Parmesan and Black Olive Biscuits

These Mediterranean flavoured biscuits lend themselves beautifully as an aperitif, something to nibble on whilst having a glass of chilled Prosecco or any other sparkling wine, champagne is always good!

They have a slightly spicy aftertaste, which we really enjoy. Should you like a milder version, dial down the amount of the mustard powder, but not too much, as they might lose their intended character.

You can prepare them in batches and store in an air tight container. They are best eaten within a week.

For 20-30 biscuits:

• 200-210 g of plain flour  plus extra for dusting
• 185 g of unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 a teaspoon of fine sea salt
• 1/2 of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 2/3 of a teaspoon of English mustard powder
• 75-80 g of finely grated parmesan cheese, best if aged
• 50 g of pitted black olives, very well drained and chopped (I use Kalamata Greek olives)

Sift the flour (200 g first), salt, cayenne pepper and mustard powder into a large mixing bowl.

Stir in the grated parmesan and add the butter.

Mix well with a large wooden spoon. The mixture will come together into a dough after a couple of minutes of stirring, so don’t worry that if initially it seems too dry.

Now add the olives and mix into the dough until evenly distributed. You may need to add here the remaining bit of flour if the olives released any liquid into the dough.

Tip the dough onto a floured working space and gently roll it into a log, about 4-5 cm in diameter.

Wrap it in a large piece of cling film and roll it back and forth holding both ends, evening out the thickness of the log.

Leave in a fridge for 40-60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180 C / fan 160C.

Line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Unwrap the dough log and cut it (with a sharp knife) across into discs 1 cm thick.

Arrange the discs on the tray leaving some space between them, you may need to use two trays, depending on the amount of the biscuits you managed to cut.

Bake for 10 minutes (15 min if the discs were quite thick) until golden in colour.

Leave on the tray to cool down completely (the biscuits will crisp up as they cool).