Olive-Stuffed Cheese Wafers
Three of the best snacks, rolled into one crispy bite-sized morsel.
Three of the best snacks in the world are cheese, crackers, and olives — quite separately — so why not bring them all together in one superhero of an appetizer? Great plan, right? We thought so too. That’s just what these Olive-Stuffed Cheese Wafers are about — celebrating three great things in one tasty little bite-sized morsel. Part cheese wafer, part olive celebration, it’s not entirely clear how you should describe these, but it is entirely clear that they’re absolutely delicious.
If your baking adventures have only been limited to desserts, this is the perfect place to jump into the savory. These aren’t difficult to make, even though they’re a pretty unique snack. Basically, you’re going to make up a dough that’s comprised of butter, cheddar cheese, flour, and some seasonings like paprika, salt, pepper, and a touch of cayenne. Pretty simple, but the end result is somewhat reminiscent of a cheez it and I’m definitely not complaining about that.
You’ll want to chill the dough and then scoop it out in balls that you flatten into a disc to wrap around each olive. It helps to dry those olives a bit before you wrap the dough around them. They’ll give off a little more juice, but just keep pinching that cheese dough together and it will eventually seal.
Now, an important tip — if you want these to be wafer shaped, then go ahead and bake them now. But, if you want them to be shaped in cute little balls, go ahead and chill those balls first so they don’t spread in the oven. A couple of hours will do the trick.
I personally prefer the wafer shape. There’s more surface area to get crisped up that way, so these are almost like eating an olive-stuffed cracker. An olive-stuffed cheese cracker, I might add, just to keep things a little extra.
Olive Stuffed Cheese Wafers
Ingredients
- 1 (7 oz) jar pimento-stuffed green olives (you'll have some leftover)
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- A pinch of cayenne pepper
Preparation
- Drain olives well and pat dry with a paper towel.
- In a medium bowl, stir together butter and cheddar with a wooden spoon until well combined.
- Add flour, paprika, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Stir once more and finish mixing with your hands, if needed. Dough should be moist but dense and easy to form into a ball. If needed, add more flour by the tablespoon until desired consistency is reached.
- Chill dough for 30 minutes.
- Pinch off a small piece of chilled dough, then flatten into a thin oval shape. Wrap dough around the olive, covering it completely, then pinch dough closed.
- Place on a baking sheet. Continue with remaining dough; you will have some leftover olives.
- Optional: If you'd like more of a ball shape after baking rather than a wafer, chill at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Transfer olives to prepared baking sheet, leaving space around each olive for air to circulate. Bake until lightly golden, 15-18 minutes.
- Let cool a few minutes before serving. Enjoy!