Tuesday, September 8, 2009

"Crack"er Addict

I recently purchased some crazy hot pepper jelly and wanted to snack on it with some cream cheese and crackers. Of course, I didn't have any crackers and was days away from my next shopping trip. I looked up this extremely easy recipe and I was back in business. These crackers were so much better than Saltines. You could serve them with a savory or sweet jelly and cream cheese or simply top them with slices of your favorite cheese.

Salt and Pepper Crackers
Adapted from Sunset

Yield

Makes 4 dozen 2- by 2-in. crackers

Ingredients
  • 2 cups flour, plus more for rolling
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • About 1 tbsp. salt
  • About 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
  • 2/3 cup milk
Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425°. Pulse flour, sugar, 1 tbsp. salt, and 1/8 tsp. pepper in a food processor to combine,

add butter,

pulse until no discernible pieces remain. Add the milk

and pulse until the mixture comes together in the food processor bowl and forms a ball.

2. Divide dough ball in half. Working with one half at a time, pat each into a rectangle. Roll rectangles paper-thin and carefully transfer each to its own baking sheet using a spatula to prevent tearing. Sprinkle with sea salt. Cut lightly (not necessarily all the way through) into 2-in. squares. (Cut off uneven sides or simply have some uneven crackers.)

3. Bake 10 minutes on bottom rack of the oven. Then move the pan to the top rack of the oven and continue baking until dough is starting to brown but is still mostly white or golden, about 5 minutes. Let cool on pans. Break into crackers and serve.

13 comments:

Molly Jean said...

How fun! You're so resourceful. I, on the other hand, would have hopped in my car and drove to the store. Haha ;)

Caroline said...

So did you like the pepper jelly? It's great heated and poured over a block of cream cheese or even better, warm brie! And then of course...your nifty crackers!

What's Cookin Chicago said...

Great job on the crackers and I love how easy it is to make! I recently made lavash crackers which called for yeast and rising, but these crackers would definitely save me some time since no yeast is involved. Thanks for posting!

Krista said...

Holy cow! You actually made your own crackers!? Very impressive. They do look good. I love pepper jelly and cream cheese on crackers.

MaryBeth said...

OMG...I never would have thought to make my own crackers. They look fabulous!!!

Cupcakes with Nic said...

You make crackers... wow!

I made your Sausage Cake this evening -- delicious! Loved, loved, loved it!!! We will definitely be having it again soon! (And since J's dog ate the rest of it and I only got one peice -- I'll be making it again soon!)

Thanks for sharing all your great recipes! YUM!

Victor said...

Homemade crackers, that's incredible... seems simple to make.

You're one of my source of inspiration. Thanks for sharing

teresa said...

these are so fun, i've never even had homemade crackers before, yum!

Kerstin said...

I'm so impressed, they look great!

Anonymous said...

Crackers are on my list of "to-make" items. I love that you included step-by-step pics!

Julie said...

Those look wonderful..bookmarking now! I made my own graham crackers once and really liked them, so I'm sure these would be awesome.

Ana said...

Oh looks delicious! I love making and eating crackers.
Have you seen the "seedy crisps" by Alton Brown? They are delish, and I think you would like them. The recipe is on the foodtv website, if you can't find post a comment on my blog and let me know, I can send it to you!
Ana

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