Make your own delicious homemade cheese crackers with only 6 simple ingredients. These crispy, cheesy snacks are a quick delight, and the recipe is easy to follow.
Recipe: $2.68 | Per Serving: $0.45 | Servings: 6
In under an hour, whip up these copycat Cheez-Its, a perfect weekend activity for kids, with or without a food processor. Pair them with Frozen Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches and Sour Patch Grapes for lunch.
We're all about snacks, especially my kids! This homemade baked cheese crackers recipe is a household favorite because it's quick, easy, and yields crispy snacks with amazing flavor.
If you love goldfish or Cheez-Its, these homemade ones will hit the spot. With just one batch, you'll have plenty to share!
For more kid-friendly snacks, try Rolo Stuffed Ritz Crackers and Ice Cream Cone Brownies. For fun activities, check out my No Cook Pumpkin Playdough, Banana Playdough, and Coffee Playdough Recipe.
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🍯 Why This Recipe Works
- You can control the thickness. Rolling the cheddar dough thin will give you cracker-like crispy results, but making them a little thicker (like pie dough) will give you puffed crackers which are just as incredible. We still haven't decided which version we prefer.
- There's plenty to share. One batch, depending on how thick you make them, can give you about what you'd find in a standard sized box of cheese crackers. Meaning there are plenty of servings to share with everybody.
- They really are easy to make. Just add a few simple ingredients to a food processor and pulse to combine. Then chill for a few minutes before rolling out the dough and cutting it into shapes. There's no hard kneading, hand mixing, or complicated steps involved.
🥘 Ingredients
Ingredient Notes:
Cheddar cheese- I recommend buying a block of cheese that you shred yourself as it works best. Sharp cheddar cheese or medium cheddar cheese will give a stronger taste. This tip is also true in recipes where we want the cheese to melt, (like this 5 Ingredient Mac and Cheese).
Mustard- You can use ground mustard if you have it on hand or swap it out for some yellow mustard instead.
For specific ingredients and measurements, please see the recipe card below.
🧾 Substitutions
Flour. You can use gluten free flour instead of all purpose flour for this recipe.
Cheese. Any solid cheese should be fine with this recipe, including swiss, pepper jack, or parmesan.
Butter. If you only have salted butter on hand, you can use it and omit the added salt.
📖 Variations
Enhance the appeal of these crackers, especially for toddlers, by using small cookie cutters to craft exciting shapes! The best part is that it's incredibly easy to do, and the kids will absolutely love it.
Adding fun and whimsical shapes to your snacks before putting them in the oven can make them even more enjoyable for the little ones!
If you have a 3-D printer, you can even make your own cookie cutter shapes to look more like those fun storebought characters you love!
🧀 Without Food Processor
Food processors are great for speeding up the process, especially with easy recipes like these crackers and my No Bake Graham Cracker Crust, but they aren't always needed.
No food processor? No worries! Just grab a big mixing bowl and an electric mixer (even a stand mixer will do the trick!) It might take a bit longer to blend everything up, but as long as you make sure everything gets nicely mixed and the cheese is all crumbly, you're good to go.
🔪 Instructions for Homemade Cheese Crackers
Step 1: Shred the cheese (Image 1).
Step 2: Place shredded cheese into a food processor (Image 2).
Step 3: Add in the flour, butter, mustard, and salt (Image 3).
Step 4: Pulse to combine until it looks like coarse crumbs. While pulsing, add in water 1 tablespoon at a time (Image 4).
Step 5: Pour the cheese mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap (Image 5).
Step 6: Shape the mixture into a ball by pressing the crumbs together with your clean hands (Image 6).
Step 7: Wrap and twist the plastic wrap around the ball to cover it completely. Place in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes (Image 7).
Step 8: When ready to use, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the dough from the plastic wrap and place onto a clean surface.
Step 9: Roll the dough out into a thin rectangle. For crispy crackers, you want it thinner than a pie crust (Image 8). For pillowy crackers, a pie dough thickness is best.
Step 10: Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into thin 1 inch strips.
