Homemade Cheez-It Crackers

I'm a big snacker.  I blame it on my grandparents :)  Our family jokes that every time we go to Canada to visit, all we do is eat.  A typical day consists of a lot of food:  breakfast at 8, coffee and snacks at 10, lunch at 12, tea and snacks at 3, supper at 5:30, tea and snacks at 8.  Whew!  That's a lot of eating!  I don't think I eat that much when I'm at home, but I definitely enjoy my snacks!

Lucky for me, Mike enjoys his snacks too.  However, we both have different preferences when it comes to snacking.  I like sweet snacks--a piece of cake, a brownie, a donut, a piece of chocolate etc.  Mike won't turn down a sweet snack like ice-cream but he definitely prefers salty snacks like chips.  One of his favorite snacks is Cheez-It Crackers.  Sometimes I have to ration them out for him because he could eat an entire box in one sitting!

This month I was assigned to Delicious Existence for the Secret Recipe Club.  Her blog focuses on eating healthier foods.  I began browsing through her Kitchen Adventures posts and came across a recipe for Homemade Cheez-It Crackers.  My search ended right then and there as I knew a certain somebody would be thrilled with this snack.

I did make a lot of changes to the ingedients in this recipe as we do not eat vegan.  I used all purpose flour, butter, and real shredded cheese.  I've noted a few tips through-out the recipe as well.  My crackers did not get very crispy, but I think I made them too thick.  They still tasted really similar to Cheez-Its!  I'm looking forward to making these crackers again with different cheeses and rolling them thinner.

Homemade Cheez-It Crackers

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
4 tablespoons butter, cold and cut into pieces
8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
5 Tablespoon water

1.  Combine the flour, butter, cheddar cheese, cayenne pepper, and paprika in your food process and process until you have small crumbs.

2.   Add the water and continue to process until a ball of dough is formed.

3.  Form a circle of dough with your hands and wrap it in plastic wrap.

4.  Refrigerate dough for 45 minutes, then place in the freezer for 15 minutes.  (I believe you could also just refrigerate overnight and bake the crackers the next day.)  You want the dough to be very cold.

5.  Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out to 1/8" thick.  (I placed the dough on a floured surface and then covered it with the plastic wrap.  Then I rolled the dough out with a rolling pin.  This prevented the dough from sticking and I didn't have to keep adding flour.)

6.  Use a pizza cutter to cut dough into 1/2" squares.  If desired, gently poke each square in the center with a round skewer to create the traditional Cheez-It look.

7.  Transfer squares to an ungreased glass pan and bake at 350 for 15- 20 minutes.  (My squares were thicker than 1/8" and took 23 minutes to bake.)

8.  When the crackers are golden and crispy, removed them from the oven.

Allow the crackers to cool before eating them.  Store any leftovers in an airtight container.

Source: Delicious Existence