Lao gan ma cheese biscuits

Everyone loves a cheese biscuit, and here it gets some next-level flavour with the addition of a touch of Lao gan ma, the much-loved Chinese chilli crisp.

• makes

  25

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Having introduced my friend Ali to chilli crisp oil, I soon discovered that his obsession with it exceeded even my own. With its complex, savoury flavours, the chilli crisp can be used in so many ways – as a condiment, marinade, dipping sauce … Ali also happens to be a dedicated camper, and I had the idea, a bit of a joke at first, to add his new favourite condiment to some cheese biscuits I was making for him to take on a trip. As it turns out, the trusty chillli crisp oil added a fantastic spicy kick to the biscuits. Its umami richness complements the buttery dough and sharp cheese so well, and adds an appealing crunch to the biscuits. Serve with drinks and watch them disappear.

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The Cook Up with Adam Liaw

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Ingredients

• 20 g black and/or white sesame seeds
• 150 g plain flour
• 70 g finely grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• ¾ tsp fine sea salt
• 80 g butter, cold, diced
• 25 g chilli crisp oil (see Note)
• 1 egg yolk
• 1½ tsp lemon juice
• 40 g (about 4) spring onions, thinly sliced

Chilling time: 2-3 hours, total (or up to 3 days)

Instructions

1. Place the sesame seeds on a baking tray and set aside. Place the flour, parmesan, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and process until the mixture is crumbly, then add the chilli crisp, egg yolk and lemon juice. Pulse until the mixture is the consistency of wet sand, then tip it into a large bowl and add the spring onion. Stir to incorporate, then knead gently to form a ball.
2. On a clean work surface, roll the dough into a log about 25 cm long and 4 cm in diameter. Place the log on the tray with the sesame seeds, then roll the log until it is covered in the seeds. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Don’t worry if the dough is slightly soft and misshapen for now.
3. After 30 minutes of refrigeration, remove the dough and, without removing the plastic wrap, roll it into a more even log, then refrigerate until firm – up to 3 days.
4. Once ready to bake, line a baking tray with baking paper and preheat the oven to 160˚C (fan-forced). Slice the cheese log into coins that are just under 1 cm thick and place them a few centimetres apart on the lined baking tray. If they break, just smoosh them back together.
5. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden-brown. The base of the biscuits will be a deeper reddish-brown from the chilli oil as well as the direct contact with the heat of the tray – this is as it should be. The biscuits are soft when warm, but will crisp up when they cool down.

Note

• Use your favourite brand of chilli crisp, or your own homemade version. I use Lao Gan Ma brand, but they will all work. Too much oil will make the dough soft and waxy, so leave as much of the oil in the jar as possible.
• The biscuits can be eaten on the day they are baked, but are at their best a day or two after, when they’ve dried out a little and the flavours have had time to meld together. They will keep, loosely wrapped in foil, for up to 5 days.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.