir in flour and salt, mixing until soft dough forms.
- Turn dough out onto clean, lightly floured surface, and knead for 1 to 2 minutes, just until smooth. Roll and shape dough into an 8-inch-long log. Cut log in half crosswise, wrap each half in plastic, and refrigerate 20 minutes.
- Heat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or grease it lightly. Cut each fig lengthwise into thirds. Cut each chilled dough log crosswise into rounds about ⅜-inch thick. Place rounds on baking sheet at least 1 inch apart.
- Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon remaining blue cheese in center of each shortbread cookie, and top with two slices of fig. Gently press the figs into each cookie, while patting into 2-inch-wide rounds. Bake 15 minutes or until edges just begin to turn golden. Cool cookies on wire rack.
Elaine Khosrova
Elaine Khorova is the original Editor-in-Chief of culture magazine and the current recipe writer extraordinaire. She resides in the Hudson Valley of New York where she is working on a book about the history of butter.
