Olive Cheese Bites

Nothing quite says party time around here like a platter full of olive cheese bites. We pretty much equate football season with olive cheese bite season, but you really don’t need a party to make up a batch of these, just a nice glass of wine and a comfy chair.

This recipe comes to us via my dear, sweet Mother-in-Law, whose olive cheese bites are legendary. We who make them with her recipe can never quite seem to exactly duplicate hers. Until now that is. With her help, I’ve gone through each step with painstaking exactitude, and after many trial batches, finally produced THE olive cheese bite. That was a happy moment, I must tell you.

What we have here is a cheese-y, biscuit-y coating that surrounds a delectable little green olive, and together they create a joyful mouthful of deliciousness. Sometimes I like to add cayenne pepper which adds a little kick, but that’s a personal decision better left to your own preferences.

In any case, come party time, I suggest you fill a platter with these and time how long it takes for them to disappear. Of course, it depends on who you invite to your party...

(and how large your cheese bites are), but given the addictive nature of these little things, there’s no doubt they’ll not last long.

Here’s the recipe….

You can use any cheddar cheese you like here. We prefer the flavor you get from a sharp cheddar, but a medium or mild cheddar makes a softer dough if you think you would like that.

Click here for a printable recipe

½ c flour

1 ¼ cup grated cheddar (mild or medium)

1/8 t dry mustard (optional)

3 tsp milk

3 tablespoons melted butter

1/8 tsp salt

35-40 pitted green olives such as manzanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Mix all of the ingredients together (except the olives). Mold a rounded teaspoon of the dough around each olive. I’ve found that smashing the cheese mixture between your fingers to a little flat piece and then placing the olive in the middle makes it easier to then mold the dough around the olive, pinching it to close it around the olive. After you’ve made a few, you’ll get the hang of it and it goes pretty fast.

Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 12-13 min. Serve warm.

These freeze beautifully either before or after baking them. Before baking, freeze them in a single layer. Once frozen, place them in a ziplock bag and keep in the freezer for up to 6 months. You can bake them frozen by adding an extra 5 minutes to the baking time.