Bacon Cheddar Crackers

Having a party this season? Christmas, New Year's, blah-de-blah-de-blah?

Well, I think we all know that every great party needs a meat and cheese and cracker tray.

Why not fancy it up a little this year and make your own crackers?

It is super simple and they taste sooooooooooo good. Little bites of crispy, cheesey, bacony, spicy, crackerness.

Crackerness?

Yes.

It's a word now.

Bacon Cheddar Crackers

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp Maple Bacon Sea Salt (optional - available from Epicure Selections)

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 cup butter, cold

2 cups shredded, aged cheddar cheese

10 strips bacon, cooked, crumbled

1/4 cup milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 375. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, Maple Bacon sea salt (optional), cayenne pepper.

Using 2 knives or a pastry cutter, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cheese and bacon.

Mix in milk to form dough.

Using a small cookie scoop, place balls of dough about an inch apart. Using the bottom of a glass, dipped in flour, OR the tines of a fork - squish the ball so it is flat.

Above is using a fork (dipped in flour). Below is using the glass.

It should be fairly thin but not too thin.

Bake at 375 for about 16 minutes. I baked for 8 minutes, rotated cookie sheet, and then another 8 minutes. The edges and top will be a little bit brown. Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack.

The bigger one was squished with the glass, the smaller with the fork. Either way will work.

This recipe made 60 crackers with me using the small cookie scoop (about 1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp of dough). You can half the recipe if you want but, trust me, you will want to make lots of these. They will disappear quickly.

You can also add more or less cayenne pepper to suit your tastes. As written above I found them spicy (I'm a wimp) but Sue and the rest of the family thought they were "just right".

Now you can go and impress your guests and have them think you slaved over a hot stove all day making them tasty snacks when really, these only take about 30 to 45 minutes to whip up.

Oh, yeah, you can save even more time by using this tip - instead of using a cookie scoop you can roll the dough into 2 logs, chill for a bit to firm up, and then simply slice the crackers about 1/4 inch thick.

Tah-daaaaaaah! Homemade cheese and bacon crackers!