Cheese, Honey and Thyme

It's been a while since the last episode of 'cake vs cookie' because (and I'm going to be honest here) I just haven't been feeling it lately. I wanted to do something small and something that didn't require me to do a lot of decorating. This resulted in me making an orange and ginger cake topped with fruit the other day and spending this morning making some famed biscuits of mine for my mother. I had a burst of energy and so I decided to give cake vs cookie another go. So welcome to the flavour profile: cheese, honey and thyme!

Cheese, Honey and Thyme

Cookie: Cheese, Honey and Thyme Shortbread

Ingredients:

• 62g Vegan Butter
• 25g Brown Sugar
• 1x Tsp Vanilla Essence
• 25g Vegan Cheese
• 1x Tbsp Chopped Thyme
• 1x Tbsp Soft Honey
• 100g Plain Flour

How To:

1. Preheat your oven to 200/C and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper
2. In a bowl mix together the butter, sugar and vanilla until fully combined
3. Add in the thyme and honey and then mix some more
4. Finally, grate in the cheese and add the flour and mix to form a dough
5. Chill the dough in the fridge for about 15-30 minutes and then roll it out and cut it into shapes of your choice
6. Bake them in the oven for about 15-17 minutes - they turn a golden or brown colour because of the cheese and honey, depending on what brands you've used
7. Let them cool for about five to ten minutes before eating

***

Cake: Cheese, Honey and Thyme Mini Close-Crumb Cake

Ingredients:

• 75g Vegan Butter
• 50g Brown Sugar
• 1x Tbsp Apple Sauce
• 1x Tsp Vanilla Essence
• 40g Vegan Cheese
• 1x Tbsp Thyme
• 2x Tbsp Soft Honey
• 1x Tsp Baking Powder
• 100g Self Raising Flour

How To:

1. Preheat your oven to 200/C and get a small baking tin, buttering it up or lining it with greaseproof paper
2. Mix together the butter, sugar, vanilla and apple sauce in a bowl until fully combined
3. Add the honey, thyme and grate the cheese in and mix again until well combined
4. Fold in the flour and baking powder to create a cake batter and then pour it into your baking tin
5. Bake your cake for approximately 18-20 minutes
6. When you take it out, leave it in the tin to cool so that it doesn't break when you attempt to take it from the tin
7. Once it's out of the tin, give it a brush with some more honey if you have any and then put it in the fridge for about 10 minutes
8. I decorated mine with some more grated cheese because this is the lower sugar option and buttercream is basically just sugar
9. It should be all ready to enjoy now!

***

I have to admit, I did the taste test for this one myself and I'm going to be perfectly honest with you that the cookie won by a small amount - perhaps I'm biased because I'm not a cake eater but I'm not really a cookie eater either. The cookie just has a nicer flavour but, try it for yourself and see. The best part about these dishes is that they can be eaten with a savoury sauce and still taste great. Adding a dash of chilli sauce to these can really bring the flavour alive and if you want to put it in the recipe then you can swap out the vanilla for whatever chilli sauce you'd want to eat.

The honey makes the texture closer and if you roll your dough too thin, then the cookies will go hard in the oven, you want to keep the dough a little bit thick but not too thick. Perhaps just a tiny bit thicker than your average digestive biscuit. When it comes to the cake, you need more honey because the flavour needs to come through over simply the change in texture.

I know this is a weird combination but honestly, I will be back with more. I need to get back into this because it's good for my mental health and keeps me happy. I'm very glad I did this today. I'm going to go off and think of some more weird combinations in the mean time!

P.S

My physiotherapy has been booked! Hopefully my back and shoulder should be on the mend soon. I will update you on this.