This is an easy, quick recipe for bite-sized snacks that are tasty on their own or as an appetizer to go with a glass of wine. These tiny squares puff up in the oven when made with my Flaky Pastry — with the slight twist in this recipe of using lard from cooked bacon for some of the fat, though you may certainly use all butter as usual, if that is more convenient. The rest is simply cheese and seasoning. Brushing with beaten egg for a golden glow is a nice touch, but it’s optional: this really is an unfussy though tasty dish. 

If you want enough cheese pops to fill a medium biscuit tin (64 pops), make a half quantity of Flaky Pastry (as mentioned below) or make the full amount and cut in half, freezing the other half for another time. If you are baking for a party, use the whole pastry and cook the resulting pops either in two batches or with two trays in the oven.

For the dough: Flaky pastry, 4 oz flour or 8 oz flour as needed

For the filling:

1 cup or 2 oz grated sharp cheese, such as any mature Cheddar, Manchego, or Parmigiano Reggiano

¼ tsp salt

¼ teaspoon cumin powder or paprika, as desired

1. Grate the cheese and mix in the seasoning.

2. Roll the pastry out very thinly into a square (no more than ⅛” thick).

3. Using the rolling pin to help, place the rolled-out dough onto a parchment-lined baking tray.

4. Pile onto the dough HALF of the seasoned cheese, keeping a small margin of plain dough at the edges.

5. Refrigerate the cheese-topped dough for about 10 minutes.

6. Take the chilled dough and fold it as if making an envelope: one edge up and the other down, one closing over the other. Your pastry will now long like a rounded rectangle, about half the width of the square you started out with.

7. Roll out the dough again into a long rectangle, about 17 inches across.

8. Dot the dough with the second half of the spiced cheese mix.

9. As you did before, fold the ends over one another again, so you end up with another oblong about 6” long by 5” wide.

10. Chill the dough for 5 minutes.

11. Pre-heat the oven to 375°.

12. Roll dough out one more time to a squarish block about 8 inches by 7 inches.

13. Cut eight strips of 1¾” with a pastry cutter or knife.

14. Then cut eight strips the other way to make squares (if the strips are sticking together lengthwise, separate them slightly before the crosswise cutting step).

15. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes, until light gold in colour.

16. Allow to cool slightly on a baking rack and serve soon afterwards, or wait till fully cooled and store in an airtight container.