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Bake the cheese straws for 14–18 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until they are a deep golden orange with browned, crisped edges. They should smell toasty and cheesy, and the bottoms should be lightly browned. Watch closely toward the end so they don’t over-brown; every oven is a little different.
Remove the pans from the oven and let the cheese straws cool on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes to firm up. Then transfer them carefully to a wire rack to cool completely. They will crisp further as they cool, developing that flaky, buttery snap that makes them so addictive.
Once fully cooled, stack the cheese straws gently in a metal tin or airtight container, layering them with wax paper if needed. Store at room temperature for up to 5 days. In my house they never make it that long—we all find excuses to walk past that tin and “just take one more.”
Variations & Tips
