HOT CROSS DOTS

Our play on Hot Cross Buns, savoury style.

This is a simple recipe and it will make your Cheese Dots cheesier and prettier.

To make the cross, we used our version of a Guyanese Cheese Spread, that is easy and tasty. Here it goes:

Ingredients for the spread:

• 50g grated cheese - we used Friulano, but you can use Cheddar, Gruyere or any other you like.

• 25g unsalted butter - cubed

• 1/8 tsp Dijon mustard

• 1/4 cup milk

• 1.5 tsp of tapioca starch

For the Cheese Dots

• we used 6 inside a pan, so it can bake close together

Method:

• preheat oven to 400F and place Cheese Dots inside your selected pan. Close together so they "pull apart"

• bake for 25 - 30 min. It will take longer than normal Cheese Dots because they are close together, so keep an eye. You want them to be golden brown.

• In the mean time, put cheese, butter and mustard in the cup of an immersion blender. You can use a food processor too.

• Pulse to come together. You might need to scrape often.

• Add a little bit of the milk and pulse.

• Add the milk little by little to incorporate well.

• Once you have added all the milk and the mixture is creamy. Add the tapioca starch and mix by hand - we add this simply to hold things together a bit once piped onto the warm Cheese Dots.

• Scoop mixture into a piping bag or zip lock.

• Once your Cheese Dots come out of the oven, let them cool a little bit. Since the mixture has a lot of cheese and butter, it will all melt and not look like a cross anymore.

• Pipe the cross on top and serve.

Notes:

You can use Dulce de Leche or Nutella for a sweet version, instead of the Cheese Spread.

This recipe will make more than what you need of spread, but it is really yummy on bread or toast.