Crack Crackers

ingredients lined up and ready

I have two things about cooking that I really want to blog about, and the success of the issues comes in the form of these cheesy crackers. 1st, weeks ago and recently, we went to City House and had a liver spread with house made crackers. I asked where I could get them, and the answer is always the same - Tandy (chef and owner) made them. The crackers are so good, and I have been thinking a lot about making my own crackers.

2nd, I have been off Food TV for years, after Scripps bought the network and changed the format from cooking shows (Julia Childs-esque shows) to fluff shows that teach nothing about food nor cooking. I really liked the Food TV channel when it first started because I could watch chefs make food, chefs pair food with wine and beverages, and see what the different stages of recipes should look like. I have found the answer to a visual cooking show, the Minimalist on the NYTimes video website. Mark Bittman shows easy recipes on video, and he is making cooking accessible. Mark Bittman has gotten me back into the kitchen to make tasty food.

sheet of crackers
(note, I took a taste right out of the oven from the top left corner)

So a few days ago, I watched a couple other Mark Bittman videos on easy recipes for sweet potatoes and leftovers (like leftover Thanksgiving foods) when I saw the link to a Mark Bittman cracker recipe. I watched the 3 minute video, and knew that I could make crackers too. The video doesn't have the recipe, so I had to look for the cracker recipe on the NYTimes, and here it is. Easy enough recipe, but I had to do a little prep work first, I had to make my own butter. I whipped up some butter yesterday, and I looked around the house for the ingredient I wanted to use. I modified the recipe because of what I had in the house:

3/4 cup white all purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
few pinches crushed red cayenne
1/2 cup grated parm
4 tbs butter
1/4 milk

I had only a small amount of white flour, so I had to use whole wheat to get the proportion of flour to butter to milk right. I followed the directions on the video, and the dough became a ball in the food processor, and I rolled out the dough onto parchment paper to bake at 400F for about 13 minutes when the crackers became golden brown.

crackers broken up and ready to eat

These crackers are like a stiffer and thinner savory pastry crust, nice and light. The flavor is really delicious. The butter, the cheese, the sprinkle of salt are a nice combination. These crackers are really simple to make, and after I measured everything out, it really did only take 20 minutes (as Mark Bittman's recipe says) to make crackers.

I really love the treat of crackers and butter. After learning how to make butter (so easy!) and how to make these simple crackers (so easy again!), I can have my one of my favorite treats: crackers with a little butter spread on them.