In the world I lived in when I ate dairy, I loved a cheese-it cracker. One of my favorites, especially while I was pregnant. My mom got me this amazing book when Hue was only just a couple months old and I knew I would eventually try this recipe. You can get America’s Test Kitchen: The Complete Baby and Toddler Cookbook here. There are so many good recipes in here. I made a lot of purees from here too when Hue was just starting to learn how to eat.
While I was making this for Hue I stuck to the recipe but I saw that I can easily make this dairy + gluten free if needed.
Here is the recipe I used from the cook book with some variations:
• 3/4 cup of sharp yellow cheddar cheese (I used organic white sharp cheddar cheese but that is all I could find.)
• 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon of salt
• 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter cut into small cubes and chilled
• 1 tablespoon of water (I needed to add more water. I added the extra water a teaspoon at a time until the dough was less crumbly.)
*If I wanted to make this vegan/non-dairy and gluten free. I would use a non-dairy alternative butter and cheese and gluten free flour. I have not tried this yet but I probably will in the near future.
Here is how I made them:
Using a food processor I added the first four ingredients and let it spin for 30 seconds. Then I added the butter and let it spin for 20 seconds. Then I added the water. The recipe says 5 pulses but I had to add more water and let it go for at least another 30 seconds. The texture was too sandy and I need large clumps to form. So I just kept adding more water and pulsing until I got some bigger clumps.
Then I wrapped it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. (I accidentally got caught up with something else and I didn’t make these until the next day so my dough was in the refrigerator for a little less than 24 hours and it was fine.)
I took the refrigerated dough out of the fridge and let it sit for like a while. I knew that I had it in the refrigerator longer than the recommended time and it would need to come up to room temperature so I would be able to roll it. I got a this pastry cutter and used it to cut a 8″ square about 1/8 ” thick. I used my art ruler to measure this. I don’t have a dedicated kitchen ruler since I rarely need it in the kitchen.
Then using the pastry cutter, I didn’t use a ruler here but guessed 1″ squares when cutting vertically and horizontally and it turned out fine.
Then I poked holes in the center of each one. The recipe says to use the blunt end of a skewer but I used a toothpick and it was fine.
Then I laid them flat on a sheet and made sure they were not touching. I had pre-heated the oven at 350° and cooked them for 16 – 18 minutes. I let them completely cool before putting them in a jar to store.
They are richer and more decadent then the store bought cheese-it but they were delicious and we ended up having the cheese crackers with soup for dinner that night. Yum!
