Easy Appie #1: Pamela Anderson’s Yummy Cheddar Crisps

With fall parties on the horizon, here’s Pamela Anderson’s slam-dunk one-ingredient appetizer made in less than 10 minutes. Flat.

ENTERTAIN SMART | Fall is easily the appie (est) time of the year. With house parties and holiday mixers to attend and/or throw, who isn’t on the lookout for easy hors d’oeuvres for hostess gifts or to serve to guests? My rule for homemade appetizers is that they need to be seriously tasty, gorgeous to look at and made in 10 minutes or less. Pamela Anderson’s (not that Pamela Anderson) lacy cheddar crisps will not disappoint.

Pamela Anderson, a Julia Child Award-winning author and former executive editor at Cooks Illustrated magazine, is the author of the best-selling Perfect Recipe, and Perfect Recipes for Having People Over, source of the cheddar crisps recipe. Barbara-jo McIntosh from Books to Cooks recommended Anderson’s books to me when I told her I was looking for straightforward recipes for kind-of challenged cooks.

As one of her staple hors d’oeuvres, Anderson advises that cheddar crisps are “simple but exceptional” and suggests using preshredded cheddar available in packages because it is less moist and oily than freshly grated. Wow! You don’t even need to grate!

How To Make Lacy Cheddar Crisps

1- 1/2 cups (6 ounces) packaged shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Adjust the oven racks to low and middle positions and heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Spoon about 1 tablespoon cheese onto one sheet, then spread it into a round with your fingertips so that the cheese is more or less in a single layer. Repeat with remaining cheese, keeping cheese disks about one inch or so apart.

Bake until crisps stop bubbling, 9 to 10 minutes, switching sheets in the oven after 5 minutes if they appear to be cooking unevenly. Transfer crisps to a wire rack to cool.

Anderson serves these as light nibbles, or in or with a first course salad. For peak freshness, make crisps no more than two days before serving. Stored in airtight tin, they keep for at least one month. —C. Rule

Cookbooks by Pamela Anderson, including her latest Perfect One-Dish Dinners, are available online at chapters.indigo.ca and at Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks in Vancouver; older titles are also available at abebooks.com. Visit Pamela Anderson’s informative and fun website www. threemanycooks.com.

Photo: From Perfect Recipes for Having People Over, Pamela Anderson, published by Houghton Mifflin Company