za'atar cheesy biscuits

Za’atar cheesy biscuits are to be had with a festive drink or two. When normally a bag of crisps might do, these moreish savoury sablés, made with a touch of the eastern Mediterranean, definitely lift the occasion. Luckily the recipe makes enough dough for some to be frozen, so you’ll have an emergency savoury aperitif all ready for the next lot of family and friends.

A recipe with a simple list of ingredients and straightforward to make, it’s worth giving this one a go if you’ve never made a savoury biscuit before. It will help to have the butter at room temperature so that it blends easily with the cheese. The pecorino, being younger and sharper, goes well with sumac and za’atar mix, but if parmesan is in your fridge, use that instead. The finer you grate the cheese, the easier it will blend too. Adding a touch of sumac gives a lovely speckled finish when the biscuit is baked, but if you don’t have it, add another teaspoon of za’atar mix into the dry ingredients.

Since the recipe requires the dough to be chilled, this is a recipe you can make ahead of time. Then you only need to remove the logs rolled in za’atar mix from the fridge, slice finely and bake a short while before they’re needed. Nothing nicer than a warm biscuit. Each log will make about 20 thin biscuits, which can fit on one tray, as they don’t spread.

makes about 40