Homemade Cheddar Crackers!
When you’re on the go and trying to keep kids fed and
occupied while running errands, waiting in line, or in a high chair, one of the
go-to’s for moms everywhere are cheesey crackers. They might be shaped like
fish, rabbits, or little squares, and boy do they do the trick! Downside is
they aren’t cheap, and they often have loads of sodium, oil, preservatives, and
dyes.
Well we decided to create our own and in classic Peas of
Mind fashion, we added veggies! Just a little pumpkin puree we had on hand
(though you could use carrot or sweet potato) gives the crackers an extra boost
of vitamins that we can feel good about.
We created an easy, quick, cheddar cracker recipe with just
a few whole ingredients. Instead of oil we used real butter; we shredded some
sharp cheddar cheese and we used whole-wheat flour. The dough freezes
beautifully, or you can cut them into your desired shapes and freeze them on a
baking sheet. Once the little shapes are frozen, simple bag them up and they’re
all ready to bake whenever you want them!
Equipment : Food processor, oven at 350o F
Ingredients :
2.5 cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup pumpkin puree
8 oz grated cheddar cheese
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp salt
Add all ingredients to the food processor and pulse until it
forms a dough. Chill the dough in a plastic wrapped disc for 1 hour. Roll out the
dough as thin as possible (less than 1/8th inch thick) between two
lightly floured pieces of parchment. Take the top parchment off and leave the
bottom parchment in place. Cut the dough into a grid using the tip of a pairing
knife (to look like the classic cheese-it). Place the piece of parchment with
your cut shapes on a sheet tray and put into the freezer for 5-7 minutes (this
makes the crackers a breeze to simply flip over onto a fresh sheet of
parchment). Line a sheet pan with parchment and flip dough onto the tray. Bake
at 350o F degrees for 10 minutes, then watch closely as they go from
perfect to…well done and remove from the oven when slightly browned. Let cool
to crisp up! Keep in the fridge for up to 7 days.
