Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Homemade White Cheddar Cheez Its!

Hey all and Happy Tuesday! I just came back from teaching a wonderful Zumba class and feel great! If you've never gone to a class you owe it to yourself to try it. I love being an instructor. It's the one hour of the day I get to go out and be a total goofball and people are goofballs right along with me! I sing, I laugh at myself, I mess up all the time...and I don't care. :)

I also love being an instructor because it keeps me in shape while surrounded by all the yummy treats I'm constantly making. Awesome! Speaking of yummy treats...The other day while walking through the grocery I stopped at my favorite section, the cheese section, and noticed this yummy block of goodness:
I'm sure I've walked past it a million times but never noticed it. For some reason the package reminded me of those white cheddar cheez its and a plan was formed! Since I'm super-crazy cheap frugal we never buy those yummy crackers on less they're on sale or I have a great coupon...but then I remembered I bake! Duh! I keep having to remind myself pretty much anything I can buy at the store I can remake at home for a fraction of the price. That's when I decided to go home and try to make my own. So this is my version of Homemade White Cheddar Cheez Its!
I know what you're thinking. They aren't white! I get it. They turned slightly brown during baking, but they still taste just as amazing as the ones in the big orange expensive box from the store. First you'll combine your butter, shortening and cheese together. Throw in the dry ingredients and mix it all up until it's very crumbly. Toss in the water and form into a big ball of awesome seasoned cheese. 
After a half hour in the fridge, you'll roll the dough to as thin as you can get. If you have patience (which I don't) make sure you really roll out the dough super thin to get that authentic cheez it crunch. My personal preference is to have a little thicker cheez it so I rolled my dough to about 1/8 inch, but you'll want to shoot for 1/16 inch thickness.
Cut into squares using a pizza cuter, or any kind of dough cutting utensil you prefer, poke a hole in the middle, salt, bake and eat eat eat. I actually had to tell myself to stop eating these so I could take pictures. They're amazing! I was literally eating them by the handful.
Make these your own, too. If you like sharp cheddar, use that. Don't like dill? Use something else...or nothing. These would even be great with just salt!
Ingredients:
8oz sharp white cheddar, shredded (I used Cracker Barrel's block sharp white)
3 Tbsp butter, cut into small squares
2 Tbsp shortening
1 Cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp dill
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp water
Salt for topping

Directions:
In your mixer combine the cheese, butter and shortening on medium. Add in the flour, salt, basil, dill and garlic powder and reduce the speed to low. Mix until it becomes a crumb like consistency. Add in the water one tablespoon at a time and stir on low until it comes together in a lump.

Form the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Set in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour. Remove and roll the dough onto a floured surface. Roll the dough as thin as you can to really make these like cheez its. I was ok with mine being a little fluffy and lacking some crunch, so I didn't go super thin.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the dough into inch by inch squares and transfer them to a parchment lined baking sheet. Poke a hole in the middle of each square and sprinkle with salt.

Bake for 13-15 minutes. Remove and top with more salt (or don't if you don't want to, or try some Parmesan cheese). Allow to cool and enjoy!

I think I had 20 as soon as they came out and had to put them away before they all disappeared. This recipe made about 100 yummy cheesy squares.

So have you ever Zumbaed? Do you love it or hate it? Or are you like most of my students and only hate it while you're doing it but love it before and after class? :)

Need a dough cuter?


Thanks for stopping by!

**I linked up to tuesday greens, titus 2 tuesday, the scoop, make it pretty monday, the diy'ers, metamorphosis monday, more the merrier monday, give me the goods, frugal crafty home, much ado about monday, craftomaniac monday, think pink sunday, made from pinterest, anything goes friday, weekend potluck, tickled pink x2, foodie friday, freedom fridays, im lovin it, thursday s.t.y.l.e., kitchen fun with my 3 sons, friday flash blog, bloom designs, pin it thursday, all things thursday, full plate thursday, create it thursday, work it wednesday, whats cooking wednesday, fluster buster, wordless wednesday

32 comments:

  1. These look so delicious! I bet they are so much better than the boxed ones!

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  2. Being able to make these on my own is dangerous! My favorite snacks EVER! Pinning!

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  3. Oooh yum, these look dangerously delicious!!

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  4. we love making our own crackers, and these look SO good

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  5. I've never made my own crackers. I don' t have stand mixer. Do you think I could make this using the dough blade of my food processor?

