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When life gives you lemons you’re supposed to make lemonade. But what the hell are you supposed to do when life gives you 5 pounds of shredded cheddar cheese? I say make your own cheddar cheese crackers and tell Mr.Nips to take a hike.
My Mom (Hi Mom!, She actually reads this site, unlike my loving wife.) was making some dishes that required a good deal of shredded cheddar cheese and it was much more economical for her to purchase the cheese in bulk. That left her with 5 pounds of cheese that she couldn’t use. She gave to me because, “You’re the only person I know that could actually find a way to use it all before it goes bad.”
Cheddar Cheese Cracker Recipe
1 Stick of Butter – at room temperature
2 Cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1. Preheat your oven to 325° and get out your food processor.
2. Throw all of those ingredients into the food processor and pulse until well mixed, about 10 times.
3. Dump the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and use your hands to bring it together forming a ball of dough.
4. If the consistency allows, roll the dough out into a very thin layer. Maybe 1/8 inch. If the dough is too loose to roll, toss it into the fridge for 15 minutes.
5. Once rolled out, cut the crackers. You can use cookie cutters here if you would like fancy shapes, but I just used a pizza cutter for basic crackers. It’s your call.
6. Place the crackers onto a cookie sheet covered with foil or even better, a Silpat baking mat.
7. Bake for 11 minutes or until the crackers start to get just golden on the edges.
8. Place on a cooling rack until the crackers are no longer warm.
9. Agree to never buy cheese crackers at the store again.
These crackers are so light and airy, you’ll wonder why you never made them before. Check out the way these look on the inside:
Tagged with: Baking • Easy Recipes
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June 25th, 2008 at 9:28 am
OMG! I want them NOW! What a great and simple idea – thanks for posting it!
June 26th, 2008 at 4:06 am
hmmmm, I think I am gonna run with this one!
June 27th, 2008 at 5:59 am
You won’t be dissappointed. They are amazing and you’ll go through them so quickly.
June 27th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Indeed… the are AMAZING! I have tasted them! Like Mark said, you will not be dissapointed!
June 30th, 2008 at 6:34 am
I have a date with these tonight!
July 16th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
jsut wanted to say thanks for the inspiration. I used your recipe in combination w/ one for olive oil crackers to make little cheese stars for my kids. They loved them and I love the idea of making their favorite snack foods.
November 24th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
[...] Homemade Cheese Crackers [...]
January 6th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
[...] ones that look almost neon orange? He could eat a box at a time if we let him, so when I saw this recipe for cheese crackers I had to give it a try. Cheese crackers with real cheese? What an [...]
January 10th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
[...] black pepper with them in any dish. I even added some crushed grains of paradise to my now famous cheese crackers and they turned out great, much better than without [...]
January 14th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Eating my cheese crackers: http://tinyurl.com/7hjv33 filled with grains of paradise. Amazing.
March 1st, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Since I have a teeny flat, rolling out dough is a distant dream but you can make little sticks with your hands or flat button shapes and bake and they are just as good with an artsy flair!
Thx for the recipe.
March 23rd, 2009 at 10:15 pm
I added rosemary to mine and used mozzarella instead and they turned out sooo lovely. Thanks for the recipe
April 30th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
[...] Cheese Crackers – 1 [...]
June 29th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
[...] the next several weeks, minus fresh dairy and produce, of course. I am also going to try making homemade cheese crackers this week in an effort to expand my snack food repertoire. I’m still skeptical to see if it [...]
October 31st, 2009 at 8:40 pm
I made these today using a pumpkin cookie cutter for Halloween, and they came out so awesome! I added additional spices (onion & garlic powder, adobo seasoning in place of the salt, and some paprika to help the color) and about 1/2 teaspoon of dijon mustard. Plus, I used half sharp cheddar & half colby jack cheese. This is a very forgiving recipe, btw. I don’t have a food processor, so I used my hand mixer. Unfortunately, the butter wasn’t soft enough, so I ended up with almost a pie crust dough, the butter left in coarse pebbles. Since the dough was too crumbly, I added a couple of tablespoons of cold water (mixed with yellow & red food coloring, to intensify the orange color) just ’til a proper dough was formed. Even with all those changes, they still came out perfect as cute little pumpkin crackers.
I can’t wait to try this recipe using white cheddar and a Christmas tree cookie cutter. Then I’ll paint the crackers with egg yolk mixed w/green food coloring and maybe sprinkle a little bit of paprika on the top before baking. Thanks so much for posting this recipe.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:20 pm
A silly question: I was curious how long you think it would be before these crackers went bad.