Carolina cheese bits

Carolina cheese bits
Photo by Pamela Osborn

When I was in high school, one thing we read was “Oedipus Rex.” 

The main message seemed to be that whatever was coming thundering down the road might be going to roll right over helpless you, regardless of any  illusory thoughts about personal choices that you may have had — pretty much an idea that chimes in  pretty well with teenage angst, I now think. Anyway, I  liked it and so, a few years later, I signed up for a class in Greek drama.

The teacher, a true scholar, was also head of the ancient Greek language department, and had translated a lot of the works we read himself. Sometimes he would point out errors made in other translations and sometimes, he said, these wrong choices had perverted the original author’s work — go ahead, roll your eyes to the back of your head. It was interesting, but I wasn’t planning to go on “Jeopardy!” one day and it has all slipped away. I do remember one thing, though, which was his answer to his own question: What is a tragedy?

“Well,” he said, “Joe tells his wife he’s going out to buy a pack of cigarettes and off he goes. Unbeknownst to him, thieves on the third story of a building down the block have been unable to open a safe. ‘I know,’ one said, ‘let’s push it out the window, we can take it home and take our time with it.’ So they did, and when they got down to the sidewalk, they found the safe and Joe under it. They loaded up the safe and tossed Joe into the nearby river, and when he surfaced a few weeks later, the newspapers headlined his tragic end. But what happened to Joe was not a tragedy, our teacher said, because Joe Never Knew What Hit Him.

And so I offer you these simple words: Plan ahead; be prepared. But the holiday juggernaut is about to roll over all of us and, despite what I’ve just said, controlling every event and outcome is unlikely. It doesn’t hurt to have a few things in your back pocket to make some days a bit less frantic, however, and here is one, handy for drop-ins. 

CAROLINA CHEESE BITS

1 cup flour

8 ounces shredded cheddar — I buy a block of Cabot sharp cheddar

1 stick unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper. I use a heaped 1/2 teaspoon. For a double recipe, which is what I always make, I use a heaping teaspoon.

1 cup fairly finely chopped pecans. (See the photo to get an idea of the size.)

Put everything except the pecans into a bowl. Mix together with your washed hand. 

Add the pecans and mix them in. Form the dough into logs; I make them about the size of a 50-cent piece. If the dough is too warm this will be more difficult, so chill it a bit if you need to. 

I find it’s easier to form the rolls using the flat of my hand on wax paper. Wrap each roll in wax paper and refrigerate until ready to bake; a day or two is okay.

Slice the rolls into 1/4-inch, or slightly thicker, coins. Bake on ungreased baking sheets (mine are not nonstick) at 325 to 335 degrees. Use 10 to 15 minutes as a guide — it will depend on your oven, the heaviness of your baking sheets, etc. In my big oven, on a heavy sheet, it takes about 19 minutes. 

Do not brown; your first batch will be instructive. They’re still good if lightly browned, but better if not. Cool on racks. A single recipe makes about 100. A great thing about these is that they can be frozen for months, separated in layers with wax paper in tins. Make them now for the coming winter holidays; you’ll be glad you did.

Pam Osborn keeps her kitchen in Sharon.

Latest News

Amenia’s Elk Ravine Farm funds conservation through unique tours

Jim Archer of Elk Ravine Farm takes a seat on Billy the water buffalo on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

Nathan Miller

AMENIA — Jim Archer doesn’t look like a typical “influencer.” He doesn’t have a podcast and he doesn’t take jet-setting trips to Bali for advertising shoots.

But he has amassed a following of more than 100,000 people across his Instagram and TikTok accounts. Archer shows off his unique collection of farm animals and produces educational content about ecology and the environment all from Elk Ravine Farm, his property on Smithfield Valley Road in Amenia.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sharon Dennis Rosen

SHARON — Sharon Dennis Rosen, 83, died on Aug. 8, 2025, in New York City.

Born and raised in Sharon, Connecticut, she grew up on her parents’ farm and attended Sharon Center School and Housatonic Valley Regional High School. She went on to study at Skidmore College before moving to New York City, where she married Dr. Harvey Rosen and together they raised two children.

Keep ReadingShow less
‘Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between’ at the Moviehouse

Claire and Garland Jeffreys in the film “The King of In Between.”

Still from "The King of In between"

There is a scene in “The King of In Between,” a documentary about musician Garland Jeffreys, that shows his name as the answer to a question on the TV show “Jeopardy!”

“This moment was the film in a nutshell,” said Claire Jeffreys, the film’s producer and director, and Garland’s wife of 40 years. “Nobody knows the answer,” she continued. “So, you’re cool enough to be a Jeopardy question, but you’re still obscure enough that not one of the contestants even had a glimmer of the answer.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Haystack Book Festival: writers in conversation

The Haystack Book Festival, a program of the Norfolk Hub, brings renowned writers and thinkers to Norfolk for conversation. Celebrating its fifth season this fall, the festival will gather 18 writers for discussions at the Norfolk Library on Sept. 20 and Oct. 3 through 5.

Jerome A. Cohen, author of the memoir “Eastward, Westward: A Lifein Law.”Haystack Book Festival

Keep ReadingShow less