For soup night this week, our 12 year old chose corn chowder.  As it is a heavier soup, we didn’t need bread to go with it, but it seemed that some sort of cracker might work.  Thinking about our options, I decided to try making cheddar cheese crackers.

So, on Tuesday night, my 10 year old daughter and I worked together, making the dough.  The dough was too dry without any liquid added, so we used a little skim milk to help the dough bind.  In hindsight, this addition produced crackers that were a little bit on the soft side.

Even though the crackers lacked a hearty crunch, they had an interesting texture, kind of like a combination of a biscuit and cracker.  And the taste was amazingly good!  In fact, not only did I enjoy them, but both kids did also.  (It’s not often that everyone finds something new pleasing.)

The next time we make crackers, we plan on making a few changes so that they have more crunch.  First, we will use water instead of milk.  Second, we will try 2 tablespoons of liquid instead of 3.  Third, we will cut the dough into thinner slices.

While this recipe doesn’t make perfect crackers, it does make a perfect side, useful for accompanying a chowder or hearty salad.

Cheddar Cheese Biscuit Crackers

1-1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup chilled butter, unsalted

2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

3 Tb. skim milk

Sift flour, salt, and baking powder into a large bowl.  Cut butter into tablespoon size pieces, and add to dry ingredients.  Using a pastry blender, combine until butter is the size of rice.  Add cheese, and mix well.  Add milk one tablespoon at a time, mixing with your hands until dough clings together and forms a ball.  Roll into 2 logs with 1-1/2 inch diameters.  Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 30 minutes in refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 400.  Cut dough logs into 1/4 inch slices, and bake for 10 minutes.  Flip crackers, and bake for another 10 - 15 minutes or until golden brown on both sides.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 1:38 pm and is filed under Appetizers, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.