Happy Monday – how was your weekend? We had the most gorgeous spring weather, it was amazing! I wanted nothing more than to grab a good book and sit outside on the deck for hours, but we had other plans. We spent Saturday trying to whip our yard into shape: first mow of the season, pruning the plants, new mulch, etc. Being a homeowner is so exciting sometimes, isn’t it? 🙂
I was hoping to get my herb garden going too, but ran out of time so that’ll have to wait. I’m still deciding what to plant; last year I actually did fewer herbs but tried jalapeños for the first time as well as tomatoes. The jalapeños are a definite repeat, they were incredibly easy to grow and it was so satisfying just to walk out the back door when I needed one for a recipe! The tomatoes didn’t do nearly as well (partially due to my black thumb and partially thanks to the squirrels), but I’m tempted to try again anyway. Maybe cherry tomatoes this year?
I spent yesterday in the kitchen trying new recipes, and have a few I can’t wait to share with you. But before we can get to those, we have to talk about these homemade Cheez-It crackers. They’ve been sitting in my draft folder for over a month, and given how awesome they are, that’s about a month too long! I have to confess, I never liked Cheez-Its growing up. We always had them in the house because my brother was obsessed with them, but they just weren’t my thing. I’m oddly particular about cheesy things – to this day, I still don’t eat cheese as a stand-alone item, it has to be gooey and melted or baked into something. You could put the most gorgeous cheese board in front of me and I wouldn’t touch it. I know, I’m weird.
So even though I wasn’t sure I’d like these, I am obsessed with making homemade versions of store-bought items (wheat thins, moon pies, peppermint patties, and croissants, to name just a few), so I couldn’t help but try. This recipe comes from America’s Test Kitchen, and not only does it call for just a few ingredients that you probably already have on hand, but it’s so simple. When the crackers emerge from the oven, they are buttery, crispy and seriously cheesy! About an hour after I packed them up, I decided I needed just one more, and upon opening the container was hit with the most glorious cheddar cheese aroma. I would have paid to package that scent into a candle… If it’s not already obvious, I loved these crackers.
Who knows, maybe I’d be a fan of the store-bought ones now (it’s been 15+ years since I’ve had them), but since I’ve discovered I can make them at home myself, I’ll probably never find out 🙂
Homemade Cheez-It Crackers
from America’s Test Kitchen Feed (step-by-step pictures also available here!)
{Note: the annatto seeds are completely optional, they just give the crackers their orange color. I didn’t have any luck finding them locally and ordered mine from Amazon.}
3 tablespoons boiling water
1 tablespoon annatto seeds, coarsely ground
6 oz (1 1/2 cups) finely grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
In a heatproof bowl, stir together the water and annatto seeds. Allow to steep for 5 minutes, then pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Discard the seeds and save the (now orange) liquid. Let the liquid cool to room temperature.
Add the cheese, butter, salt, and pepper to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the mixture comes together and starts to stick to the sides of the bowl, about 30 seconds. Add the flour and cornstarch, beating until incorporated – the mixture should look like coarse sand. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the reserved liquid the annatto seeds steeped in and mix just until the dough starts to come together. (If the dough seems too dry, you can add up to 1 tablespoon of additional plain water to bring it together.) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and shape into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough into a rectangle with a thickness of 1/16-inch. Using a pastry cutter (or if you don’t have one, a pizza cutter or sharp knife will work) cut the dough into 1-inch wide strips, then cut 1-inch squares from those strips. Transfer the squares to the prepared baking sheets – you can pack them in pretty tightly, they don’t spread much.
Grab a skewer, and using the flat end, poke a hole in the center of each dough square. Bake the crackers until the edges just begin to turn gold brown, about 18-20 minutes. Allow the crackers to cool completely on the baking sheets. I thought these were best on the day I made them and 1 day later, but they’ll keep in an airtight container for 3 days.
The weather was awesome here as well, but I spent is like you! The kitchen part, not the yard part!
I love making homemade versions of store bought food so I am so excited to try these! They look perfect!
I made some a few months ago and they were super good. I am going to have to try these ones!! I have never heard of those seeds 🙂
YES! I love homemade crackers and these look spot on! I bet they taste even better than my favorite guilty pleasure snack!
These are amazing! My son will go nuts! He loves these crackers, but I hate always buying them for him..can’t imagine what is in them! These are perfect! Thanks!
I wish I had cheddar cheese because I think this would be the perfect fuel for the.boy and his dad to munch on while they move his stuff into our new place! Definitely will be bookmarking these for our housewarming party though – they are the perfect snack food!
Your crackers turned out beautifully! I put a version of peanut butter cheese crackers in my cookbook and remember so well making so many batches of them. Seeing your pics makes me want to make more 🙂 Job well done!
