Description
Make homemade cheese crackers with only 6 ingredients! Chilling the dough for 45 minutes is important– the crackers won’t hold their shape otherwise. You’ll appreciate the straightforward instructions and quick baking time!
Ingredients
- 6 ounces sharp yellow cheddar cheese, shredded (1 and 1/2 cups shredded)*
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch*
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, cold and cut into 6 pieces
- 2 Tablespoons cold water
- optional: sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- Process cheddar cheese, flour, cornstarch, and salt together in a food processor until combined, about 30 seconds. Add butter and process until mixture resembles wet sand, about 20 seconds. Add water and pulse until dough forms large clumps, about 10 pulses.
- Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Divide in half and pat each into a 6-inch square. (No need to use a rolling pin, just pat with hands.) If the dough feels dry, moisten your fingers with cold water. Carefully wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 45 minutes and up to 2 days.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Unwrap each dough square. Place each on a lightly floured work surface and roll out into a 9-inch square. Doesn’t need to be perfect! Using a fluted pastry wheel, pizza cutter, or small sharp knife, trim dough into a neat 8 inch square. Slice square into 8 strips, each 1 inch wide, then make 8 perpendicular slices, each 1 inch wide. Each 8-inch square will have 64 squares (crackers).
- Place squares on prepared baking sheet. Use a skewer or large toothpick to poke a hole through the center of each. Lightly sprinkle with sea salt, if desired. Bake until golden brown around the edges, about 16-18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through baking. For crunchier crackers, bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cool completely on the baking sheet before serving.
- Store leftover crackers at room temperature for up to 1 week. If tightly sealed, they’ll lose their crunch. Feel free to keep the lid slightly ajar to maintain some crunchiness.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: You can freeze the wrapped dough instead of refrigerating it in step 2. Freeze up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature for 10 minutes before continuing with the recipe.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Food Processor (I also own and love this one) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Rolling Pin | Fluted Pastry Wheel or Pizza Cutter
- Instead of classic yellow cheddar, white cheddar is a wonderful substitute. In fact, any medium-hard cheese is great. Avoid soft cheeses.
- I doubled the recipe found in the cookbook. Feel free to halve this recipe to yield less crackers or double the recipe for more. The original recipe (which is half of this one) calls for 1 teaspoon of cornstarch, but I found 2 teaspoons made the crackers too soft. I reduced the double recipe to 1 and 1/2 teaspoons.
Recipe reprinted in partnership with America’s Test Kitchen from The Complete Baby and Toddler Cookbook