Cheese is divine to eat straight-up, but it can also be baked into delicious things such as these Homemade Cheese Crackers.
These crackers can be as fancy as you want. Use an import cheese like Gruyere or Comte, or stick with a basic American cheddar.
Whatever cheese you choose, be sure you have a food processor to, well, process the dough. The cheese needs to be at one with the flour and spices.
The dough can be frozen, but do be aware that the finished crackers have a definite shelf life.
After about 3 days, the crackers become softer and crumblier. They still taste okay, but the structural integrity won’t be very good if you want to carry them in a baggy.
But then, these crackers are so good, you might have them inhaled so quickly that this is not a problem at all.
Modified from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.
Bready or Not: Homemade Cheese Crackers
Equipment
- food processor
- baking sheet
- parchment paper
- 1-inch cookie cutter
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick, cut into small pieces
- 4 ounces Comte grated, or Gruyere or Emmenthal or good old cheddar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
- pinch cayenne pepper optional
- 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- Maldon sea salt or other flaky gourmet salt, optional
Instructions
- Place the butter, cheese, salt, white pepper, and cayenne (if using) in the food processor. Pulse until the butter is broken into uneven pieces and the mixture begins to form small curds. Add the flour and mix until it looks like larger curds. If the dough is stubborn, pulse a bit more to distribute ingredients.
- Dump dough onto a flat surface and gently knead with hands to make cohesive. Divvy dough in half, forming each piece into a flat disk, and wrap in plastic. Tuck into fridge to chill for at least an hour or a couple days; it can also be frozen at this stage.
- When time to bake, preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment or nonstick mats.
- Pull out a dough disk. Use two sheets of parchment to roll dough to about 1/4 inch thickness; if the dough is too hard to roll, let it rest at room temperature for a few minutes before trying again. Use a small cookie cutter (about 1-inch) to cut dough into crackers. Place them spaced out on parchment on pan. Gather the scraps to form more crackers, using a touch of water, if needed, to make it cohesive again.
- If desired, sprinkle some Maldon sea salt atop crackers; only a few flakes are needed to add extra flavor.
- Bake for about 10 minutes. Rotate pan. Bake for another 4 to 7 minutes, until crackers are lightly golden and firm to the touch. Let cool on pan or on a rack.
- Crackers are great warm or at room temperature. They are best eaten within 3 days. After that, they soften and become more crumbly, but they are still tasty.
