cheesy crackers recipe

I saw a recipe for homemade Cheez-It crackers that Amy over on New Nostalgia posted recently and had to give it a try.

I was intrigued by the concept of making my own crackers. We usually buy the girls Annie's Organic bunny cheese crackers, but they're pricey! I'm all for making wholesome foods and lowering our grocery budget.

As soon as I realized that simple ingredients like flour, butter, shredded cheese, salt, and cayenne pepper were all that was needed I quickly whipped up a batch. And I do mean quickly! Not only is this a simple process, it's also a fast process.

I first preheated the oven to 350 degrees F. While that was warming up I put 1 cup of flour, 4 tablespoons of cold butter cut into small chunks, 8 oz. of shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper into my food processor. I pulsed it a few times until the ingredients stuck together and the mixture was looking crumbly but stuck together.

Then I put the lump of dough between two pieces of waxed paper. In retrospect I wished I would have used parchment paper. It rolled great, but then I had to transfer it to a baking tray lined with parchment paper and if I had just rolled on parchment paper I could have skipped a step. I'm not the greatest at rolling dough so of course I had pieces of varying thickness. I'll try better next time.



Then I transferred the rolled out dough to the parchment lined baking sheet.



I used a pizza cutter to cut it into small shapes. I separated some and left some together to test how we'd like it. We'd prefer next time to have them all separated because then they bake up crispier.



I sprinkled it with kosher salt, but used too heavy a hand. It was saltier than I preferred, but the Hubster liked it just fine with the kosher salt sprinkled over the top. I might make two batches next time - one with added salt and one without.



I baked it in the preheated 350F oven for 25 minutes. The thin ones around the edges were overcooked and the ones we left together were softer. They were still yummy, but more like a soft breadstick than a cracker.



All in all, this was such a simple process and they were so tasty I don't know how many cheesy crackers we'll be buying the future since we can just make them ourselves now!

I also think I'll try using some of my small cookie cutters next time and make some fun shapes for the girls. They'll be able to help and it's nice to have a recipe for a fun no-sugar baked treat.