Parmesan cheese lollipops

• 10 minutes to prepare • 5 minutes to cook • Serves 4

10 MINUTES 

Oh yes.
All the cuteness of a lollipop, all the fun of an easy appetizer, and it's yummy.

These little Parmesan-cheese-and-seeds pops were inspired by the recipe on Cucchiaio's website.

They are not for the dieting or those of a non-cheese religion. In spite of the use of few ingredients, these are quite rich. They are also crispy, cool, and bright with spicy flavors. Parmesan cheese holds it all together with a warm, toasty crunchiness. So delicious!

Try serving these at your next soirée; they're pretty enough for a nice party, but they have that magic ingredient even the most fussy eater will love: cheeeese!

Here's what you will need for the 4-serving recipe (8 pieces):

80 g grated Parmesan cheese
5 g poppy seeds
5 g sesame seeds
5 g dry rosemary
butter

1. Take three small bowls and in each of them place 1/3 of grated Parmesan cheese. Add poppy seeds, sesame seeds and rosemary, respectively, and stir to mix
2. Preheat oven to 200°C
3. Cover a baking tray with baking paper and grease it with butter. Do not skip this step if you want lollipops to detach easily when ready
4. Arrange one tablespoon of cheese in a round shape, making sure not to leave empty spots. The surface should be homogeneous or lollipops may break
5. Proceed in the same way until you create 8 lollipops. Be careful to leave 1 tablespoon of each type of cheese-and-seeds mixture aside
6. Place a wooden skewer in the center of each lollipop. Cover a part of the skewer with the cheese kept aside so that it will be trapted inside the lollipop when ready
7. Bake at 200°C for 5 minutes until the cheese becomes golden and small bubbles form on the surface
8. Remove the baking tray from the oven and do not touch lollipops until they are cold and compact. Only then gently detach lollipops from the baking paper and serve

Nutrition Facts are listed for this recipe in the table below. Data is provided per serving (2 pieces).

“For my nymphet I needed a diminutive with a lyrical lilt to it. 

One of the most limpid and luminous letters is L. The suffix -ita has a lot of Latin tenderness, and this I required too. Hence: Lolita. However, it should not be pronounced as you and most Americans pronounce it: Low-lee-ta, with a heavy, clammy L and a long o. No, the first syllable should be as in lollipop, the L liquid and delicate, the lee not too sharp. Spaniards and Italians pronounce it, of course, with exactly the necessary note of archness and caress"

(Vladimir Nabokov, Strong Opinions)