Parmesan, Puff Pastry Straws

Total Time: 42 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 12 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 36
• 1 puff pastry, chilled (1 box, frozen, has two sections, thaw in the refrigerator overnight)
• all-purpose flour, for dusting
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 5 ounces parmesan cheese, grated on the small holes of a box grater
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 large egg, slightly beaten

Recipe

• 1 note: the saltiness of parmesan cheese varies from wheel to wheel, so be sure to taste the cheese before adding it to the mixture; if it is salty, reduce the amount of salt added to 1 t or alternatively, eliminate the added salt, entirely; you may choose to make your own pastry, or not; if not, then tenderflake makes an excellent puff pastry, and you can purchase this from the frozen pastry section at your favourite supermarket.
• 2 preheat oven to 425f, with the rack in the centre.
• 3 place the chilled puff pastry on a lightly floured surface.
• 4 roll out the dough until it is about 1/8 inch thick, making a 24 x 26 inch square (if you use the packaged puff pastry, your square will be slightly smaller-- that is ok, you will have two squares) use a sharp knife to trim the edges of the dough; this will help make the edges uniform as they cook.
• 5 brush the dough lightly with the melted butter.
• 6 sprinkle the dough with 3/4 cup of the parmesan and 1 tsp of the salt.
• 7 brush the surface of the dough with the egg.
• 8 sprinkle with the remaining salt and parmesan.
• 9 using a very sharp knife, cut the dough vertically, into 1/2 inch strips.
• 10 transfer 6 of the strips to a baking sheet, spacing them evenly apart.
• 11 grab each end of the dough strip with your fingers, and carefully stretch and twist the strip in opposite directions to create spiral strips.
• 12 continue with the remaining strips of dough.
• 13 bake until golden brown, 10- 12 minutes.
• 14 remove and let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes to firm up.
• 15 using both hands, transfer the sticks to a wire rack or serving platter.