Bacon and Cheese Straws (2024)

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

What’s better than plain old cheese straws? Bacon and Cheese Straws, that’s what! These easy peasy puff pastry twists are made with streaky bacon, Dijon mustard and mature cheddar cheese for a delicious variation on classic cheese straws. They make excellent party nibbles or snacks. Adored by adults and kids alike, they are super easy to make and involve only 10 minutes hands on time!!

Well here at Easy Peasy Foodie HQ (AKA my dining room), I am in proper Christmas mode now. Yesterday I cooked, photographed and cleared up an entire Christmas dinner (more about that to be revealed soon) and today I am turning my attention to Christmas nibbles…because there can never be enough nibbly food at Christmas – am I right?

Not that you have to eat these Bacon and Cheese Straws exclusively at Christmas time – they would be perfect at any time of the year. But especially awesome at Christmas.

For me, with so much else going on at Christmas, nibbles need to be EASY!! The idea of spending hours on fancy pants nibbles when I have presents to buy, cards to write and an endless stream of Christmas events to ferry my children to, is beyond crazy.

In fact, if I am honest I often buy nibbles at Christmas time. But there are a few nibbly bits I always love to make…making mince pies is a Christmas tradition in our house – we make these cute little star topped mini mince pies that take just 35 minutes from start to finish. I also like making these gorgeous little turkey, cranberry and feta sausage rolls…which are practically foolproof and full of the flavours of Christmas. I also love to make these easy peasy star biscuits with the kids (who can mostly make them all by themselves these days)…and I ALWAYS make cheese straws, because I love them and because they are just SO EASY!!

But this year I decided I wanted to take my cheese straws up a notch and add some extra yumminess – so I’ve added bacon! Because everything tastes better with bacon IMHO 😀

Adding bacon really doesn’t make these yummy cheese straws any harder to make, and it honestly adds a whole extra layer of deliciousness. But if you prefer to make a veggie version, simply leave the bacon out and you will have some totally delicious vegetarian friendly cheese straws.

In fact, if you are catering for a party, why not make a tray of each? Then everyone’s happy!

Because they are made with shop bought puff pastry, these Bacon and Cheese Straws are an absolute cinch to make – they take just 10 minutes to prep, then into the fridge to harden up for 20 minutes, before baking for 25-30 minutes, meaning you can have a whole tray of them done and dusted in under an hour.

Alternatively, prep these ahead the night before and store them in the fridge until needed. Then all you need to do on the day is put them in the oven. Great for whipping out when your hungry guests arrive, or when you realise your Christmas lunch is going to be a bit later than planned!!

Honestly, you will feel like you are Nigella when you whip these little beauties out of the oven and collect all the oohs and aahs!!

And don’t just save these Bacon and Cheese Straws for Christmas! They make fab party nibbles all year round and a perfect snack to whip up for kids after school too….in fact add a few carrot and cucumber sticks and you pretty much have a meal going on there!

Ingredients

Metric - US Customary

Oil for greasing or greaseproof paper
Plain flour for dusting your worksurface
320 g pack ready rolled puff pastry see note
75 g mature cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard optional
8 rashers (strips) streaky bacon
1 egg beaten

Instructions

Lightly grease a large baking tray with a little oil or line with greaseproof paper.
Lay out the ready rolled pastry on a floured surface, sprinkle the cheese all over the pastry and fold in half.
Roll out the pastry to roughly 25 x 40cm (10 x 16 inches). It should be wide enough to place 8 rashers of bacon side-by-side and just a little longer than 1 rasher of bacon in the other direction (see picture above).
Spread the pastry with the mustard and then lay out the bacon so the bacon is just touching but not overlapping.
Cut down between the bacon, so you have 8 strips, then twist each strip several times and place on the prepared baking tray.
Chill the twists for a minimum of 20 minutes in the fridge.
Just before you plan on cooking the cheese straws, heat your oven to 220C / 200C / gas mark 7 / 425F.
Remove the cheese straws from the fridge and brush with the beaten egg.
Cook for 25-30 minutes, or until golden on top and cooked all the way through.
Eat as soon as they are cool enough to hold.
Store any uneaten cheese straws in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat for 10 minutes at 220C / 200C / gas mark 7 / 425F or until piping hot all the way through.

Notes

I have made this with ready rolled pastry to make it extra easy, but you can make it with the block puff pastry too. Simply roll out the block of puff pastry to roughly 25 x 40cm (10 x 16 inches) first before you sprinkle with the cheese, then continue with the recipe as above.

Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Nutrition Facts

Bacon and Cheese Straws

Amount Per Serving

Calories 372Calories from Fat 252

% Daily Value*

Fat 28g43%

Saturated Fat 9g56%

Cholesterol 46mg15%

Sodium 373mg16%

Potassium 95mg3%

Carbohydrates 18g6%

Protein 9g18%

Vitamin A 135IU3%

Calcium 77mg8%

Iron 1.4mg8%

* % Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet

Tried this recipe?I'd love to hear about it! Leave a review in the comments below.

Get More Easy Peasy Christmas Recipes here…

Pin Bacon and Cheese Straws for later

FREE 4 Week Easy Dinners Meal Plan

Have you got your hands on a copy of my meal plan yet? If not CLICK HERE to download a copy of my FREE 4 Week Easy Dinners Meal Plan today!

Don’t want to miss a thing?

Follow me onTwitter,FacebookandInstagram. Or why not subscribe to myblog and get delicious, stress free recipes straight to your inbox every week?