mulberryshoots

Here’s Round Three attempt to make cheese crackers for our granddaughter, A., who’s looking at exams soon at JHU where she is a sophomore. When she was a freshman, she told me that her favorite snack was Cheezit crackers. I sent her a bunch but this year, I saw Ree Drummond (Pioneer Woman) make homemade cheese crackers for her daughter, Paige, who’s a freshman at college. She made hers by cutting squares with a hole made in the middle with a skewer. My first attempt looked terrible but tasted good.

The second batch that I made this past weekend didn’t taste good because I used a different kind of cheese which was already grated (big mistake) and I added too much seasoning salt and cayenne pepper. They were so hot I didn’t use the other half batch of the dough.

This time, I went back to using 8 oz. of Vermont Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese in a block that I grated myself. A stick of very cold unsalted butter cut up, one cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon seasoned Lawry’s garlic salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper and 2 tablespoons ice water are the rest of the ingredients for this recipe. The mixing is easy, but the rolling and cutting out takes a little care and time. (Plus I forgot to make a hole in the middle with a skewer this time but they turned out crisp enough.)

After the butter and cheese are mixed (pulse until grainy) in a Cuisinart, add one cup of flour and seasonings; process to mix and add 2 tablespoons of ice water. It will process into a ball of dough. Wrap the dough into plastic wrap and chill for an hour. Roll out half of the dough to 1/8 inch thick and cut in squares with a pizza cutter or with a star cookie cutter. Make a hole in the center with a skewer (if you remember) and bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes plus or minus.

They’re tasty! The cheese tasted good and next time I’ll add a pinch more cayenne pepper, having put too much in the last time and too little this time.

The only problem with them is that you can’t eat just a couple. And soon, they’re all gone!

Once they are completely cooled, I’ll scoop them into ziploc bags and stash them into the freezer. Tomorrow, I’ll pack them frozen into a small priority mailing box and send the cheese crackers to A. at school. Hope she likes ’em!