Spicy Cheese Crackers

All I can think about is chocolate date cake with chocolate sticky toffee glaze. Martha Stewart, you’re killing me. But we’re not here to talk about fancy cake that I can’t find a good excuse to bake. We’re here to talk about some crazy good crackers that I made with my roommate, Megan.

Megan and I have been doing a lot of sitting around, talking about life. Talking about men. And just kind of staring at each other, recovering from things like graduation parties and crazy road trips.

We’ve also filled our time with some fun kitchen experiments, like homemade crackers. Does that sound intimidating? Ambitious? A little too self-sustaining-liberal-homemaker for you? Well let me tell you, these are incredibly easy, require few ingredients, and your friends will be so impressed.

This flavor combination reminded us of the famous spicy cheese bread at the Madison farmers’ market, but you could try endless variations. Megan made them again a few days later with dried basil in the batter, with the red pepper flakes sprinkled on top with the salt, which was delicious.

Spicy Cheese Crackers

recipe adapted from The Complete Book of Cookies (via Joy the Baker)

makes 20-30 crackers

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white whole wheat flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon butter, cold and cut into small chunks

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

6 tablespoons half and half

Extra half and half and sea salt, for topping the crackers

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.  Sift together the flour, salt and sugar.  Add the butter and, using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until it is in tiny bits and dispersed throughout the flour mixture.

Stir in the parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes.

Add the half and half and mix to make a stiff dough.  Place on a lightly floured surface and roll out to about 8×10-inches.  Cut into squares.

Place the dough squares on an ungreased baking sheet lined with parchment or foil.  Brush sparingly with half and half and sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake for 30 minutes or until crisp but still pale. (We made more than 20 crackers, so they were done after about 20 minutes.)  Transfer to a wire rack to cool and store in an airtight container.