Cheez Bits

 

Cheez Bits fresh from the oven


There are a lot of really great gluten-free snack foods on the market these days: potato chips, crackers, tortilla chips, cheesy puff type things, and even pretzels. The one thing I’ve yet to come across, however, is a gluten-free cheese cracker. It seems like such an obvious thing to recreate. Cheese crackers were always among my favorite snack foods. I remember mindlessly downing entire bags of Goldfish during late night sessions of Facebook stalking paper writing in college. How can they not exist yet in gluten-free form?

A few weeks ago I came across this post from Deb. A couple weeks later I somehow wound up on another site looking at a similar recipe. Forget waiting for them to show up in a box on a shelf somewhere—it was time to bake up a batch of cheese crackers myself.

 

Cheese mixture


These cuties come together so quickly. Simply work all the ingredients together in a food processor, chill the dough, roll it, cut, and bake. I got a little precious with mine—using the tines of a fork and a corn skewer (we were out of toothpicks) to make them look like classic Cheez-Its—but simple squares or fun shapes from tiny cookie cutters would work as well.

 

Making the Bits


Like many things, the quality of your end result is only going to be as good as the ingredients you put in it. Choose a nice, sharp cheddar cheese and grate it by hand or using the disc attachment on your food processor. No matter what you’re making, this will always taste better. The cheese that comes pre-grated in a bag is coated in disappointment and regret to keep it from sticking together*, and those are two ingredients that I prefer to leave out of my crackers.

That said, if you buy the pre-grated stuff, I’ll never know. Do what you gotta do.

 

Unbaked Cheez Bit


The flavor of these Cheez Bits, as I’m calling them, is actually very similar to their look-alike, but the texture isn’t quite as floury as the ones I remember. They feel more like a cracker and frico got together and had a crispy little baby—or as Chris so perfectly put it: “Like Cheez-Its, only better.”

 

Cheez Bits in a Jar

 

 

Cheez Bits
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen & Savory Seasonings via Country Living
Makes 15 dozen crackers

½ cup / 2.1 oz millet flour
¼ cup / 1.4 oz brown rice flour
¼ cup / 1.05 oz tapioca flour
¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
8 oz grated cheddar cheese
4 tablespoons / 2 oz (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced
3 tablespoons / 1.5 oz cold water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.

Place the millet flour, brown rice flour, tapioca flour, xanthan gum, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine.

Add the cheese and butter to the flour mixture and pulse until it resembles a coarse meal. Add the water, one tablespoon at a time, and pulse until the dough comes together into a ball. Divide the dough in two (it’s easier to work with in smaller batches) and shape into discs. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

Place a piece of parchment paper on a work surface. Remove one disc of dough from the refrigerator and roll out to 1/8-inch thick. If making squares, trim off the jagged edges of dough and use a serrated knife to make vertical slices 1-inch apart. Then, make horizontal slices 1-inch apart to create the squares. Optionally, use the tines of a fork to crimp the edges of the crackers and a toothpick to create a hole in the center. If using cutters, cut out desired shapes. Transfer cut crackers to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them at least half an inch apart.

Gather the remaining scraps of dough, re-roll, and cut additional crackers. If the dough has gotten very warm, re-wrap the scraps and place in the refrigerator for a few minutes to chill. Continue rolling and cutting until all the dough has been used.

Bake the crackers for 10-15 minutes, until the edges are golden. After removing them from the oven, sprinkle the warm crackers lightly with Kosher salt, if desired. Allow to cool before eating.

While best on the first day, the finished crackers may be stored in an airtight container for several days. Because of their high cheese content and lack of preservatives to help them along, they can tend to get a little stale. They still taste great, though, and if you give them a couple minutes in a 250-degree oven, they should crisp right back up for you.

*Not intended to be a factual statement.

23 comments:

  1. PoplarHill said...

    Thanks so much for this great recipe, I am going to whip some up for one of our guests who is gluten-Free. The happy innkeeper at the Inn on Poplar Hill

  2. She cooks...He cleans said...

    I honestly LOL'd at the "Not intended to be a factual statement" part. Nicely done! The recipe looks great too…I miss those little cheese crackers and will have to give this a try.Nancy

  3. Tasty Eats At Home said...

    OMG these look so good. Wish I could do dairy! I wonder if they'd be anywhere near as good with Daiya. Might have to try.

  4. looksgoodinpolkadots said...

    These look AWESOME. Schar does make GF cheese crackers, but they are pricey…

  5. Candy said...

    Awesome! Can't wait to try these. Rest assured, I won't be adding "disappointment and regret" to mine, either. Have you tried freezing them? I may need to have a secret stash….

  6. Kelly said...

    Just discovered your blog thanks to Gluten-Free Girl on FB and have now wasted at least 30 minutes at work. Oops. And I think I drooled a little on my keyboard when reading about the cheez bits. I was just lamenting the fact that the last gluten I had was the cheez-its they gave me after my endocscopy. And how yum they were. So you can bet I will be making these and loving them.

  7. Britt said...

    Candy – That's an excellent suggestion! I'll bet you could even prep the crackers up to the point before you bake them, stick them in the freezer on a sheet pan until frozen, and then transfer them to a plastic bag. That way you could just scatter a handful on a baking sheet and bake them up fresh as you wanted them!

  8. beth said...

    These look fantastic and I'll be tring to bake something similar this weekend. In fact I can't wait will then, off to the kitchen I go!

