Homemade Cheez-Its

There are some foods that I would never have thought about making at home, like Cheez-Its. But once I saw a recipe for them I knew I needed to make them. I absolutely love Cheez-its, but never buy them because the box would not last long in my house.

With this homemade version of Cheez-Its I left out the salt, so it would be more sodium friendly, since cheese already has a lot of sodium in it. But feel free to add in the salt if you would like it. The nutritional info is calculated based on no added salt.

The result of trying homemade Cheez-Its was a success. They were not a lot of work and tasted great. They tasted just like a cheese cracker and were just as addicting as the real thing. Now I can not say they tasted just like Cheeze-Its, because they were not as salty, since I left out the added salt, but that did not bother me and I felt a little better for eating a few extra since they did not have as much salt.

Homemade Cheez-Its

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (I did not use)
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2-3 tablespoons ice water

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the cheese, butter and salt (if using) on low speed until combined. Add in the flour and mix on low speed until it looks like pebbles. Slowly add in 2 tablespoons and mix. The dough should start to form a ball, if not add in the additional tablespoon of water, slowly just until the dough forms a ball. You do not want the dough to be sticky. Take out the dough ball and pat into a disk. Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 375º F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Divide the dough into two pieces. Wrap one piece up and place back in the refrigerator. Roll the other piece into a very thin, no more than 1/8 inch thick, 10x12 rectangle. Using a pastry wheel or a pizza cutter, cut the rectangle into 1 inch squares. Transfer the squares to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat these steps with the remaining dough in the refrigerator.
4. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until puffy and starting to brown at the edges. Immediately move the crackers to another baking sheet. Spread them out into an even layer and allow to cool completely. Store in an air tight container for up to 1 week.

Enjoy!!!

Notes:
I used my cake tester to put a hole in the middle of the crackers before baking like Cheez-Its have, but after they baked and puffed up, most of the holes were not noticeable, so I would not spend the time to do this next time.

The original recipe has you transfer the cracker to a cooling rack. When I tried this they kept falling through the cracks, so I just transfer them to a metal baking sheet that was not used to bake them and let them cool there, in a single layer.

Nutrition Facts
Serves: 9, about 20 crackers
Amount Per Serving
Calories 191
Total Fat		13.1g
Saturated Fat		7.6g
Polyunsaturated Fat		0.2g
Monounsaturated Fat		0g
Trans Fat		40g
Cholesterol		160g
Sodium		0g
Potassium		10.7g
Total Carbohydrates		0.4g
Dietary Fiber		0g
Sugars		0g
Protein		7.6g
Vitamin A 8.89% Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 17.78% Iron 0%
*Nutritional information will vary depending on the brands you use.

*Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker.