My residential food photographer has stepped out of his comfort zone.
Finding ourselves bored last night and knowing it was going to rain all day today, we thought it would be a good day to work on that devil puzzle inhabiting our kitchen table and cook up some delectable creations. So, I plopped him in front of Food Gawker and told him to pick out something he’d like to make.
How unpredictable that the man who eats a box of Cheez-It Double Cheese Snack Mix every week pretty much lost his marbles when he saw these. He told me he would make them and that I could not help. I guess that means this blog post is kind of a cheat? No judging here.
We strolled into our living hell WalMart last night and picked up all the ingredients and he set about his mission this afternoon. The recipe was adapted slightly from the one he followed and the process was more simple than I had thought possible, considering he was making a homemade version of a manufactured snacking masterpiece:
Homemade Cheez-Its
Adapted from A Golden Afternoon
- 8 oz. (usually one bag) coarsely shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
- 4 tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 c all purpose flour
- 2 tbs ice water
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- freshly ground garlic sea salt, to taste (optional)
Preheat the oven to 375. Mix the butter, cheese, and salt until combined (he used the hand mixer). Begin adding the flour while mixing until its evenly distributed and crumbly:
Once crumbly, slowly add the iced water until combined. Knead the mixture with your hands until a dough ball forms. Form the dough into a disk and wrap in saran wrap to refrigerate for one hour.
someone got a little shaky
After an hour, flour a flat surface and roll the dough until about 1/8 inch thick. This is probably easy if you have a rolling pin… we do not. And they’re $9?! So, we made due with what we had and he used a Yankee Candle to flatten the dough. Once flattened, cut into 1″x1″ squares and poke a hole in the center of each one. Sprinkle with garlic sea salt (or salt).
Bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet lined with foil for 12 minutes, or until the golden orange color is perfect.
Once out of the oven, let them sit for a minute to cook through and reach the desired texture. Shoving them in your roommate’s mouth while they’re still burning hot and she’s on the phone but you’re just too excited is optional.
The truth? These turned out more deliciously than either of us had imagined. What surprised me most was the texture. They are a true cracker! Perfectly crunchy and crisp.
The ideal blend of salt, spice, and cheesy greatness. He added the seasoning because we like red-pepper-and-garlic everything, but the heat from the spices makes these super addicting. Somehow we’re both stuffed right now but “haven’t really eaten anything today.” Hmm. Suspicious little crackers.
I promise to trade you some of these if you come over to help relinquish my kitchen table from Jigsaw.
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