It's all in the 'cheddah'

Spiced Cheddarhead Cookies

2 c plus 1 tbsp - cake flour

1 tsp - baking powder

1/2 tsp - baking soda

1/2 tsp - salt

1/3 c - medium cheddar cheese (shredded)

3 tbsp - butter

1/2 c - apple  juice

1/2 c - sugar

1/2 c - brown sugar

1 egg

1/4 tsp - allspice

1/4 tsp - ginger

3/4 tsp - cinnamon

1 tbsp - maple syrup 

Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

In a pot on your stovetop, melt butter over medium heat. Once completely melted, scoop approx. 1 tbsp of cake flour into butter and whisk vigarously to work out any lumps. Congrats, you've made a roux! Add in cheese and whisk thoroughly with roux until completely melted. Turn off heat, move pot to a cool burner and whisk in apple juice, sugar and brown sugar, spices and maple syrup. Once mixed, whisk in egg. (Be careful! If mixture too hot it could curdle egg, that's why you dont' wanna use high heat in this recipe!) 

Sift the dry ingredients into the pot and fold with a spatula until incorporated. At this point nuts or raisins are optional, fold whatever else you like into the pot. 

Cookie scoop onto GREASED pans about an 1 1/2 inches apart. I mean greased guys, EVEN with silpats these babies stick. Bake at 375* for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Move to drying racks to cool completely. 

To finish, I spread fruit jam (peach apricot) on the bottoms of the cookies and stuck them together sandwichlike. If this appeals to you, trust me, it's worth it. Otherwise they're tasty by themselves :)

A note about the temperature. I baked them at 350, but my oven's natoriously about 25 degrees hotter than it should be. Bake yours at 375 but keep a closer eye on them near the end of the 8 minutes in case they bake quicker for you. This also depends on how big your dough balls are. 

The consistency of this one is a relatively fluffy cookie, with some extra chew due to the protein content. I sprinkled my cookies with powdered sugar, which may not be a bad idea for you to do as it helps the cookies not stick to each other or the bottom of your storage vessel.

**Side note: Please excuse the photo quality. I'm going to get one of my friends to start taking pictures of my cookies with their super deluxe camera from now on**