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Homemade Cheez-Its

 

Cheez-Its

These homemade cheez-its or cheese crackers have recently replaced the store-boughts ones and we couldn’t be happier.  It all started with our weekend ritual of swinging by the market to pick up last minute snacks for the beach.  In my opinion, there can’t be better time spent than a full day at the beach with yummy snacks and nothing but sun, sea, and sky to visually stimulate you as your other creature comfort are met, basking in the sunshine and sharing a wide array of treats with those you love.  Cheez-its or cheddar crackers were an almost obligatory box in our cart but after some consideration, I decided to make my own and was pleasantly surprised with the results that yielded rich and cheese-packed little nuggets that were crisp and flaky.

This surprise developed in several delicious layers.  First, they were incredibly quick and easy.  I pinned the assumption on them that since they were pastry-based, they’d take at least an hour and that I’d have to carefully fold in the butter.  Neither of those things are true. It took less than 30 minutes from start to finish and I had my food processor doing most of the work for me.  I make cookies that take longer than this!  Clocking in at just 5 simple ingredients, I found most of these already in my kitchen and two of the ingredients happen to be water and salt.  If ever there was a time to use that good block of cheese you’ve been saving, this is it!  But seriously, you should always be eating good cheese.  Seriously, it makes life better.  A mere 4 ounces goes a long way and since my trial run of creating this recipe to now, I’ve probably recreated them 2 dozen times or so {we go to the beach a lot} and found that you can use really any kind of cheese you like.  I’ve found that my personal sweet spot is an eye-balled blend of extra sharp, aged cheddar and gruyere or stilton.  What I mean to say is, you can’t go wrong.  Good cheese is well, good!

Whichever cheese you decide on using here, there are 3 important factors to consider.  First, you want each element to be cold and keep them cold by chilling and resting the dough.  Second, you don’t want to muddle down the texture with too much water.  The very least amount possible will perform the best.  Most importantly, please don’t over work your dough.  You want everything to stay light and flaky.  Lastly, purely from an aesthetic standpoint, if you desire those fluted edges, I simply achieved it by using this pastry wheel.  With these tips, you too can enjoy flaky, buttery crackers exploding with the goodness of cheese with a quick and easy recipe with just 5 accessible ingredients.

 

 

5.0 from 6 reviews

Homemade Cheez-its
 
Prep time

Cook time

Total time

 

Author:
Serves: 6 dozen crackers

Ingredients
  • 4 oz freshly grated cheese
  • 2 tb cold unsalted butter
  • ¼ ts fine salt
  • ½ c unbleached flour
  • 1-2 tb ice water

Instructions
  1. In a food processor, pulse everything together except the water. Make sure all the ingredients are cold. Keep it in the freezer if you’re working on something else.
  2. Slowly tip in the tiniest bit of water and pulse. The less water you use the better.
  3. When a dough has formed, lump it into a ball, flatten out into a disc, and wrap in plastic. Work quickly so you don’t melt the butter and chill in the fridge for an hour.
  4. Lightly flour your work surface. Don’t use too much flour or your crackers will be dry. Roll out the dough to ⅛-1/4″ thick. Cut into squares and bake at 375 for 16-18 minutes. The longer you bake your crackers, the crunchier they will be.

Love,

Your Squishy Monster ^.~

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