Gluten-Free Cheese Crackers

In general, my philosophy when it comes to gluten-free food, is that it is best to NOT try to recreate beloved foods to make them gluten free. I find that I am usually disappointed because the new version is just not-quite-right. If there is one food that I miss terribly from my gluten-loving days, it would have to be cheez-its! Hands down my favorite snack ever. Love that orangey, salty, crispy goodness! I had never even tried to make a gluten-free version  because I thought that I could never come close ...

Gluten-free cheese crackers

Drumroll, please ... May I present to you... gluten-free cheez-its!! Wow are these delicious! The tricky part to this recipe might be my use of Chebe bread mix - I used to buy it at Whole Foods but now I just order it by the case on Amazon. Chebe bread mixes are made from tapioca flour and it makes amazing biscuits and breads. My kids devour them as fast as they come out of the oven.

For this recipe, I used a cup of Chebe Bread Mix as my "flour" - I imagine that you can substitute one cup of whatever you normally use for "flour" into this recipe and everything should work fine. I will test more options and keep you posted.

8 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese

Ingredients: 

1 cup flour (I used Chebe bread flour)
8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded (I love Cabot extra sharp Cheddar)
4 tablespoons butter, chilled
4 teaspoons water, chilled
Salt

Directions: 

1. In a food processor, combine flour, cheese, and butter.

Combine flour, cheese, and cold butter

2. Process until it resembles fine crumbs.

Process ingredients in a food processor

2. Transfer to a mixing bowl and gradually add 4 teaspoons chilled water. Using your fingers, combine the ingredients to make the dough.

3. Divide the dough into 3 even balls, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about a half hour.

Divide the dough into 3 small balls and chill.

4. Remove from the fridge - one disc at a time - and roll out until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Flour the disk and the surface before you roll it out.

5. Using a pizza wheel or butter knife, slice the dough to make cracker squares.

Crackers ready for the oven

6. Space out the crackers evenly on a cookie pan lined with parchment paper. Put back in the fridge for about 10 or 15 minutes so the crackers can firm up before going into the oven.

7. Cook crackers at 350 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes until the crackers are nice and crispy.

Notes ... These were such a hit! There aren't really any local ingredients in here but I have to give a shout out to Cabot Cheese! We love Cabot for a lot of reasons ... growing up in New England, I saw Cabot everywhere so I am pleased to be able to find it down here in Charlotte.