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Chewy Granola Bars

Last week I made crunchy granola bars and I was thinking I wanted to find a recipe for chewy granola bars. Wouldn’t you know it Laura posted a recipe for some yesterday on Heavenly Homemakers 🙂  I thought I would try them sometime. Then yesterday morning Rebecca and I came home from shopping and she said “time to bake!” And she climbed into the booth at the breakfast knook (our baking spot). So I figured I’d give them a try already since they sounded so easy. They were soooo easy to make. Took less than 10 min. (prep…they take a couple hours in the fridge to finish). These are good, but a bit on the gooey side. If I make them again I’ll have to modify things a bit. First, I used quick oats. I knew rolled oats would be better, but I was trying to be quick since Rebecca was ready to go. So I used the oats I had upstairs instead of having to go to the basement. And I think the ratio is a little off…there should be more oats or less liquid…maybe less peanut butter. I’m not sure. This is a good base recipe, but I’ll have to experiment a bit. They remind me a lot of chocolate no bake cookies (I put some chocolate chips in mine). So they taste a little more like a cookie to me than a granola bar. Again, I’ll have to experiment. I’m glad I tried them, though. And they do taste really good! Just a bit softer than I’d like. Ignore the missing piece in the pan. We tried them before taking a picture 🙂

**Edited 4/25/10 – I made another batch of these yesterday using rolled oats and coconut oil. So good!! And they hold together much better. I also used a combo of peanut butter and homemade cashew butter. The combo gives them a good flavor.

Chewy Granola Bars

1/2 cup peanut butter or sunbutter
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup coconut oil (or butter)
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup total of any combination of: sesame seeds, coconut flakes, sunflower seeds, dried fruit, mini chocolate chips

In a medium sized saucepan, melt together peanut butter, honey and coconut oil.

Remove from heat and add the oats. Mix well. Add additional mix-ins and stir well.

Spread mixture into a parchment lined 8×8 or 9×4 pan.

Chill for two hours, then cut into bars.

Store in the refigerator or freezer.

Chocolate Chip Brownies

Yesterday afternoon Rebecca and I had some free time. And what do we usually do with free time? Bake! I wanted to make something with my homemade chocolate chips. I debated between a couple recipes but decided to try the chocolate chip brownie recipe from Heavenly Homemakers. It uses whole wheat flour and is so simple to make! No big mess. And we all love them. Although what’s not to like about butter, sugar and chocolate? 🙂  This is seriously so simple. I had the batter in the pan before the oven was heated…even with Rebecca helping me. These taste great and are healthy…in relative terms…organic ingredients, all from scratch. That doesn’t mean you can eat the whole pan, but they are far better than anything you can buy. They would make awesome brownie sundaes with our homemade ice cream and homemade chocolate sauce. Mmmm 🙂  The chocolate chips kind of melted. But you can still tell where they are. And they add a little extra burst of chocolate. I’m curious how they will work in cookies. This is a keeper recipe for sure. I think I’ll have to double the recipe next time.

Chocolate Chip Brownies

1 stick butter, melted
1 cup rapadura
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup homemade chocolate chips (chunks)

Stir together butter, rapadura and cocoa. Mix in egg and vanilla. Stir in flour and mix until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Pour into a 8×8 baking stone or pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Granola Bars

I got a new Barefoot Contessa cookbook (Back to Basics) for my birthday. I love it! I made my first recipe from it yesterday…granola bars. YUM!!! I’ve wanted to make granola bars for a long time, and there are so many different recipes out there. I figured I’d start with this one since I just got this cookbook. These are really easy to make and so good. They do have a lot of sugar…but I guess that’s why they’re so good 😛  When you first take them out of the oven they are super soft…you wonder how they will be granola bars. But after a few hours they are totally firm and crunchy. These are hard granola bars, not chewy. They were a little tough to cut without having them crumble too much. But the crumbs are so good too. This would also make awesome granola. If you just crumble it all instead of cutting bars. It tastes like the stuff you buy in the store…but without the HFCS, etc. I saved all of the crumbs to use in my cereal or mixed with yogurt. And to munch on by itself 🙂

We all think these are awesome! I’ll be making them again for sure. I got 15 granola bars out of this. I modified the recipe a little bit. Since I don’t have an 8×12 pan I made a little bit more than the regular recipe and used a 9×13 pan. I also just used raisins for the fruit since that’s what I have. And I added some of my homemade chocolate chips. As I figured the chocolate chips pretty much just melted. But it still tastes great. A little bit of a chocolatey bite here and there. Mmmm 🙂  In place of the sliced almonds I used some finely ground pecans. I didn’t want big chunks of nuts for Rebecca’s sake. This makes a great breakfast. And super easy! A homemade granola bar with some fresh fruit. Doesn’t get much better than that. I kept a few out and froze the rest.

