Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. This means that I will receive a small commission from any purchase made from this post at no additional cost to you.
Hi everyone! I’m not gonna lie. I just wanna play with my dehydrator this week. So that was the inspiration for this copycat cheez it recipe.
If you have never had a cheez it cracker before it is one of the most classic snacks in the U.S. It’s just a light and airy cheese cracker.
These homemade cheese crackers have a pungent cheddar cheese flavor and are sprinkled with flaky sea salt.
Let’s Break It Down
If you want to check out my other copycat recipe, I have made Cosmic Brownies, Sour Patch Kids, Cow Tales, Oreos, a Dunkachino and so much more!
What Is A Dehydrator?
For those that have never heard of a dehydrator before, a dehydrator is a machine that cooks food at a very low temperature so that the food is not even cooking but the water is just being evaporated out. This makes for a crisper and harder final product.
You can also do this in your oven if your oven goes down low enough.
First Attempt at this Recipe
This first attempt at these homemade cheez its went almost perfectly. It consisted of 3 steps. Making the dough, baking, and dehydrating.
I made a few mistakes along the way. Let me show you how it went.
Making The Dough
Making this dough is pretty simple. Firstly, just sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl.
Then you will add your cubes of cold butter. and massage those in until you get pieces of butter that are pea size or smaller. This is also when you will add your spices should you want them like fresh dill, onion powder, garlic powder, or red pepper flakes.
You can use your hands, a pastry cutter, or a food processor.
Add the vegetable oil and just enough water for the dough to come together.
wrap that in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Cheddar Cheese Powder
These cheez it crackers do require cheese of some sort. Other than flour, cheese is the main ingredient. The 3 options are real cheddar cheese, cheese powder, or a combination of the 2.
I chose to use just the powder because I didn’t want them to be too cheesy.
Shaping The Cheez It Crackers and Baking
Now it’s time to roll out the dough and shape the crackers. That brings us to my first mistake on attempt one.
They were a bit too thick. I made these ¼ of an inch thick.
Then, I used a pizza cutter to cut the dough into 1 inch square. You can re-roll this dough out to get more cheez its if you like.
If you are having an issue where some of your dough is coming up on the rolling pin, it may one of 2 reasons:
- No enough flour on top of the dough and on the rolling pin.
- You are pushing too hard with the rolling pin onto the dough. You should be using just light pressure.
Once you have all your squares, just take a wooden dowel or chopstick and poke a hole in the center of each cracker.
Once this is done, just carefully transfer the cheese crackers to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake just until the crackers are firm but haven’t developed any color.
Dehydrate
Your goal here is for your crackers to be crisp. I dehydrated mine for 3 hours on 145•.
How to Use Your Oven as a Dehydrator
This will depend on the oven that you have. But if your oven goes down to 145•, go for it.
How They Came Out
My first attempt was a little too dense and also my store bought version has a nice salty flavor that these are lacking.
Second Attempt
So in my second attempt the following changes were made.
- more salt
- double the unsalted butter
- more baking soda
- 1/6 of an inch thick
- Dehydrate for 4 hours
Thanks you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed my journey in making homemade cheez its.
If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. And if you have any techniques or tips that I didn’t share. I would love to hear them in the comments below.
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, pinterest , twitter and snapchat to see what I’m up to next. Remember, don’t be afraid to bake a mess. And I’ll see you all next time. Happy Baking!
Homemade Cheez Itz
A crisp, cracker filled with cheder cheese flavor and sopped with salt.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 Cups of AP Flour
- 1/2 of a Cup + 1 TBSP of Cheddar Cheese Powder
- 3/4 of a Tsp of Salt
- 1 Tbsp of Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 of a Tsp of Paprika
- 6 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter (cold)
- 3 Tbsp of Vegetable Oil
- Enough water to bring the dough together (more for brushing later)
Instructions
- Combine all the dry ingrediants in a large bowl.
- Add in the cold butter.
- Massage the butter in with your hands or use a pastry cutter to incorperate the butter in until the butter pieces are pea sized or smaller.
- Add in the oil and stir to combine.
- Add in water little by little until you get a dough.
- Wrap in plastic wrap. And chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 300•.
- Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about a forth of an inch thickness.
- Using a pizza cutter cut into 1 inch squares.
- Take a wooden dowel and poke a hole in the middle of each cheez it.
- Arrange on a baking sheet and brush each with water and sprinkle with course salt.
- Bake until the cheez its start to get hard but develop no color. About 10 minutes.
- Place in your dehydrator or oven at 145• until cristp. About 4 hours.
- Enjoy. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperture for up to 2 weeks.
If you have any questions or comments please don’t hesitate to leave a comment down below, message me on instagram, facebook or leave me an email.