Adult Cheez Its

Adult Cheez Its

I think making homemade crackers to accompany a dip is a great potluck offering. In addition to Gougères (Cheese Puffs), I made some of these, bought tiramisu flavor Mascarpone cheese and Trader Joe's sticky toffee cheddar cheese, and Samoa cake (next post) for Thanksgiving. I was happy with all of them. Making the adult Cheez Its, which are really "Sweet and Spicy Rosemary Cheddar + Gorgonzola Pumpkin Crackers" is not as hard as they are delicious. See the original recipe here: http://www.halfbakedharvest.com/sweet-spicy-rosemary-cheddar-gorgonzola-pumpkin-crackers/.

1. I started with preparing the pepita seeds. In case you don't know what they are, they are shelled pumpkin seeds. I quadrupled the pepita seed portion of the recipe so I could roast the leftover for snacking. To make four portions of the seeds, combine in a small bowl:

• 3 cups of raw pepitas seeds (Trader Joe's has the best price for them, you can also try Latino grocery stores)
• 0.25 cups of pure maple syrup (3 x 4 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon x 4 = 1/4 of a cup
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce (1 1/2 teaspoons x 4 = 6  teaspoons = 2 tablespoons)
• 3 teaspoons of chili powder
• 3 teaspoons of dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 3 teaspoons of salt

Set the mixture aside until your ready to put them in the crackers

2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. For the cracker portion of the recipe put the following ingredients in a food processor:

• 1.5 cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 4 tablespoons of room temperature unsalted butter (half a stick)
• 0.5 cup of pumpkin puree
• 0.5 cup of whole wheat flour
• 0.25 cup of rye flour, yes I have rye flour
• 2 teaspoons of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon of chili powder
• 0.25 to 0.5 teaspoons of cayenne pepper, I used 0.25 because I wasn't sure how spicy people wanted it. I would of prefer 0.5 teaspoons
• 0.5 teaspoon  of salt. I would not add any if you used salted butter

 

3. Pulse until everything melds together.

4. Add in 1 tablespoon of whatever kind of dairy milk you have and pulse until the mixture forms into a ball.

5. Add in two ounces of crumbled gorgonzola cheese and pulse a little more until it is dispersed. You want to make sure each cracker has a little bit of gorgonzola.

6. Spread the dough onto  some floured parchment paper.

7. Top the dough with some plastic wrap and roll the dough out to 0.125 inches thick.

8. Using a pizza cutter, cut 1 square inch pieces and space them out on a parchment or silpat lined  baking sheet. I think two full sized baking sheets should give you enough space. A tip to make the cutting easier is to make sure the pizza cutter is clean throughout the process. Any dough residue will make cutting the dough less effective.

9. Poke a hole with a toothpick or skewer in the middle of each square.

10. Press some seasoned pepita seasons into each cracker. Remember, you will have a lot left over to roast.

And 15 (more like 20 minutes later) here are the crackers. Make sure they cool off before you try to handle. Make sure they are sort of solid when you take them out of the oven. If they aren't, they might need some more time.

11. For the roasted pepita seeds, I roasted them for about 25 minutes. Use your own judgement for how roasted you want them. Make sure you toss them through the roasting process.