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    1. I went without a stand mixer for a while and was using my food processor for all of my bread, crackers, etc. It worked fine with the dough blade, although some made it jump around because they were stiff. Takes less time to mix/knead. The only thing is that you might have to pop the top off and push everything down at some point if you notice a lot of your mixture just sitting above where it's spinning.

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    2. Thanks for your answer Chris! I don't have a food processor yet (am dying to buy one though) so I wasn't sure if that would work. Let me know Erlene if it works out for you. Hope you love these!

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  6. I've made a different version of these before, I think with a little kick of cayenne, but I love your addition of dill. Now I'm wondering about trying a dill havarti instead of cheddar. Hmmm... [#PinItThurs]

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    1. Ooo cayenne...and jalapeno cheddar?! Yum! Thanks for the idea!

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  7. I love cheez-its but have never thought to make my own. Great looking recipe!!

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  8. Oh wow!! These look great!! My boys would love this as well!!!! Stopping by the Weekend re Treat Link Party. ~Angela @ http://lemoinefamilykitchen.com

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  9. Thanks for sharing on BFF link party. These look delicious. A friend of mine just made some little cheese crackers that look similar, and they were scrumptious. Hope to try this soon!

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  10. I have not seen a recipe like this. I love the fact you could also add other spices to the dough. Thank you for sharing it on our Four Seasons Blog Hop.

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  11. Thanks for sharing at the Happiness Is Homemade Link Party! Pinning to the party board and can't wait to see what happiness posts you share next week! Have a terrific week!
    Cathy
    APeekIntoMyParadise.com

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  12. Hi, I'm over from the mad skills party. Great post.

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  13. yes. yes, yes! Oh my heck yes!! The brown looks more natural than the boxed kind, so I'd say it's all good. Pinning and making asap! My son is going to love me, lol. Thanks for sharing on Foodie Friday

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  14. Thanks for linking this to What'd You Do This Weekend.

    Have a great week,
    Linda @ Tumbleweed Contessa

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  15. These will be a great recipe to try with my little one. Thanks for sharing! If you are ever looking for another linky, please come and join us at Tuesday Greens on www.craftygardenmama.com. Have a great week!

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    1. Hey Becky! Thanks for the invite! I'll be sure to check out your site and your party. Hope your little one loves these as much as we do :)

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  16. You are amazing! You make everything look so delicious!

    Thanks so much for sharing on Turn It Up Tuesday! We love having you! :)

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    1. Thank you so much for your sweet comments Natasha! Such a fan of yours. Hope you and your little guy had a great Valentine's Day!

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  17. These sound to DIE for!! Thank you for sharing it with us at Sewlicious Home Decor! Pinned to the party board! :)

    I love Zumba too, they have a class at my gym....so fun!

    Marti

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  18. Wow! These look yummy! Would love some with my soup tonight! Thank you for linking up at Tasty Tuesdays! Your post has been pinned to my Recipes from Tasty Tuesday board. I can't wait to see what you link up next week!
    Have a terrific weekend!
    Cathy
    APeekIntoMyParadise.com
    #TastyTuesdays

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  19. Going on my "must make" list! White Cheez-Its are my favorite, too! I always keep a box on hand for my grandson as they're his fav, also!!!

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  20. This would make a fun, inexpensive and EASY project for the kiddo's one day before nap time. Then we could get them out for snack time :)
    Thanks for linking up at Tell Me About It Tuesday. I can't wait to see what you share next week!

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  21. Oh My goodness, your home made white cheese crackers are making my mouth water. This is surely a recipe I'm going to try. Great tutorial.




    Thank you for sharing with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop! I hope you’ll join us again next week!

    Cheers,
    Kathy Shea Mormino
    The Chicken Chick
    http://www.The-Chicken-Chick.com

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  22. Thanks for linking to Create Link Inspire at The Crafty Blog Stalker. You have been featured and pinned! Thank you for sharing.
    --Katie, TheCraftyBlogStalker.com

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    1. Thanks for featuring me Katie! Grabbed one of your buttons and added it to my featured page. Hope you have a great week!

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  23. Homemade crackers are completely addictive! I love it! Thanks for linking up to What's Cookin' Wednesday!

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  24. Congratulations!! Your recipe has been featured at Tasty Tuesdays 50 on my blog, Lori’s Culinary Creations. Hop on over and grab a feature button and link up your latest culinary creations. Congrats again.
    Link- http://bit.ly/1bIWCCC
    Lori

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