A versatile recipe for better tasting, better-for-you cheese cracker snacks. These homemade goldfish and cheez-its taste WAY better than the store bought ones. They came together suprisingly easy with a food processor, but you can definitely make these without one by shredding the cheese with a grater and using your fingers to mix in the butter. This Cuisinart is the food processor I have and it makes short work of everything I’ve thrown in.
These homemade cheez-its and goldfish which are cleaner, healthier, and tastier than the box at the store. Give it a try – you won’t regret it!
Homemade Goldfish or Cheez-Its
Ingredients
- 1 8 ounce block of cheddar cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspon paprika
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cubed in 1/2 in chunks
- 1 cup all purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
2 tablespoons cold water - Flakey salt (optional)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or silmat.
- Shred the cheddar cheese in the food processor (or use grater).
- Add salt, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika and flour and pulse (or mix in bowl) until combined.
- Add chunks of butter a few at a time and pulse until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. If no food processor, you can “pinch” in the butter with your fingers.
- Add 2 tablespoons of cold water and pulse until the mixture forms a dough. If dough is still dry, add a bit more water a little at a time.
- Divide dough in 2 and keep half in the fridge while you roll out the other half on a lightly floured surface. Try to roll it thin, about 1/4 inch, and keep in mind these will puff up while they bake.
- For cheez-its, I use a pizza cutter to slice squares. For Goldfish, get this fish cutter to make super cute homemade fish – my kids love these.
- Transfer cutouts to the cookie sheet. For the cheez-its, I poke one hole in the center with a wooden skewer and top each cracker with a pinch of flakey salt.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes. Crackers are done when they are light-golden brown. Let cool before eating.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week (they never last that long here!)
