Cooking With Bon Appetit

These two recipes, a great gift combination, are from the cookbook series Cooking With Bon Appetit: Gifts from the Kitchen.

Cumin Cheese Spread

Ingedients:

1 tsp. cumin seed
6 oz. soft goat cheese
6 oz. Monterrey Jack cheese, cut into 1" cubes
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

Preparation:

Cook cumin seed in heavy small skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant but not brown, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix together both cheeses, butter and cumin in processor until completely smooth, about 2 minutes, stopping as necessary to scrape down sides of work bowl.

Serve at room temperature. Can be prepared one week ahead and chilled.

LBJ Ranch Cheese Wafers

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 cups finely chopped pecans

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, cayenne and salt in large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix in cheese. Fold in nuts. Form dough into one-inch rounds. Place on ungreased baking sheets and flatten to 1-3/4-inch rounds, using back of fork. Bake until light brown, 15 minutes. Cool on rack. Store in airtight container.