Step 11: Now cut lines going across in the opposite direction, creating a lot of 1 inch sized squares (Image 9).
Step 12: Use a toothpick or the end point of a sharp knife to create holes in the centers. If using a toothpick, swirl it around in tiny circles to make a slightly larger hole (Image 10).
Step 13: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the crackers on top. They won't spread much as they bake, so you can place them fairly close to one another (Image 11).
Step 14: Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for 13-15 minutes or until crispy (Image 12).
Step 15: Let them cool completely before storing them in an airtight container, or they may end up chewy from condensation in the container.
Serve and enjoy!
🍴 Recipe Tips
- This recipe can be doubled or halved as needed. So feel free to make more or less of these crackers - just adjust the ingredients accordingly.
- You can use a different pan liner. If you have a silicone baking mat handy, you can use that instead of parchment paper; it'll give you that extra crispiness at the bottom, but either way works just fine. Your choice!
⏲️ Make Ahead Instructions
Advance Prep: Prepare the dough ahead of time and store it wrapped in the fridge for up to 2 days before rolling it out and baking.
Freezing Option: Freeze the dough, well wrapped in plastic and stored in an airtight container, for up to 3 months for future use.
👩🏻🍳 Storage
Keep these crackers stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week. They may soften as they age.
💭 Recipe FAQs
Compared to the stuff you can buy at the store, this is a better alternative. With zero preservatives, and whole foods being used, you can stay in the know and in control of what is going into your foods.
No. Please don't. Storebought pre-shredded cheese will contain added anti-caking ingredients, which cause this recipe to fail miserably. I HIGHLY recommend buying a block of cheese and shredding it yourself. If using a food processor, you can get a cheese grating attachment to make it even easier.
Yes! You can freeze these crackers if desired. To do this, first, make sure the crackers have cooled completely. Then place into an airtight container or freezer bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Let thaw on the counter before eating. If desired, you can flash freeze the crackers before freezing by placing them in a single layer on a baking sheet and freezing until solid before transferring to a container.
❤️ More Delicious Snack Recipes
If you tried these homemade cheese crackers, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and share your feedback in the 📝 comments section below. I would truly appreciate it!
📖 Recipe
Homemade Cheese Crackers
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded ($2.00)
- 1 cup all purpose flour ($0.13)
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed ($0.50)
- ½ teaspoon ground mustard (or 2 teaspoons yellow mustard) ($0.04)
- ¾ teaspoon salt ($0.01)
- 2 Tablespoons cold water ($0.00)
Instructions
- Shred the cheese.
- Place shredded cheese into a food processor.
- Add in the flour, butter, mustard, and salt.
- Pulse to combine until it looks like coarse crumbs. While pulsing, add in water 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Pour the cheese mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap.
- Shape the mixture into a ball by pressing the crumbs together with your clean hands.
- Wrap and twist the plastic wrap around the ball to cover it completely. Place in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes.
- When ready to use, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the dough from the plastic wrap and place onto a clean surface.
- Roll the dough out into a thin rectangle. For crispy crackers, you want it thinner than pie crust. For pillowy crackers, a pie dough thickness is best. Ideally, it'd be ⅛ inch thick.
- Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into thin 1 inch strips.
- Now cut lines going across in the opposite direction, creating a lot of 1 inch sized squares.
- Use a toothpick or the end point of a sharp knife to create holes in the centers. If using a toothpick, swirl it around in tiny circles to make a slightly larger hole.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the crackers on top. They won't spread much as they bake, so you can place them fairly close to one another.
- Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for 13-15 minutes or until crispy.
- Let them cool completely before storing in an airtight container, or they may end up chewy from condensation in the container.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- You can use gluten-free baking flour.
- Swap cheese with varieties like Swiss, pepper jack, or Parmesan.
- If you use salted butter and omit added salt.
- You can use small cookie cutters for fun shapes.
- Use a silicone mat instead of parchment paper for potentially crispier bottoms.
- Refrigerate the dough for up to 2 days.
- Freeze the dough for up to 3 months.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week. May soften over time.
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