Beet and Cheddar Crackers

In a small pan, melt the teaspoon of butter over medium heat. Add the beets and the shallots and sprinkle lightly with salt. Let them simmer a few minutes and add a few tablespoons of water or beet juice to the pan if it starts to get dry. Cook them for about 5-8 minutes or until tender. Add the beet and shallot mixture to a small food processor and process until smooth, or mash finely with two forks. You will wind up with about a scant ¼ cup of the beet mixture. Set aside.

In a food processor, combine the salt and flour and pulse until combined. Add in the 6 tablespoons butter, and pulse until well combined and mealy. Add the cheese and pulse. Add the beets to the food processor with the flour mixture. Pulse it until you get a uniform, moist dough.
Place the dough on a piece of wax paper, and form it into a disc. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees (F) and prepare two sheet pans with silpats or parchment paper.

Roll out crackers (with a little bit of flour on your work surface) really, really thinly! The thinner they are rolled, the crispier (and the better!) they will turn out. I used a wavy pizza cutter to cut these into squares, and I got 48 out of the batch, but cut them in whatever shape you want. Use a fork to punch two set of holes in the top of each cracker. Sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake the crackers at 325F for about 15 minutes or until they are just starting to turn golden around the edges. Let them cool on a baking rack so they don’t get soggy.
Enjoy!