Living in Japan, I have a love and hate (but mostly love) relationship with Costco. They have a food court that brings me back to the states, and the sight of 100 count boxes of Tootsie pops and 5 lb boxes of chocochip cookies makes me nostalgic about college and the all mighty purchase order.
The area where I grew up didn’t have a Costco nearby, so when I went for the first time, I was romanced by the tasty polish dogs (only a buck fifty, and it comes with a drink!) and the sheer fact that I could buy a 10 pound can of ketchup, 50 black Sharpies, a sofa, and pumpkin pie the size of a large pizza if I so desired. In college, I had a job that required me to buy food to feed large quantities of people at a time, and for a while, purchasing 4 flats of muffins, and 2 lb cans of hot cocoa mix was normal. Oversized food is one thing, Costco sized food is another. For some reason, I find ridiculously large food, or large quantities of food inherently comical and interesting. (on the flip side, I also find extra small food funny and amazing as well :P)
So what does Costco have to do with cheese crackers? As my mother says, I sometimes have eyes bigger than my stomach. The last time I went to Costco in Japan, I was persuaded into buying a 2 lb brick of sharp cheddar cheese. (they didn’t have to try hard) I think you can guess where this goes…but the short of it is I ended up having a half a block left, and needed to use it all quickly before the cheese spoiled. I did think about just gnawing on the block, but decided that cheese crackers were the more socially acceptable option.
Easy Cheese Crackers
Ingredients:
- 500g sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated
- 300g whole wheat flour
- 100g white flour
- 100g butter, cut into small cubes
- 15g black pepper, to taste
- 30g garlic powder
- 3-6 tbsp milk, as needed
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
——–
1. Combine wheat flour, white flour, salt, pepper, garlic power, and baking powder into a large mixing bowl and mix well. If you want your crackers to taste more of pepper, you can add more if you like.
2. Add butter, and rub it into the dry ingredients with your hands. 3. Mix in grated cheese, rubbing it into the flour as well.
4. Add milk a little at a time, until the dough can be roughly formed into a ball.
(Note: if you have a food processor, you can do steps 1-4 by adding the ingredients into the pood processor and pulsing until the dough is comebined. I don’t have one, so I did everything by hand)
5. Split into thirds, and roll out the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap until it is roughtly thinner than a quarter of a inch thick.
6. Using a pizza cutter (or a pie crust cutter) cut the dough into desired shapes.
7. Place onto parchment or cooking paper with space inbetween each cracker, and bake for 11-13 minutes at 170C until the tops are golden brown, adding 30 sec-1 minute if you prefer your crackers to be crunchier.
8. Cool on a wire rack.
Perfect for using up cheese, and goes great with dips or with some tomato soup.
Ooh, YUM! The last time I tried to make crackers they didn’t work out too well, but now I’m tempted to try again…
-Molly
kitchendeavor.wordpress.com
This looks really delicious!
Oh, honey, in the south we call these cheese straws! Try adding a touch of cayenne to your recipe. Yum!
Great Recipe, I want to try to make it, and I like the fact that it has whole wheat flour in it too.