A little something to nibble on? Send a plateful my way!
Ingredients:
165g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
85g butter, cold diced
200g mature grated cheddar
190g jar of pitted olives in oil, drained (drained weight 110g)
2 egg yolks, large
Makes: 40 approx.
In a food processor blitz together the flour and salt.
Add the cold diced butter and process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
(To make by hand simply rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips.)
Add the grated cheddar and olives and process once again until the olives are blitzed into small pieces.
(By hand the olives need to be chopped before adding)
Add 2 egg yolks and mix to combine to a soft dough, add a drop of water if needed just for the dough to start to come together.
Knead lightly by hand and then roll out the dough, to a thickness of approx 3-4mm, between 2 sheets of non-stick baking paper.
Chill it in the fridge for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 200c(fan)/220c/Gas Mark 7 and line a couple of baking trays with non stick paper.
Cut out the chilled dough into biscuits shapes and set onto the prepared trays.
Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until golden.
Cool on a wire rack and serve!
Cheddar & Olive Bites
Ruth Clemens, Baker Extraordinaire

These look lovely! How far in advance do you think they can be made and will they freeze well? Thanks!
Upto 3 days in an airtight container, but are best best freshly baked! You can make the dough in advance and freeze (rolled out or in a ball) if you wanted to get ahead x
Thank you!
How long are they good for? or are they best on the day baked?
Upto 3 days in an airtight container, but are best best freshly baked! You can make the dough in advance and freeze (rolled out or in a ball) if you wanted to get ahead x
These look delicious! How long do you think they would keep?
Upto 3 days in an airtight container, but are best best freshly baked! You can make the dough in advance and freeze (rolled out or in a ball) if you wanted to get ahead x
These look so yummy! What would you suggest serving them with? A dip or spread or anything?
Yes all of the above! They are lovely on their own but taste great with a cheese & chive dip, cream cheese spreads etc x
delish! i made these today in graduated star sizes and sandwitChed them together with philadelphia whipped cheese with olives, to make christmas trees. we were having a pta meeting at mine and they were soon polished off (even by the skinny brigade)
Oh my that sounds delicious!! x
Hi Ruth,
These look great, I’ve been looking for some savoury biscuits for christmas hampers. However I’m not an olive fan, is there any you can suggest I can swap them for in these?
Fingers crossed
Kelly xx
How about chopped Walnuts? If you want them for hampers I’d go for something dry, nuts, pinenuts etc or you could just leave them out all together xx
i made these but found they went soft with in a day tasted nice though