Sunday, May 31, 2009

Cheese Crackers

Cheese crackers
A stack of crackers

I’ve been wanting to try my hand at crackers for a while now and I finally got around to making some yesterday. I had some Gouda cheese left over from a recipe that I’d tried a few days back. I decided to make some cheese crackers. All I needed was a good recipe. As always, I turned to the Internet for help and was inspired by what I saw in a couple of places.

Ingredients:
(For 20 small and 10 medium crackers)
2 tightly packed cups of freshly grated Gouda cheese (I used
this)
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp unsalted butter (cold), cut up into small pieces
Salt
Pepper
Approximately 3 Tbsp cold buttermilk

Method:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil. (I started out using parchment paper for baking the crackers, but halfway through the process, it started to smell like something was starting to burn inside the oven, so I replaced the parchment paper with aluminium foil. I don’t know if the parchment paper that I used was of poor quality.)

Put flour, salt, pepper, shredded cheese and butter in bowl of a food processor. Pulse until flour, butter, and cheese are combined. Add buttermilk and continue to pulse, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Keep adding buttermilk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the mixture comes together to form a dough.

Divide the dough into as many balls as you want to make crackers (many small ones or a few bigger ones), place on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake till golden brown.

I was making the crackers in 2 batches, so I divided the dough into 2 portions: I used one portion to make small crackers (I got 20 crackers from this) and the other to make bigger, slightly chewier ones (the yield here was 10 crackers).

For the first batch, I rolled out the dough between sheets of parchment paper and then poked the surface several times with a fork. I then used a drinking glass with a small diameter (since I do not have cookie cutters) to make about two dozen small discs.
For the second batch of crackers, I made small 1-inch balls of the dough, placed them on parchment paper, and then flattened the balls with my hand (you could use the bottom of a drinking glass instead to get uniform thickness). I then pricked each circle several times with a fork.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-20 minutes (depending on size and thickness of cracker) until very lightly browned around the edges. Remove to a wire rack and cool.


Cheese crackers1

Cheese crackers for My Favorite Things: Cheese.

29 Burps:

Lisa Turner said...

These sound awesome. I've made something similar before. Love your images!

Laavanya said...

I love cheese crackers and the one time i tried them, they were a flop.. but this looks too perfect and looks so flaky inside. The ones in the last picture - are they from the chewy bath?

Parita said...

Oh my the cheese crackers look sooo tempting...you can send these to MFT:Cheese..though today is the last day for it..check out http://poornimastastytreats.blogspot.com/2009/05/announcing-my-favorite-things-cheese.html

Varsha Vipins said...

That looks really nice TBC..can I try it with ny other cheese?

Raks said...

First i thought this is entry for click this month's event:)

Excellent shot TBC!!

Raaga said...

they're so soft and chewy... I'd love to try these sometime... I could add some herbs too I guess :)

Raaga said...

BTW, I've tried leaving comments here for your earlier posts... but have been unable to.

I read your posts as soon you publish :) but sometimes blogger doesn't allow me to comment!!

Seena said...

yum, yum! plan to parcel it? :)
no news for long! how are u? :)

amna said...

oh you should also send this to click - stacks. I love the first pic! :)

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Wow those stacks are looking gorgeous and tempting me to have a bite.. nice clicks.

Purnima said...

TBC am drooling at these cheesy bites! Wow..got to make these soon! Loved the directions n details provided abt this! Tks for sharing!

SJ said...

Was this soft/hard? It looks very good- scared of 2 cups of cheese *whimper*

Nithya Praveen said...

First time to your blog i guess.You have a wonderful one out here.Loved your recipe...bookmarked.Thanks for sharing it:).

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

The cheese crackers look amazing nicely puffed and soft... yum yum!!!

TBC said...


Lisa: thanks! :D I think I did come across something you'd made while I was doing a google search for recipes.