  9. Paul said...

    I saw someone with a box of Cheese Its today and was thinking I wish they were GF. Funny to stumble across this post. I would make some right now if I had millet flour on hand. This is on the to do list. For now, I'll just eat my Nut Thins.

  10. John said...

    @Paul — I found millet flour at the Indian grocer. It's called Bajri Flour, 2lbs. for $2.79.

  11. John said...

    Wow! I just made the first batch and they are very good and the kitchen has a wonderful cheesy aroma. The thinner ones baked crisp — I'm going to try to roll even thinner than the 1/8" for the next batch. Thanks again for the recipe!

  12. Britt said...

    John – So glad you like them! My first batch came out a little on the softer side too. I'll bet thinner would be good, but I also found that they were more crisp and I preferred the flavor when I let them get nice and brown around the edges–it happens quick, though, so they need to be watched. Like a lot of things, you need to sort of feel out what's working for you with your oven. Also, they do crisp up even more once they're cool. It's definitely hard to resist eating them straight from the oven, though! ;)

  13. Stacey said...

    Very cool!

  14. John said...

    Britt — I'm going to call these "Cheese Britts" in your honor. OK, second batch done. Since I'm more of a cook than a baker, my rolling pin skills are pretty poor. And since my wife is way smarter than I am when it comes to practical things (I can do the impractical, like write a poem), she said, "Why not run it through the pasta maker?" Well, duh. Brilliant. Set to the thickest setting, I got perfectly uniform thin cracker dough. It goes easily through the rollers, but is a fragile dough that cannot take any bending or folding. If I had a third hand (currently using one hand to feed, one hand to crank) I could gently "catch" the rolled dough and it would be a long continuous piece that would then be laid flat on the parchment. By the way, I used a pizza wheel to cut the dough, not a knife. Anyway, very thin little cracker dough was transferred to baking sheet and baked up very uniformly. You are right — you have to watch them like children — turn your head for a second and they burn. At this thickness, bake time was decreased to about 7 minutes. I went a little too long at 8 minutes. Anyway, true cracker mouth-feel with plenty of crunch. Thanks again!

  15. Britt said...

    John, you rock! And your wife is awesome–the pasta roller is a fantastic idea. If/when I add one to my kitchen, I'm giving that a try. Thank you so much for coming back and sharing your experience!

  16. Caroline @ The G-Spot said...

    Gorgeously delicious. Can't wait to make these! :)

  17. Jasmine said...

    This is a FANTASTIC recipe. Not only is the taste great but it actually works! This makes me excited because I find it so hard to find recipes that work on the first go without fiddling or fussing. I used the pasta roller and the pizza cutter and whipped through 5 dozen crackers in a minute. Yay for you!

  18. justcooknyc said...

    these look so great, but i would never have the patience required to decorate each and every cracker like that

  19. Danielle said...

    We are dairy free too, I was wondering if anyone tried them with Daiya cheese? Also wondering if I could use an all purpose flour blend to replace the individual flours or if it wouldn’t work? I SO miss cheez its and want to try these!

    • Britt said...

      Danielle, I haven’t heard of anyone trying Daiya yet, so I can’t promise that it will work. Also, you should be able to sub for the flours, but exactly how it comes out will depend on your AP GF blend. All that said, I always strongly advocate for experimentation and would encourage you to give your substitutions a try. Worst case: it doesn’t work. Best case: you’ve come up with a vegan version for yourself and others! If you do test it out, please report back!

  20. Michelle said...

    I’m lactose intolerant as well as allergic to milk, soy, casein, etc. What other flavor/ingredient(s) could I put in to substitute for the cheese?

    • Britt said...

      Michelle, since you’re not the first to ask this question I did a little searching. It seems others have made similar recipes using Daiya vegan cheese (the cheddar is free of soy & casein). I would recommend subbing that. If you’re a fan of it, you could also maybe add a tablespoon or so of nutritional yeast to bolster the cheesy flavor. If you try making them with Daiya, please let me know how they turn out. :)

  21. TOTO SIMONS said...

    GREAT RECIPE BUT DON’T BE AFRAID TO MODIFY, USE A CHEAP PASTRY CRIMP ROLLER TO CRIMP EDGES AND CUT AT SAMETIME. YOU CAN ALSO , AFTER ROLL CUTTING THE DOUGH, JUST PLACE PARCHMENT PAPER ON BAKING SHEET AND BAKE THE DOUGH IN A SHEET THEN JUST BREAK APART AFTER COOKING, MAYBE ADDING ITALIAN SPICES TO HALF BATCH OR USING SMOKED GOUDA, ALL YUMMY. I EVEN MIXED UP CHEESE AND USED REGULAR CHEDDAR AND STILL TURNED OUT WONDERFUL. I ALSO FREEZE MOST OF THE CRACKERS IN ZIP LOCK BAGS WHERE YOU CAN SUCK OUT ALL THE AIR. I MAKE A BIG BATCH, THEN FREEZE ALL BUT ONE SMALL BAG I KEEP IN FRIDGE. STAYS GREAT IN FRIDGE. YOU CAN USE GF FLOUR INSTEAD OF STATED FLOUR BUT IT MAY RAISE LIL MORE THAN ORIGINAL RECIPE. NO WORRIES IT STILL TURNS OUT GREAT, WONDERFUL WONDERFUL RECIPE.

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