"Cheese"-its

What do you feed the GFCF, soy-free, potato-free, corn-free, lots of other stuff free kid who would really like goldfish crackers?  I think I FINALLY have a solution, thanks to the good folks at ReadyMade Magazine (to which I am a subscriber).  In their latest issue, ReadyMade compared several different cheese crackers, including a homemade variety.  On their website, they posted the recipe for the homemade cheese crackers.  The ingredients are simple:  flour, butter, cheddar cheese and ice water.  Of course, three out of the four don't work for someone on a GFCF diet (at least the ice water is ok!).  In this case, the substitutions were simple and worked quite well.  I substituted the same amount of GFCF-safe ingredients for the originals with the exception of the ice water.  I found I needed a touch more water than the two tablespoons called for, but I added it slowly in tiny amounts to get the correct consistency.

Crispy, finished crackers cooling on a rack

Crackers before baking

 


Here are my substitutions:
Daiya cheddar style shreds for the cheese
Purity Farms ghee (or other well made ghee) for the butter
Chebe All-Purpose Bread Mix (a manioc [tapioca] based mix) for flour.

The crackers baked up crispy, crunchy and cheesy tasting.  My GFCF boy loved them, and even my husband and a few friends proclaimed them a success. 

These were easy to mix up in a stand mixer and quick to make (there is some downtime while the dough chills in the fridge).  The trick is to roll out the dough quite thin and bake just long enough to get crisp without burning.  They only take about 15 minutes in the oven but should be watched carefully.  They also should be watched carefully once placed on the cooling rack -- they were mysteriously disappearing from my kitchen!