I have always wanted to try making these! Your squares came out so perfect.
I loooove homemade cheez-its – one of my favorite store-bought treats to make at home! And yours look like they turned out absolutely gorgeous + perfect. Nicely done, friend!
Being a homeowner sucks sometimes – let’s be real lol but it has it’s benefits too. And how on earth did you not like cheese itz growing up omg?! but yes I agree that homemade are super delicious.
I have been wanting to make these for so long. Yours look so good, Tracey!
Ahhhh yes I love homemade cheddar crackers-and yours look so cute and just like cheez-its (but better :D)
Oh my gosh, Cheezeits are so stinking addicting. Clearly I have to pin this
I spent my weekend raking the leaves that I didn’t rake last fall. (Never doing that again!) 😀 Several handfuls of these crackers would have made me much happier yesterday. I love how plump your homemade versions turned out!
P.S. The whole wheat Cheez-It crackers are not that bad!
These crackers look perfect! I need to get a fun pastry cutter like that. My Saturday was spent cleaning my apt and then lounging about and NOT going into lab for the first time since the end of March. I even planted new basil seeds too.
No, I won’t be making these – they look totally addictive, and I just don’t need to take up another food addiction! 😀
Your crackers look SO much better than the original Cheez-Its –REALLY. These would be gone in minutes at my house!
These are so stinkin’ cute! I was never a cheez-it fan either but I love how buttery homemade crackers are. I must make these!
Shut up?!! This is so freaking fantastic. I can’t wait to make this recipe!
Love, love, LOVE these! I’ve been wanting to try them forever but haven’t because, like you, I never liked Cheez-Its as a kid. I’m so happy to know that they’re delicious!
These were so delicious! 100% better than store bought. Very buttery and crisp with amazing sharp cheddar flavor! Thanks for sharing Tracey!
I made crackers over the weekend too! Yours look super cheesy!
Homemade cheez-It, no way! The crinkly edges just totally did me in.
Love cheese crackers! These look so good Tracey!
Fun and fantastic looking! Can’t wait to try this with our six boys! Thanks for the great post.
they do look cute and i am certainly going to give them a try. if you cannot find the annato seeds, you might want to try adding a packet of sazon goya or badia with annato or just bijol, yellow food coloring which is used for spanish dishes/ if you do, check the amount of salt, because the packet contains salt and other herbs, which might add to the flavor.
Homemade Cheeze-It’s?! Who knew?! I love these! They are so cute! We snack on the store bought ones all the time. I am looking forward to trying them myself! I’m sure these taste much better!
Danielle xo
I needed a reason to buy a pastry cutting wheel. This is it! My son LIVES on Goldfish so this is absolutely perfect. Thanks!
These were dangerously addictive! I brought them in to the office to share, but frankly I didn’t share very many! Thanks!
I love these! I buy far too many of these for my son. I made a homemade version almost 2 years ago, but haven’t since. Not sure why!
I haven’t had Cheez-Its for years either, but I’m sure these are butterier and tastier than the boxed ones. I’m laughing to myself thinking about how sloppy mine would look though.
I’m very fond of munching snakes. Cheese is my favorite so it is like that I’m fortunate enough to stumble upon this blog spot. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.
Nothing beats homemade! And now I need to buy a pastry cutting wheel 🙂
Oh wow, these look amazing 🙂 I’m excited to try this myself!
I tried one of these and I thought it was much so much better than the store bought version. I shared the rest with a friend who couldn’t stop raving about them! Glad you finally posted the recipe so he can give them a try.
I know I just said this, but I really love these pictures! The shapes are just so… perfect. And they look fun! I don’t know how you made cheese crackers look fun but you did.
And cheese crackers are hand down my favorite snack. Ever. Maybe favorite food, even.
When I make them, I eat almost the entire batch and then make my husband hide the rest. It’s totally pointless to even try to resist. I fail every time. SO good. But I haven’t tried this version! Now I need an excuse to make cheese crackers. 🙂
OMG OMG I am totally geeking out over here. I love these crackers and my kids love these crackers so much that I literally have to ration them. Can I re-blog this, giving you wonderful and amazing credit of course?
I tried making these without the seeds, because I didn’t want to find them in the store. lol… they turned out pretty salty to me. I’ll have to try them again another time with a little less salt. Otherwise, they seemed pretty good. Thanks for the recipe. I’m sooooo addicted to buying Cheezits that it’s pretty crazy!
These are amazing! My son will go nuts! He wants these biscuits, but I dislike always purchasing them for him..can’t think about what is in them! These are perfect! Thanks!
These were great! Thanks for posting it!