Cheddar snack crackers

Cheddar snack crackers: grown-up goldfish

I saw a meme recently that said, "There should be a 'DID THIS' button on Pinterest, complete with loud applause when you click it."

Cue the applause.

If you're on Pinterest at all, I'm sure you've seen this one floating around. The pin promised a copycat goldfish cracker recipe.

Fail.

But fail in a good way (unless you're 5 years old), because these crackers are so much better: I'd go so far as to cal them grown-up goldfish, much more appropriate with a glass of wine than a glass of milk.

How are they different? They are much, much cheesier and, while terribly addictive, rich enough that you won't be able to eat handful after handful. Which is probably a good thing because, frankly, these aren't lowfat.

However, made with just five ingredients -- cheese, butter, flour, salt and water -- this is one of the easiest recipes you'll ever pull together. Just pulse everything in the food processor, chill the dough, roll it out, cut out shapes and bake.

Done.

And, if you use smaller cutters, this recipe yields a ton of crackers. I used a 1 1/4" circle cutter and ended up with over 100 crackers. Talk about satisfying!

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure that these crackers could easily be made gluten-free by using an all-purpose GF flour substitute instead of regular flour. Additionally, I've seen comments stating that you can use any hard cheese in place of the cheddar.

In fact, one commenter noted that this dough is basically a cheesy pie crust: might be fun to use it for some kind of savory pie or handpies.

For a fun twist, head on over to the original recipe for a tutorial on how to make mini cutters from a soda can. Now that would make this a fun cooking project for kids.

Are you on Pinterest? Is it strictly food and craft porn for you, or have you actually recreated some of your pins? The Ninj wants to know.

Cheddar Snack Crackers (from Tasty Kitchen via Pinterest)

Ingredients:
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (I used Cabot Extra Sharp)
4 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons ice water

Directions:
Add half the cheese to the bowl of a food processor, followed by all the flour, butter and salt, then add the remaining half of the cheese (this layering just prevents a giant flour cloud when you start pulsing).  Pulse the mixture until combined (should look like coarse meal). Add one tablespoon of water and continue pulsing until mixed in. Then add the second tablespoon of water and pulse until a dough forms. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerator for about half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Roll out the dough on a lightly flour work surface and, using a small cookie cutter, cut into shapes. Place the shapes on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until puffed, crispy and lightly golden. Cool completely.