Granola Bar

2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup sliced almonds (I used ground pecans.) (preferably soaked and dehydrated)
1 cup shredded coconut, loosely packed
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ (I didn’t toast mine. Leave this out to be GF)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup honey
1/4 cup light brown cane sugar, lightly packed or sucanat
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pitted dates (I used about a cup of raisins and a handful of chocolate chips. Any fruit, seed or chip would work.)
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 by 12-inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper.

Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the wheat germ.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

Place the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add the dates, apricots, and cranberries and stir well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Wet your fingers and lightly press the mixture evenly into the pan (I just used the back of a wooden spoon…tried to pack it down well). Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown (I baked it for 30 min.). Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting into squares. Serve at room temperature.

Whole Wheat Pita Bread

I can now cross one more bread experiment off my list…pita bread! I’ve wanted to make it for a while. But it seemed like such a tough thing to make. Would it really work? How does that pocket get in there? And what recipe to try? I’ve looked at so many. I did one more search yesterday morning and found a recipe on The Fresh Loaf that looked fairly simple. And I decided to just go for it. And you know what? It worked!!! It really worked! I can’t believe that I made good pita bread…on the first try! I am super excited. I made the dough right before Rebecca went down for her nap so it could rise while she was sleeping and then we could finish it after she got up. So my dough rose for quite a while…probably close to 3 hours. The longer the better 🙂  This was actually really simple to make. And it tastes awesome! When they were done I broke one open…and it had a nice big pocket! I tore off a couple chunks for us to try. Then Rebecca grabbed an entire half and proceeded to eat the whole thing 🙂  She LOVES fresh bread. She actually loves it before it’s even baked 😛  She likes to eat the dough or even the flour while we’re baking. She’s a baker in the making for sure. No complaints from her with our baking projects so far this month 🙂  Anyway, this was really easy and so good. I had planned to use the pita bread for our dinner tonight, but I just couldn’t pass up fresh pita bread. So I swapped meal plans for Sun. and Mon. (see update in my weekly menu). I had also cooked dried chickpeas just in time to make fresh hummus…literally…I drained the water and put the chickpeas right in the processor to make the hummus about 20 min. before dinner. I served it with avocado, cucumber and spinach.

It doesn’t get more fresh and homemade than that. Pita right out of the oven and fresh hummus made with organic chickpeas right out of the pan. It was soooo good. Rebecca ate a huge pile of the chickpeas (she could eat beans at every meal:) and even more pita. She almost ate a whole one herself!

I will definitely be making our pita from scratch now. This made 8, so I have 5 in the freezer for future use. Yea pita bread!!! And I think I’m starting to get the hang of bread making. The real trick for me has been figuring out the correct dough consistency. I’m learning that in the past my dough was way too dry. I know now to err on the side of being too moist. I’m getting excited to keep trying more bread now that I’m getting better at it 🙂  And this experiment and meal was a great way to wind down my 30th birthday 🙂  I felt pretty good about what I accomplished.

Homemade Whole Wheat Pita Bread

3 cups flour (you can use any combo of white and whole wheat…I used 2 cups bread flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar or honey
1 packet instant (bread machine) yeast (or, if from bulk, 2 tsp. yeast) (you can use active dry yeast but then you have to activate it first with water/sugar…then adjust the water amount you add later in the recipe)
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water, roughly at room temperature
2 Tbsp. olive oil, vegetable oil, butter, or shortening (I used EVOO)

Mix the yeast in with the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the olive oil and 1 1/4 cup water and stir together with a wooden spoon. All of the ingredients should form a ball. If some of the flour will not stick to the ball, add more water (I mixed all of this in my stand mixer bowl).

Once all of the ingredients form a ball, place the ball on a work surface, such as a cutting board, and knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes (or until your hands get tired). If you are using an electric mixer, mix it at low speed for 10 minutes (I used my mixer).

(The purpose of kneading is to thoroughly combine the ingredients and to break down the flour so that the dough will become stretchy and elastic and rise well in the oven. A simple hand kneading technique is to firmly press down on the dough with the palm of your hand, fold the dough in half toward you like you are closing an envelope, rotate the dough 90 degrees and then repeat these steps, but whatever technique you are comfortable using should work.)

When you are done kneading the dough, place it in a bowl that has been lightly coated with oil. Form a ball out of the dough and place it into the bowl, rolling the ball of dough around in the bowl so that it has a light coat of oil on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and set aside to rise until it has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.

