Butter, flour and parmesan. That’s all you need to make buttery parmesan shortbread biscuits. And you’ll be amazed how fast these are to make – no cookie cutter required! Watch the 15 second video here to see how easy these are to make!
PARMESAN BISCUITS
My mother makes these incredible parmesan biscuits that I frequently beg her to make. Until recently, I had no idea they were made with just 3 ingredients: butter, flour and parmesan. Nor that they took all of 2 minutes to make the dough.
“Why didn’t you tell me before?!” I exclaimed. “If I’d known they were that easy, I would have been making them myself!”
“I don’t know,” she said calmly. “I just never thought of it. They aren’t that special.”
“Aren’t that special?” I gasped, flabbergasted. “These are my favourite biscuits.”
“That’s so typical of you,” she said. “Just because it’s got cheese in it.”
OK, well that’s true. I couldn’t argue with that. And of course, having discovered they were made with only 3 ingredients, I declared them to be so fabulous that I had to share them on my blog.
These biscuits are savoury shortbread biscuits, which means they are buttery and crumbly, just like the sweet ones.
Except these are cheesy. Parmesan cheesy.
You barely need the recipe for this. Butter, flour and parmesan, whizz until crumbs form, form a log, wrap in cling wrap, refrigerate, slice, bake for 12 minutes.
3 ingredient magic. That’s what this is. Honestly, these exact biscuits are sold in a certain up market grocery store in Sydney (which shall remain unnamed!) for close to $10. And you get less than one batch of this!
I have 2 words of caution about these:
1. Making as a gift: If you make these with the intention of gifting them, please just make a double batch. Don’t kid yourself into believing that you won’t “taste test” so many that you end up with a dismal scant pile for your friend, so small that you can’t possibly give that as a gift so you end up doing an emergency present run énroute to the birthday lunch; and
2. To nibble with wine: These are brilliant to have as nibbles. But they go a little too well with wine. What happens is that that the cheesy buttery biscuits make you thirsty, so you drink more, and the more you drink the more you nibble. An endless viscous cycle. So as with #1, just make a double batch. 🙂
OK, so #1 may have happened to me last weekend. And come to think of it, #2 as well. Oops.
Happy weekend! – Nagi x
PS Please do not count the biscuits in the photos below. I can tell you now, there are 5 missing!!!
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Parmesan Shortbread Biscuits
Ingredients
- 3.5 oz / 100g salted butter , chopped (Note 1)
- 3.5 oz / 100g parmesan cheese , grated (Note 2)
- 3.3 oz / 95g plain flour
For rosemary flavoured biscuits
- 1 tbsp rosemary leaves , roughly chopped (or 2 1/2 tsp dried rosemary)
Instructions
Two Ways To Make The Dough
- Process the butter, flour and parmesan in a food processor until a wet crumbly dough; OR
- Alternative method: Place the flour and butter into a bowl and use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour until a crumble dough forms. Then add the parmesan cheese and use your fingers to rub it into the mixture.
- If you are making rosemary biscuits, add the rosemary at the same time as the parmesan cheese.
Make the biscuits
- Lightly flour a surface and turn the dough out onto it. Knead to bring together, then shape into two logs with a diameter of around 3 cm / 1.2" and about 15cm/6" in length.
- Wrap with cling wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. (Note 2)
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350F. Line 1 large baking tray or 2 ordinary baking trays with baking paper (parchment paper).
- Remove the log from the fridge and use a sharp knife to cut the log into 7mm/ 1/3" thick rounds.
- Place the biscuits onto the baking tray at least 2cm / 1" apart.
- Bake biscuits for 12 minutes or until light golden.
- Stand on trays for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
I read through a lot of comments but couldn’t find this information. Can I make these cookies to the final stage (log) and store in fridge to bake later?
Hi Jimbo…yes you can and you can also freeze it and thaw slightly then bake. N x
Loved this recipe , turned out perfect, will make again for sure. love so many of your recipes, thank you .x
You’re so welcome Hazel! N x
Hi! For some reason my biscuits melted in the oven and didn’t keep their nice classic shortbread ridge (they look like cookies). My log was in the fridge for hours so was definitely firm before going in. Any idea what may have happened? Hoping these still taste delicious though! 🙂
Hi Nagi,
Can you make these biscuits with Gluten Free flour??
It will change the texture too much unfortunately. N x
Thank you (and thanks to your mum!) Today I wanted to bake something to take away on a mid-week break, and nothing sweet was grabbing me. THIS is what I needed. I’m seeing multiple future iterations with different crumbly cheeses – truffle! pepper! smoked! – it’s the gift that keeps on giving – much like you, Nagi. Thanks. A. Million!
Obvs 5 star!
I’d love to make this but alas! I don’t have a kitchen scale! What am I to do???
Buy one! They’re not expensive and you’ll discover that recipes with weighed ingredients are much easier than recipes that use volume. No pesky filling and levelling of cup measures!
How long do these biscuits keep?
This looks delicious! Would this work with different kinds of cheeses, like cheddar?
I’m never buying store bought parmesan crackers again!Delicious
Forgot the stars! Better than 5 star! Thanks, Nagi.
These are absolutely amazing! So incredibly light, melt-in-your-mouth tender and very, very tasty. You’re right, Nagi, the perfect nibble with a glass of wine!
Super easy, super tasty and perfect to accompany New Year’s Eve drinks – thanks Nagi. Very grateful for your detailed instructions and the helpful photos in all your posts.
Hi Nagi, I hope you are well. I am going to bake 4 more batches of these, are they suitable for freezing?
Hi Miranda, I haven’t tried but others have said that these are fine to freeze 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi, we love this recipe & have made it about 3 times now. This week my husband made it with Tasmanian pecorino pepato instead of Parmesan & lentil flour instead of plain and left out the rosemary & the results were fantastic also. Thank you for such a wonderful recipe. 🐩🐾
Husband requested cheese shortbread for Fathers Day. I groaned and googled. So many variations from which to choose, but I laughed at your Mum’s cheese comment and decided we had that in common. And 3 ingredients is hard to beat! Took your advice re making double batch
, even though it was my first attempt. Just as well I did, oh my goodness these are divine! I can’t bake but these are fool-proof and fail-proof. My son and I ate one batch and quickly boxed up the other before there were none left 🤣. Thankyou so much for sharing this recipe!
Thank you for posting this recipe, 8 made them years ago and just now my husband was asking about them. I vaguely remembered equal something..but was it quantity or weight? So happy to find this recipe, my husband will be delighted … me too.
Hi! I’m excited to make these! Does the butter need to be cold, room temp… does it matter? Thank you!
Hi Nagi,
I want to send these biscuits overseas for Christmas. How long would these keep in an airtight container?
Bake a batch with rosemary and a batch without. The rosemary ones turn out alright but the plain ones were flattened out and crumbly. Don’t know what’s wrong. Both batches were mixed and rolled at the same time😭.
The plain ones were also not crispy by the next day.
I must say they taste great whether flat or not. 👍🏻
Absolutely love your blog Nagi – I have been following you for a long time and just love your enthusiasm, your sense of humour and your obsessive attention to detail in your recipes ( I am a bit pedantic with recipes myself lol!) Oh…and of course I love Dozer – his diet is as diverse as our dogs’ Thanks for all the great recipes – don’t know what I would do without you now xc