Laavanya: I love cheese crackers too. Maybe I shoudn't call these crackers since they're not thin and crispy like crackers are supposed to be. Biscuits would be better?
Actually, all the crackers (both batches) were soft and chewy. I think I should have rolled the dough out into an even thinner layer (though I did think that the layer was thin enough to get crispy ones at the time).

Parita: thank you. :D
And thanks for letting me know about the event; I've sent it over.


Varsha: thank you. I don't see why any other kind wouldn't work (except maybe Mozzarella). But I've only tried it with Gouda...maybe you could experiment (if you plan to make it) and let me know the outcome? :D

Raks: thank you! :D


Raaga: Herbs would be a wonderful addition. I wonder why I didn't think of that!
I'm sorry to hear that blogger has been giving you problems. Bad blogger! ;-) If it is an issue with just my blog, I don't even know how to fix it! :(


Seena: how nice to see you here! I'm doing fine and am keeping busy. I also don't blog hop as much as I used to anymore.
How have you been? :D

Nags: thank you.:D


Pavithra: thanks. :)


Purnima: you are welcome. :)


SJ: These were soft and chewy. I would have liked them to have been a little crisp...maybe next time.
As for the amount of cheese, I know- it seems like a lot but it's not all going to be eaten at once now, is it? ;-)

Nithya: welcome! :D
Thanks for stopping by. :)

Ramya: thank you.:)

anudivya said...

That looks super flaky and amazing! They are not very thin, and just the way I like it.
DO they taste more like biscuits with the buttermilk and all?

Anonymous said...

Wow...these look heavenly! They look flaky and crisp!

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

I love crackers and especially when thet are savoury. If you roll them oput thinner, they might get crisper.
Yes, do send them over to CLICK.

Kalai said...

They look sort of like cheese biscuits. Absolutely delicious!! Anything with cheese has me sold on it. :)

Sakshi said...

Ha two cups of cheese sounds like heaven to me...love cheese u see..My my crackers too made at home?? All you people on food blog is making me work overtime in the kitchen now...and am the one who loves crackers here so will make this to reward myself...lovely pics

Lena Jayadev said...

first time here TBC..nice background in black...
this snap is too tepting..im drooling here..can I try it with ny other cheese?

FH said...

Thanks TBC. I enjoyed India but glad to be home now. See you girl, have a fun Summer!:)

Red Chillies said...

Loved the first picture. The cracker looks so flaky and delish!

TBC said...


Anudivya- I guess u could say that; I'm not quite sure how to describe it.:)

Homecooked- thank you.:D

Aparna- they tasted good but I agree- they could certainly have been crisper especially when they're being called crackers.;-)At the time though, I did think that I'd rolled the dough into a pretty thin layer & I also had a bit of a problem removing some of the rounds from the parchment.

Kalai- they reminded me of these tiny cheese biscuits (called Cheeselings in India) I used to buy to have along with tea.:D

Sakshi- thank you. I normally don't bother making such things at home. I'll just buy it from the store, but I had a wedge of cheese that needed to be finished off. :)
I saw your latest post- what did you do to those pics? I haven't fully understood...


Lena Rashmi Raj- welcome to my blog. Black is my fav color.:)
I'm sure you could substitute it with your fav cheese but I have no clue how the final product would turn out. I've only used Gouda.


Asha- I know what you mean.:)
You have a great summer too. Enjoy your vacation.:)

TBC said...


Red Chillies- almost missed you there! I was moderating while you were leaving a comment.:)
Thank you.:D

lubnakarim06 said...

Wow dear...they looks gorgeous.....yummy.....I think u can send this beautiful and yum crakers for CLICK-Stacks

Vani said...

Looks flaky and yum!

TBC said...

Kitchen Flavors: thank you. Glad you like the pic.:)


Vani: yeah, it was.:D

Madhuram said...

Seeing the first picture the first thing came to my mind was sending it to click. I see that Nags has already mentioned it.

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