When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, place on a baking sheet, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes. This step allows the dough to relax so that it’ll be easier to shape.

While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to preheat as well. If you do not have a baking stone, turn a cookie sheet upside down and place it on the middle rack of the oven while you are preheating the oven (I used a baking sheet). This will be the surface on which you bake your pitas.
After the dough has relaxed for 20 minutes, spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough. You should be able to roll it out to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick (I think they puff better if they are thinner). If the dough does not stretch sufficiently you can cover it with the damp towel and let it rest 5 to 10 minutes before trying again.

If you have a spray bottle in the kitchen, spray a light mist of water onto your baking surface and close the oven for 30 seconds. Supposedly this step reduces the blistering on the outside of your pitas. I’ve skipped it many times in the past and still been pleased with my breads, so if you don’t have a bottle handy it isn’t a big deal (I did not do this, and it still worked fine). Open the oven and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface (I did 2 at a time). They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes (mine took about 4 min.). If you want your pitas to be crispy and brown you can bake them for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, but it isn’t necessary. Enjoy your fresh pita! Store in the refrigerator or freezer.
 
And on a side note. Just wanted to show what a disaster my kitchen is when I’m doing lots of baking without a dishwasher 😛  Not a pretty sight. I can’t wait until we either get ours fixed or get a new one! I hardly have a spot to cook in my kitchen!

After breakfast, lunch, dinner and baking are over.
After “clean up.” Things are rinsed, piled, etc…but still a very crowded kitchen.
After my wonderful husband did the dishes. Still a full counter, but at least it’s clean 🙂

Cashew Butter

I’ve been wanting to make homemade peanut butter, cashew butter, etc. for a long time. I finally got around to it yesterday. I decided to make cashew butter first. I’ve never actually had cashew butter, but cashews are my favorite nut. I knew you could make peanut butter by just grinding peanuts, so I figured cashews would work the same way. Well, kind of. I first did just cashews. But the butter was a little dry/crumbly. I thought it needed some moisture/oil, but I wasn’t sure what kind. So then I decided I should probably actually look up how to make cashew butter 😛  Every recipe I found was identical, so I’ll post that. I didn’t follow the recipe in terms of quantities. I just added, mixed and tasted to get it how I wanted it/get it smooth. This is soooo good. I’m so glad I tried it. And now we have a full jar (plus a little extra) of good quality cashew butter. I used just a pinch of salt and a drizzle of agave nectar to add flavor. Justin says he still likes peanut butter better. Me, I’m not sure. The cashew butter is really good. Maybe I’ll have to try adding in some other flavors sometime too…chocolate, cherry, vanilla,…we’ll see. It sure made a yummy breakfast on toasted homemade wheat bread (fresh baked last night) this morning!! Can’t wait to try our cashew butter and jelly sandwiches later this week. I’ll post the before and after pictures.

Before oil.
After oil.

Cashew Butter

2 cups unsalted roasted cashews (I used a combo of raw and roasted organic cashews)
2 to 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar, optional (I used agave nectar. Honey would work too.)

In a food processor or blender, combine the nuts, 2 tablespoons of the oil, the salt, and the sugar, if desired. Process on high speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula and process to desired smoothness, adding more oil, 1 teaspoon at a time, if a smoother butter is desired. Adjust the seasoning, to taste.
Transfer to a bowl to use as a dip, spread, or in other recipes, or place in an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.

English Muffins

Yesterday I made my first attempt at english muffins. I don’t eat them often, but Justin loves them. And it’s one more thing I could save money on by making myself. I got the recipe from Pete Bakes. I’ve had it tagged for a long time but never made the time to try them. My first attempt…so-so. As usual I had rising issues. The flavor is good and they look ok, but they are quite dense. They are more like rolls than english muffins. I think one of my main issues with bread making is I’m not sure what dough is supposed to feel/look like when it is ready/when it has enough flour, enough moisture and has been kneaded enough. I need to get that first step right. Then the rest is easy. I’m thinking my dough wasn’t moist enough or hadn’t been kneaded enough. I used my stand mixer…which adds another factor since I’m still experimenting with that. Anyway, I’m glad I tried them. And I’m sure I’ll give them another try at some point. I made a double batch (not so sure that was a good idea now :P) since I didn’t want to go through all the work for just 6 english muffins. Justin had one for a snack last night. He said it had good flavor but was quite heavy (as you can see from the picture of one cut open). As usual Rebecca enjoyed them 🙂  She loves to munch on rolls, bagels, etc. She just carries it around with her as she plays 🙂  I guess I just have to keep practicing. Eventually I’ll get good at bread making 🙂  The original recipe says it makes 6 english muffins. I think it would work well to make it into more than that…each ball of dough seemed like a lot. I thnk having less dough in each one would have helped with the baking/density issue too.

