Cheesy pasta was a hit here at that age - still is! I always used twisty pasta as the sauce stuck well to it.
We started with cheddar, any hard cheese you can grate is fine. My two also liked cheese spread on fingers of toast or in a finger sandwich but not too much or too often because of the salt content. Grated cheese is good for fine motor skills too!
Gagging is a lovely stage they all go through, but bigger pieces they can manipulate themselves are easier than purees. I did a mix of puree and finger foods from the start, so by 8 months they were on mashed food rather than puree and did much better with the thicker texture rather than thinner puree with lumps.
Laura