Cheese Wrapped Olives Recipes

CHEESE-WRAPPED OLIVES (BOLLITAS)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• In bowl of food processor, combine cheese, butter, paprika/cayenne, and flour.
• Process until smooth.
• Take about 1 Tablespoon of crumbly dough and place in the palm of your hand.
• Place one of the olives in middle of dough.
• Cup your hand to begin fixing dough around olive.
• Roll between palms of hands until dough is smoothly wrapped around olive.
• Sometimes the dough gets a little crumbly, rolling faster helps a bit, and you can stick dough onto any'naked' areas and roll until smooth.
• Repeat until all olives have been wrapped.
• Place onto oiled baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
• Due to the amount of cheese in the batter, these will be rather greasy when they emerge from the oven.
• Remove from baking sheet and place between paper towels to remove grease.
• Serve with dipping sauce of choice (I used a mango salsa).
• Note: Upon making these recently, I discovered that the preferred method should be to freeze these on a baking tray for about 3-4 hours before baking. This allows the texture of the 'dough' to remain firm around the balls when baking. Of course if you don't have the time, they are still just as tasty the first way... the balls just don't hold up quite as well in the oven.

PASTRY WRAPPED OLIVES

Steps:

• 1. Have all ingredients room temperature. In the softened butter add the tobasco, and worstchester sauce, then the shredded cheese.Drain the olives in a strainer and set aside in a bowl.
• 2. Add salt & flour to cheese mixture. Make into a dough working all ingredients thoroughly.You can add cilantro at this time if desired.
• 3. Take aprox a tsp of the dough and make a ball. Flatten it in the palm of your hand and place an olive in the middle. Wrap the olive in the dough and make a ball again. Place on a greased cookie sheet. You can get 20 or so on a large cookie sheet. Place in 375* oven for aprox 30 min. or until tops start to get golden. You must keep an eye on them because you are using butter and this can burn easily . Remove from cookie sheet on a plate to cool and place in a tupperware container.
• 4. You can make these ahead of time and place in a bag in a freezer to bake at another time. Make sure to flower them before you put in the bag or they will stick together and be a mess when you thaw them. They keep 3 months in the freezer. This is a great thing to have on hand when people drop by. You can always have a nice appetizer handy at all times!

BAKED CHEDDAR OLIVES

Steps:

• 1. Drain olives and pat dry with towel.
• 2. Combine cheese and butter in a bowl. Add flour and cayenne and blend until well mixed. I do finely shred my cheddar cheese from a block of cheese. I don't use the pre-shredded cheese.
• 3. If your dough seems to crumble add a Tablespoon or two of milk or water to get it to wrap around the olive better.
• 4. Drop the dough by tablespoons onto wax paper and wrap or mold each piece of dough around an olive, covering completely.
• 5. Bake the wrapped olives on a baking sheet in the center rack of a preheated 400 degree oven for 15 mintues or until golden brown. Serve warm.

BAKED CHEDDAR OLIVES

Steps:

• In a bowl combine the Cheddar and the butter, add the flour and the cayenne, and blend the dough until it is combined well. Drop the dough by tablespoons onto wax paper and wrap or mold each tablespoon around each of the olives, covering each olive completely. Bake the wrapped olives on a baking sheet in the middle of a preheated 400°F. oven for 15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden, and serve them warm.

BAKED GREEN OLIVES IN SPICY CHEESE PASTRY

Steps:

• Mix the cheese and flour, and then mix in the margarine and cayenne, working the dough with your hands if it seems dry. Form a log in plastic wrap and chill in fridge over night. You want this to be fairly dry and crumbly. Mold approximately 1 tablespoon dough around each olive. The warmth from you hands will help keep it together. Bake at 400° for about 20 minutes or until golden. Serve hot, warm, or cold. (I prefer them hot ;-).