Tag Archives: manchego cheese

Manchego Jam Twists

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Welcome to cooking school…Ready for a crash course? Temp me please with jam and cheese! But first, a little history lesson; so pull out your notebook. Manchego (used in this recipe) is a semi-hard cheese from the sheep of the central province of La Mancha, Spain; remember the windmills in Don Quixote? That’s the place. Back in November of 2004 (yep, that long ago far away time) Brenton was studying in Spain, so we all ventured over to enjoy a Spanish Thanksgiving. We hopped the train from Seville to Segovia one day to see that charming town, which is adjacent to the region of La Mancha. Needless to say, they served cheese on every corner and every café in between! That was my introduction to the wonderful world of Manchego. Let the games begin…I’ll take cheese for $1000 please.

The image above was captured by Brenton (with an authentic 35 mm camera, waaaay before the iPhone camera). This is the Alcázar of Segovia (Castle), dating from the early 12th century. The town is in the unpictured foreground, with the view of Castile and Leon region in the background.

Enough brain infusion for today. Now on to the recipe. My platters are always on call for hors d’oeuvres!

This is all you’ll need:

All purpose flour for dusting
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
2 Tbs strawberry jam
1 cup grated Manchego
1 egg
*Remember please that I am an unapologetic messy baker; evidence follows!

Here are the particulars:

Preheat oven to 400°.
Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
On lightly floured surface, roll out pastry to 12 x 14 inch rectangle.
Cut dough in half at center of short side.
Spread one half of pastry with jam.
Sprinkle evenly with cheese, reserving 2 Tbs.
Top this with other piece of pastry.
Press gently to adhere.
Cut with pizza cutter into 1/2 inch wide strips, about 18 pieces.
Twist each piece 4 to 5 times, pinching ends tightly.
Place on baking sheet.
In small bowl, mix egg with 1 t water.
Brush onto twisted pastry.
Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Bake until golden, about 12 to 14 minutes.
Let cool slightly before removing from parchment.
Serve immediately.

Makes “18ish”.

Cheese Please!

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I adore cheese…and if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. So grab a mixture of sheep, cow, and goat cheese offerings. Serve it up with fresh seasonal fruits, dried apricots and cranberries, and a ginger snap or two. Crossing borders here with Humboldt Fog, a California goat milk cheese, followed up with Port Salut which is a semi-soft French cow’s milk cheese. Also served here is Brenton’s favorite, the semi-hard Manchego, made from the milk of sheep in the La Mancha region of her beloved Spain. For this particular tray, I rounded it out with a Dutch yellow cow’s milk Gouda. Rather spectacular. This presentation was for the umpteenth* one of my Mother’s 90th (XC) Birthday Jubilee Celebrations. Appetizer Cheese Tray

  • Umpteenth literally means an indefinitely large number in succession. And that’s precisely how she celebrated this special birthday, party after party. Kudos to her…and us for the endless prepping of said parties! Self patting self on back…yep, that’s what my dear sister-in-law Su-Su and I are doing now that, after three full months, the celebrations are complete. Flowers and more yummies later! And that’s a promise, ’cause I’m gonna improve your future outcomes!