Classic Cheese Crackers

These are delicious crackers that are sure to become a staple recipe in your home. The ingredients are super simple, making this recipe easy to memorize and whip out whenever you feel inclined to have a snack. I offer easy ways to freeze some of the dough for future use too!

Servings: 3 Cups

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Chill Time: 1 Hour

Bake Time: 15 Minutes

Ingredients:

• 225g of thinly grated cheese of choice (Try it with marbled cheddar, bold cheddar, gouda, parmesan, etc. Use what you have on hand or buy whatever is on sale. Cheddar is classic but have fun with it.)

• 1 Cup (142g) All-Purpose Flour

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1-2 Tbsp Water

• 1/4 Cup Cold Cubbed Butter

Instructions:

1. Start off by shredding your cheese with the thinnest grater you have. This will yield the best textured dough and will help to evenly distribute the cheese throughout.

2. Add grated cheese, flour and salt to a bowl and combine the ingredients together with your hands, gently coating the cheese with flour and breaking apart any cheese clumps.

3. Once combines, place in a food processor and add the cubed cold butter.

4. Mix the dry dough together for 30 seconds then slowly add 1 tbsp of water at a time. You'll know the dough is ready when it comes together like a crumby ball in the processor.

5. Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap on a counter, pour your cheese dough in the centre and form a flat circle. Next, fold the plastic wrap over the dough to form a square. Use a rolling pin to guide the dough into the four corners of the square making sure the dough is flat and evenly distributed. This step will help to chill the dough faster and will make it easier to roll out into a rectangle later on.

6. Chill the dough flat in the refrigerator for 45 minutes to an hour. Chilling is the key step to ensuring super crispy crackers. At this point, you can also choose to freeze a double batch of the dough for a rainy day. It can thaw out a bit sticky so what I suggest is to thaw it out on the counter then place it back in the refrigerator for an hour or so before rolling out. Be sure to store the dough in a plastic bag as well to prevent freezer burns.

7. Preheat the over to 375F.

8. Once chilled, place the dough onto a lightly floured parchment paper. You will want to roll it out into a rectangle measuring roughly 12x10 inches. I usually eyeball it so long as the dough remains 1/3 to 1/2 a cm thick.

9. Next comes the fun part! Shape your dough however you see fit. I like to just make rustic squares measuring roughly an inch on each side with a ruler but it can also be fun to make animal shapes for kids and just cook the scraped dough in odd symmetrical shapes for the adults! I'm not too picky about the shapes being perfect, any smaller shapes turn out extra crispy which I enjoy anyways and the rounded edges just make them look homemade.. which they are.

10. Place shaped cracker onto two separate parchment lined cookie sheets, leaving at least 1/2 inch distance between each.

11. Next, poke a hole in the centre of each cracker so that air can escape during the bake time. Since this dough is similar to puff pastry it will puff up so you don't want to skip this step. Doing so would yield oddly shaped crackers as the air tries to escape during the bake time.

12. This next step is a totally optional! You can choose to chill the shaped crackers for an extra 10-15 minutes in the refrigerator so that they are extra chilled before baking. Again- this just helps to yield a crispier cracker. I have done this step and I have also skipped it on busy days. Either way your crackers will be amazing. I've also done this while baking one sheet pan at a time while chilling the second pan while my first pan bakes. Again- these are all options.

13. Cook crackers for 15 minutes. Again, you can cook one pan at a time, or cook both pans together but just make sure that you switch the bottom pan to the top rack and vis versa at the half way mark (7.5 minutes in) to help prevent burnt bottoms or tops.

14. My best tip for extra crunchy crackers is to turn off the oven once the bake time is complete. Place both baking sheets in the oven and leave the oven door cracked open for 10-20 minutes longer. This will help to further dry out the crackers making them extra crispy.

15. Let the baked crackers chill completely before storing in a plastic bag or large mason jar. They should keep fresh at room temp for about a week (that is if they last that long!)