Cheese Crackers

[NCPaul]

I asked my wife to measure out her recipe for cheese crackers. It is adapted from Shirley Corriher's book Bakewise. I love them - they have a lot of cheese!

RECIPE FOR CHEESE CRACKERS

PREPARE AHEAD OF TIME:

Shred 8 oz (232g) of cheese in food processor
Cut 2 T (30g) of butter into small cubes
Separate out ½ of an egg white – about 1 T (12-15g)
Put these in refrigerator to keep cold

Take some rolled oats and make them into a coarse oat flour by using the cutting blade in the food processor – I do enough to put in a bag and have some for next time.

½ c (64g) coarse oat flour
¼ c (36g) self-rising flour (2g baking powder + 34g all purpose flour)
2 non-stick cookie sheets
Sheet of parchment paper or wax paper to roll dough in
Preheat oven to 400 F (205 C)

Return cheese and butter to processor with cutting blade in bottom, then put in egg white, pinch of salt, and whatever spice you want. I used a good measure of fresh ground black pepper (about 10 full grinds). You could choose to use ½ t (5g) basil, oregano, etc for different results. Cayenne pepper – about ¼ to ½ t (5-10g) depending on how spicy you want them is also great.
Use a cheddar cheese for best results – low-fat cheeses just won’t give it the texture you want.
To this mixture add ½ of the two flours and pulse until somewhat mixed. Then add the rest of the flour and pulse again until it is sticking together.
Put this into your bowl that had the cheese in it and press it together to form a log. Put log on parchment paper and roll until you have a smoother roll about 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter. Use thin knife to cut 1/8 inch slices (3mm) and transfer them to the cookie sheets. It usually makes 60 crackers.
Put in oven at 400 F (205 C) for 4 minutes, then lower to 375 F (190 C) for about 6 minutes – they will look golden and crispy. Turn out onto rack to cool.

[wheels]

I've never seen a cracker mix like that one - it's definitely going into my recipe file - thanks. I generally only extend to making water biscuits. Those sound far better.

Phil

[NCPaul]

They go good with beer. And sausage.

[captain wassname]

I like beer. I like sausage and I like crackers.
sounds like a WINNER

Jim

[Ianinfrance]

They go good with beer. And sausage.

Looks deliciious, I've snagged it, it's in my database and printed out for SWMBO to play with (she's the baker in our house).

[Ianinfrance]

Well,

Nothing like striking while the iron is hot! (I hate to think where that saying comes from!). So I looked hopefully at her when I took the recipe for her to look at - and lo and behold, she made them today. We don't have cheddar (but if I'm unkind, neither do you!! ) so we used a mixture of two cheeses that we DO have, Cantal, which might well be the ancestor of cheddar, and comté, which is similar to but not a spot on gruyere (AKA "swiss cheese")

With 1/2 tsp of cayenne, it has a slight bite which is very attractive. Delicious recipe and one which will almost certainly become part of our repertoire.

Thanks so much for getting your wife to measure this recipe for us.

[NCPaul]

She will be so happy to hear that you liked them and will be surprised that someone in France tried them. I think any cheese that melts well and tastes good when browned slightly would be a good candidate. The recipe seems to create structure for melted cheese. I don't disagree with you about "cheddar", but it's labelled that way here and gives a good reference point. Thanks for trying them Ianinfrance and your SWMBO (?) for making them.

[jenny_haddow]

Great recipe, it will be a regular here. Thanks for sharing it.

Jen

[saucisson]

your SWMBO (?)

She Who Must Be Obeyed

Dave

[Ianinfrance]

Hi again Paul,

Sorry if I "caught" you with SWMBO. "Rumpold of the Bailey" is very much an ikon on this side of the pond.

Now then... those bikkies. We made the first batch for tonight but ate them all beforehand. Anyway, we were sufficiently impressed with them to make them again. This time we made them in the right size and thickness and using 100% cantal "entre deux", which is a moderately matured hard cheese (please forgive the previous Cheddar "dig", but it was pretty mild compared with what I feel about "passing off"). Anyway they are an order better. They'll definitely become one of our standby nibbles. I've made some tomato butter and so we'll be spreading them with that and putting a thin slice of saucisson (the real thing, not the administrator counterfeit!) on top and serving them as nibbles.

Anyway as the guests will be coming in a couple of hours, I guess I'd better think about getting things ready.

[NCPaul]

Now that really sounds delicious, what a great combination. How do you make tomato butter, blend sun dried tomatoes with butter?

Dave seems real enough to me. Maybe one day I'll get to France and can try some saucisson and some cantel entre deux.

I use acronyms a lot at work but get lost on ones everyone else seems to know. My neice wanted me to text her and I got out a pen and some paper.

[saucisson]

I'll have to try those biscuits over the weekend.

Dave

[Ianinfrance]

Hi again.

Well, they've all gone now,.. the nibbles went down very well and Jacquie was asked for the cracker recipe by both of the ladies!

Tomato butter - I'm sure there are lots of better ways to make it. All I did was to take some butter, soften it in the blender and then add a couple of pinches of salt (we use unsalted butter here) and some tomato (problem over UK/USvocabulary) purée/paste. We get this goo in tubes like toothpaste tubes, that allow you to squeeze out as much as you need. A couple of grinds of pepper and then a qucik taste. I form it into a roll in interleaving film (High density polythene) and allw it to set up a bit in the fridge. I think it worked very well on the crackers.

[Ianinfrance]

Hi again

Paul I just wanted to tell you that I uploaided you mum's recipe to another forum I'm on, called wildfood.info and they have already been done (and highly approved of) by one of our number there. A couple of others have already expressed a desire to have a go!

Here's a link to my post - I do hope your mother won't mind the minor changes I've made to the method.

http://www.wildfood.info/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=42

I've put photos up there as well.

[EDITED addition]
PS, Gillthe painter has an excellent blog, http://www.wildfood.info/viewforum.php?f=24 and has asked me to ask you if she can put your mother's recipe on it.

So I'm doing so,

[end addition]

[NCPaul]

My wife will be thrilled when she sees the photos. SWMBO is terrific with a rolling pin to get them so uniform. It would be fine if someone wants to blog about them; I'm glad they asked. On the last couple I had, I put a dab of apple chutney on them to good effect. Thanks.