This past holiday season my friend Nichole Miller hosted a holiday BAKE-A-RAMA. This recipe is a one of the amazing recipes I acquired.

Nichole Miller

As we waited for cookies to bake, we all got to hear about Nichole’s grandmother, Grace. Nichole even produced the following photo of Grace (in shooting mode) which may be one of my favorite photos of any grandmother EVER.

Grace Miller with her son

So I ask the questions, and Nichole tells the stories and you get the most amazing savoury cookie recipe.

Aine: So this photo is of Grace and your Dad? Tell us about Grace.

Nichole: Grace and my grandfather, William Rudolph Miller, were the loves of their lives. After my grandfather passed, Grace never remarried. That is my father, William Rudolph Miller Jr in the photo.

Grace lived in Madison, Wisconsin.  According to a recently obtained and non-confirmed story, somewhere in her family history was one of the first American women to enter China via a circus or performance troup. I need to investigate this more. But yeah just looking at the photo you can tell that Grace was pretty much a badass. I remember her smoking Benson & Hedges cigaretttes and drinking highballs.

Aine: What is the history behind these cookies?

Nichole:   The cookies were part of her annual tradition of baking ridiculous amounts of Christmas cookies, and these cookies were always part of that session. She would bake my sister and myself a tin each. My dad would usually eat one of the tins as he drove them from Madison to Chicago, leaving one tin for us to share. This usually happened before the actual holiday, as we almost always spent Christmas with Grace (my mom’s side being jewish, and all).

Grace’s Cheese Cookies

Ingredients:

– 3 sticks margarine

– 3 cups flour

– 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

– 8 oz sharp cheddar cheese grated

– pecan halves

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Soften butter

3. Blend in flour then cayenne pepper and cheddar cheese.

4. Form dough into 1 inch balls and place on parchment lined cookie sheet

5. Press pecan half into each rounded ball

6. Bake for 10-12 minutes