Festival cheese biscuit recipe

We've been baking cheese biscuits again today, for the kindergarten end of term festival tomorrow. Time flies. My very first post was written at the end of last term and we were making the same cheese biscuits amid the baking heat of late summer. I just re-read the post and was stunned to find that I'd also baked a special Easter bread and ginger biscuits for the festival, as well as a beef casserole for supper. What was I on that day?

Today I had the five year olds in charge of the biscuits, kneading then rolling out and cutting out with animal shaped cookie cutters. This required a fair amount of timely intervention, to get the dough to hold together before frustration set in and make sure youngest got a chance to cut out some shapes without destroying her older sister's carefully ordered scheme of things. I did get a batch of bread done out of necessity, but that used up the rest of the energy reserves so we had baked potatoes for supper. The oven was on anyway for the biscuits and bread so it was all in aid of energy conservation...mine and the world's in equal measure.

Here is the recipe for the cheese biscuits

100g/4oz finely grated cheese
50g/2oz self-raising flour
25g/1oz soft butter
pinch of cayenne pepper

For the cheese you can use a strong cheddar or 80g mild cheddar with 20g parmesan cheese. Put everything into a bowl and rub in, squidge and knead for about 5 minutes until it comes together into a soft dough. It will do, just as you are about to give up hope of it doing so unaided. Roll out the dough to about 2.5mm/ 1/8" thick and cut into whatever fancy shapes you have cutters for. Bake at 200C/400F for 10-12 minutes until golden. Cool on a rack. This amount disappears very quickly, even before you've turned your back on them sometimes, they're very light and moreish, so I usually make double or triple quantities for the festivals.