English Muffins

2 1/4 cups flour (I used a mix of all purpose and white whole wheat)
1/2 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. instant yeast
1 Tbsp. shortening or butter (at room temperature) (I used butter)
3/4 – 1 cup milk (at room temperature)
cornmeal for sprinkling

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt and yeast. mix in the shortening and 3/4 cup of the milk. add the remaining milk if the dough is too dry. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes (I used my stand mixer for this). Place in a lightly oiled bowl and roll to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for about an hour (I let it rise for about 1 1/2 hours…still didn’t rise much).

Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and shape into balls. Lay parchment paper on a baking sheet and spray or lightly coat with oil and sprinkle with cornmeal (I used silpat). Move the dough balls to the baking sheet evenly spaced apart (giving them room to rise more). Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap and allow them to rise for another hour.

Heat the oven to 350 F and heat up a skillet on medium heat on the stovetop. Brush the skillet with oil and gently transfer the dough balls to the skillet a few at a time. Allow them to cook on the skillet for 5-8 minutes, until the bottoms are nicely browned. Carefully flip and cook the other side for about 5-8 minutes more. They should flatten as they cook.

When the muffins look as if they are about to burn, remove them from the skillet with a spatula and transfer quickly to a baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 5-8 minutes. Do not wait until all of the muffins have been cooked on the skillet before moving them to the oven – as the first batch is baking, move the second batch of muffins to the skillet.

Transfer the baked muffins to a cooling rack and let cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing or serving. Store them as you would muffins you buy in the store – in a sealed ziploc bag in the fridge or freezer.

Bread Pudding

Since I’m focusing on bread this month I decided to make bread pudding last night. It’s really more of a dessert. But I served it as a side dish with our quiche. I usually serve quiche with some kind of sweet bread, so it’s really not that different. I love bread pudding. But I’ve actually never made it before. And haven’t had it in years. This is my mom’s recipe. So simple and so good!! We all loved it. It’s hard to stop eating it 😛  It’s soft and sweet and has kind of a custardy feel to it from the eggs. And the great thing about it is that everyone pretty much always has the ingredients on hand. And it’s a great way to use up the end pieces of bread (that normally get thrown away in our house). They actually work better than regular slices. A very budget friendly dessert! And a great way to use up those last few slices of bread in a loaf. This is great on it’s own, warm or cold. And it’s also good with some vanilla ice cream on top. I bet it would be good with some apple slices baked in too. Maybe I’ll have to try that some time. Can’t wait to have more tonight! And I just thought of it…I bet this would even be a good breakfast…bread, eggs, milk, raisins…sounds good to me! That may be on our menu soon 😉

This post is linked to Fat Tuesday at Real Food Forager.

**Edited 4/24/10 – I made this today with a peeled and chopped apple. Yum!!!! Makes it even better.

Bread Pudding

4 cups bread, cubed (whole wheat, sourdough, cinnamon raisin…whatever you like) (just tear it into rough chunks)
2 cups scalded millk (heated to almost boiling)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup organic cane sugar or sucanat (honey or maple syrup would probably work too)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup raisins (optional, but they really do make it so much better 🙂
1 tsp. cinnamon or nutmeg (I used cinnamon)
1 apple, peeled and chopped (optional – to make apple raisin bread pudding)

Place bread crumbs in a large bowl. Pour milk over top. Let cool slightly. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into greased 1 1/2 qt. casserole. Bake at 325 for about 1 hour, until knife inserted in center comes out clean (I baked mine for a little over an hour).

Simple Whole Wheat Bread

I baked my first loaf of bread for the month yesterday. I did a quick search for easy whole wheat bread, and this is first recipe I found. It’s from All Recipes. It had great reviews and didn’t sound too complicated. It’s not 100% whole wheat, but I bet you could replace some of the bread flour with whole wheat or white whole wheat flour to make it closer to 100%. I just stuck with the original recipe for my first try. This turned out really well! It was quite simple to make. And I used my mixer! No kneading by hand 🙂  Definitely a good turnout considering some of the bad breads I’ve baked in the past. I think part of my problem has been patience. Yesterday when I was making the bread I was also playing with Rebecca, making dinner, getting her to bed, etc. So each of the rise times I let go a lot longer than usual since I was busy. And it really made a difference! I still have a ways to go to become a decent bread baker, but this was a good attempt. I didn’t get it out of the oven until about 9:30 last night, but I still couldn’t resist cutting into it and tasting a sliver while it was warm. YUM!! Very soft, moist and mildly sweet. Not too heavy either. I can’t wait to try it tonight for our sandwiches. See how it holds up for sandwich bread. I only made a half recipe, so I did one full loaf and one small loaf.

