"I'm Just Crackers About Cheese!"

"What's wrong with Wensleydale?"

Nothing, especially with cranberries!

Wensleydale is a cheese from the Yorkshire town of Hawes. The cheese is made from ewe, or cow's milk. Here is a lil history blurb from another site:

"Wensleydale cheese was first made by French Cistercian monks from the Roquefort region, who had settled in Wensleydale. They built a monastery at Fors, but some years later the monks moved to Jervaulx in Lower Wensleydale. They brought with them a recipe for making cheese from sheep's milk. During the 1300s cows' milk began to be used instead, and the character of the cheese began to change. A little ewes' milk was still mixed in since it gave a more open texture, and allowed the development of the blue mould. At that time, Wensleydale was almost always blue with the white variety almost unknown. Nowadays, the opposite is true, with blue Wensleydale rarely seen. When the monastery was dissolved in 1540 the local farmers continued making the cheese right up until the Second World War, during which most milk in the country was used for the making of "Government Cheddar". Even after rationing ceased in 1954, cheese making did not return to pre-war levels."




8 oz. self-raising flour
3 oz. butter
1/2 c. milk
handful of dried cranberries
150 gr. pkg of Wensleydale with cranberries
egg wash, or milk
sprinkling sugar

Preheat the oven to 220 deg. c (gas mark 7. Make a sandy mixture of the flour and butter with a fork. Don't handle with hands too much and melt the butter. Mix in the dried cranberries. Add the milk and form a ball for dough. Roll out onto a floured board to 1/2 thick, cut into rounds. Place on a greased, or lined baking sheet. Brush with egg wash, or milk and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake for 10-12 minutes until well-risen and golden-brown. Allow to cool slightly on a wire rack. Serve warm with butter, or clotted cream.

Take the "Last Train To Wensleydale" to try these out.

Thanks to Wallace for the cute quotes about his beloved cheese.