Autumn Pastry

I love the fall. It's my favorite time of year--the weather, the colors on the leaves, and the food all conspire to make it the best season.

With that in mind, I can never pass up leaf-shaped cookie cutters, and I use them whenever I can find an excuse.

These cheese pastry leaves are today's result. There just happened to be half a recipe of cream cheese pastry in the fridge and the parsley is still doing well in the garden. And there were odds and ends of cheese. Voila!--cheese pastry leaves.

Autumn Pastry
Pastry:
4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup butter (room temperature)
1 cup + 2 tbl. flour
1/2 tsp. salt (scant)

1/3 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup crumbled bleu cheese
1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced
flour

yolk of one egg, beaten with about 2 tbl. water and 1/2 tsp. paprika

leaf-shaped cookie cutter(s)

Make the pastry and chill for a minimum of 3 three hours. It's probably easiest to simply make it the day before. Take out to allow it to come to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

Sprinkle the pastry board with flour, bits of parsley, and bits of both cheeses. Roll out about 1/4 of the dough and place on a parchment covered cookie sheet (nine shapes to a sheet is good). Brush each cut-out with the egg mixture.

Bake at 425 F for about 12 minutes, turning half-way through to get the pastries evenly browned.

Repeat until all dough is used. This recipe makes about 50 leaves, but I can't give you a very accurate count...I started eating them early on. Taste-testing is important.