Simple Whole Wheat Bread

3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 (.25 oz.) packages active dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp.)
1/3 cup honey
5 cups bread flour

3 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/3 cup honey
1 Tbsp. salt
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp. butter, melted

In a large bowl (I did this right in my stand mixer bowl), mix warm water, yeast, and 1/3 cup honey. Add 5 cups white bread flour, and stir to combine. Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly (I let it set for about 45 min.).

Mix in 3 Tbsp. melted butter, 1/3 cup honey, and salt. Stir in 2 cups whole wheat flour. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole wheat flour until not real sticky – just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch. This may take an additional 2 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour (I kneaded it in my mixer for a few minutes). Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough (I used my mixer bowl for this too…only got one bowl dirty:). Cover with a dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled (I let it rise for about 70 min.).

Punch down, and divide into 3 loaves. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch (I let it rise for about 90 minutes).

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes; do not overbake. Lightly brush the tops of loaves with 2 Tbsp. melted butter or margarine when done to prevent crust from getting hard (I used a little butter spray). Cool completely.

**Edited 3/4/10
This makes awesome sandwich bread!! I used my electric knife to cut normal size slices. So good! I hope I can keep up with the bread baking. This is far better than boughten bread. It’s homemade for us!

Cinnamon Applesauce Bread

I am bringing a meal to one of my sister’s friends today (that my sister made). I decided to do some baking yesterday to add to it. I searched through my recipe box and found an old recipe for cinnamon applesauce bread. I don’t even remember if I’ve ever made it. I’m pretty sure I’ve had the recipe since before I got married. It was very easy to make. And it tastes very good!! I was able to use my mixer…with no problems! The recipe is for a loaf of bread. I made muffins instead (then I can give most of them away but keep a few for us to try :). We had some for breakfast today. Yum!

**Edited 4-9-10 – I made this in loaf form yesterday. Very good! A fairly dense bread, but moist and sweet. I used raisin bran (natural version) and added raisins. A very easy bread. Great to make wtih kids.

Cinnamon Applesauce Bread

1 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 cup chunky applesauce (I happened to have about 1 cup left in a jar of homemade chunky applesauce in the fridge)
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup skim milk (I used 1%)
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil (I used canola)
1 1/2 cups bran flakes (I used Wheaties)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (my optional addition…I just added them to the few we were keeping)

Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl beat the egg. Stir in the applesauce, sugar, milk and oil. Add to flour mixture. Stir until moistened (batter will be lumpy). Stir in cereal (and walnuts/raisins).

Pour inot a greased 9×5 loaf pan. (I poured it into 12 paper lined muffin cups.)

Bake at 350 for 55 min., or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (I did about 30 min. for the muffins). Cool 10 min. Remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Crispy Cheese Crackers

Since Kindermusik was cancelled yesterday and Rebecca was up at 5:30 we needed some activities to fill our day. As usual I decided to do some baking. We made crispy cheese crackers. It’s another Heavenly Homemaker recipe. Super simple. And so good! And one more thing I can make from scratch instead of buying at the store…healthier and cheaper! As with my past efforst at crackers I’ll need a few tries to perfect these. It was a pretty tough dough to roll…and I ended up not getting it all thin enough. So the crackers on the edges were really good. But the ones in the middle are a bit thick and not as crisp. But still taste good. I had to use more water than the recipe calls for to form a ball of dough. Probably more like a 1/4 cup. We’ll see how it goes the next time I try them. There will definitely be a next time! Rebecca loves these. A great kid-friendly snack, and something a child can help make.

Crispy Cheese Crackers

¼ cup butter, softened
¼ tsp. sea salt
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, room temperature (I used a combo of cheddar and mozzarella…what I had on hand)
1 cup whole wheat flour
¼ tsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. cold water (I used about a 1/4 cup)

Use beaters or food processor to mix butter and salt until creamy (I used a hand mixer). Add cheese. Mix well. Gradually add flour, baking powder and water, mixing until dough begins to form a ball. Form dough into a ball with hands.

Roll the dough into 1/8 inch thickness onto a cookie sheet. (I put a silpat on the baking sheet and then put parchment paper over the dough for the rolling to prevent sticking) Cut the rolled out dough into 1 ½ inch squares. Bake 15 minutes at 350° or until lightly browned. Turn off the oven and leave the crackers inside to crisp up (I left them in for about 10 min.). Store tightly covered.