Before I started working at a cupcake shop, for many years I worked in retail.
It feels like a lifetime ago now, but my last retail job was at a men’s store that sold shirts, slacks, suits, ugly t-shirts, shoes, that sort of thing.
My manager (lets call her A) and I had a lot of boring, quiet hours spare to amuse ourselves when we were working in the store. We read gossip magazines, did a puzzle called the Crozzle every week, danced when we finished it, took it in turns to make trips to the supermarket (because boredom = hunger, right?) and talked a lot. About the company we worked for, about boys and about food.
We both loved food. And one day, she gave me the recipe for her mum’s cheese twists. Her mum had typed the recipe up for me nicely, and called it Kelly’s Parmesan and Cheese Twists.
It took me a long time, but about a year later, I have finally made them.
I made her version, with cheese, Italian herbs and sesame seeds, and I made my own version, with chilli pesto. Yum.
I loved both versions, but chunky chilli pesto is something I’m obsessed with at the moment, so I’m sharing that recipe with you here. You could use any kind of pesto or tapenade you like. Or you could just omit the pesto altogether and sprinkle the tops of the twists with chopped chives, dry Italian herbs and sesame seeds, like Kelly does.
CHILLI CHEESE TWISTS
4 sheets store-bought puff pastry, thawed
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 jar/tub chilli pesto dip
Preheat the oven to 210 C and line 3 baking trays with parchment paper.
On a clean bench, place 2 sheets of the puff pastry. Brush with the beaten egg and spread a couple of tablespoons of the chilli pesto over each sheet of puff pastry.
Sprinkle to 2 puff pastry sheets evenly with the grated cheeses and top each with another square of puff pastry. Press down gently.
Cut into 1cm strips. Hold the strip by each end and twist in opposite directions to make a ‘twist’. Place on baking trays.
Bake for 20 minutes until golden. Makes 30 cheese twists.