Remember those leaf-shaped pie crust cutters you bought a few years ago, probably in a Martha Stewart-induced haze? The ones meant for creating a glorious, swoon-worthy wreath of maple leaves around your Thanksgiving pumpkin pie?
Yeah, THAT wasn’t fun. Racing to cut the pastry leaves. Meticulously arranging them around the pie plate only to step back and see that they were slanting in two directions. Ultimately realizing that those leaves were destined to be buried under a mountain of Cool Whip …
This year, I’m making something much easier with those pie crust cutters: Cheese Crackers!
Just follow the recipe for Cheese Straw dough in my post on Cheese Straws, the ultimate retro Southern party food. Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface until it’s 1/8-inch thick, and cut as many leaves as you can. Transfer the leaves to a baking sheet lined with Silpat®, and chill them in the fridge for three minutes. Then bake them at 350 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes, until the edges are barely browned.
When the crackers cool, they’re intensely cheesy, buttery, spicy, crunchy, addictive, drool-inspiring and, yes, lovely.
Martha results. Slacker effort. Now, that’s swoon-worthy.
Cheese Crackers
Adapted from Matt Lee and Ted Lee’s “The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook”
- 1 1/2 cups (about 4 ounces) grated cheddar cheese
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened and cut into 4 pieces
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon half-and-half
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a food processor, combine the cheese, butter, flour, salt and red pepper and process in five 5-second pulses until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the half-and-half. Process until the dough forms a ball, about 10 seconds.
- On a lightly floured surface, using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough until it’s 1/8-inch thick. With a sharp knife or pie crust cutter, cut the dough into as many crackers as you can (dipping the knife or cutter in flour after once in a while ensures clean cuts). Gently transfer the strips to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or Silpat®, and chill them in the fridge for 3 minutes.
- Bake the straws on the middle rack for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the ends are barely browned. Remove from the oven, and set on a wire rack to cool. Serve at room temperature.
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Oh but you DO make me laugh, Ms. Poundcake! Chuckles aside, though, this is brilliant! I never did give into the piecrust leaf temptation … but I am *all* over these cheese crackers. I was about to say that I'm adding these to my Thanksgiving menu … but who are we kidding? I'm going to make these all for myself!
Haha yes! Now we finally have something to do with those dang leaf cookie cutters…!
They sound like the perfect thing to have with a glass of wine! I'm a sucker for buying quirky cookie cutters and rarely use them for cookies…now they have a purpose.
How Cuuuuuuute! These little babys are so wonderful! So great for autumn. Love this!
Adorably delicious. Can't wait to try this – some cheese and wine and we're all set! :o)
These are so cute and pretty. I already have some leaf cookie cutters from a while back (though I can't remember what I used them for–I know I DID use them!). These look like a great option to serve as an app pre-Thanksgiving dinner.
I can't wait to make these for the kids. Thanks for the great idea!
How cute are these???? I going to be stealing once again, thank you.
These are so beautiful. I leaf them! LOL about unused gadgets bought with grandiose plans. I have a closet full. Great idea for using them.
I just stumbled upon your blog via The Kitchn. I just wanted to say that I love your recipes and your posts that go along with them! I now have Ezra Pound Cake saved in my favorites to follow- it's a coveted position, trust me :)
Used a small pumpkin cutter and they were the Hot Hit of the Halloween Party. Thanks so much for sharing!
I'm going to make these for our Thanksgiving. We're celebrating early this year and these will be perfect!
These are going to be a great accompaniment for a Squash soup I'm making soon. Somehow anything with cheese & shaped like a cute maple tree leaf tastes better. :)
Love these! Homemade crackers are the best, and the leaf shapes are so pretty!
This is GENIUS! Or maybe I'm just obsessed with cheese. Or both. Let's just split the difference. It might also be good on the edge of an apple pie crust….
Wow – these look delicious. I can't wait to try them. Of course I'm a tad bit less ambitious than you (or Martha) so I'll probably settle for plain boring circle cut-outs. :D
Yum, those look so good. I don't have leaf cut outs though I may have to resort to my dog bone shaped cookie cutter.
Yum! These sounds so light and delicious.