DIY Cheez Its

In a food processor, combine cheese, butter, shortening, salt, and cayenne pepper. Pulse until combined and add flour. Pulse until everything is broken down and looks like crumbs. Add in water and pulse until combined into a dough. (You may have to add a little more water but don’t add too much. You don’t want to the dough to be too wet.) Divide dough into 2 pieces, and wrap each in wax paper. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Roll the dough out on the wax paper until it’s about 1/8 inch thick. Using a ruler and a pastry or pizza cutter, cut the dough into 1-inch squares (the ruler helps ensure that all crackers are the same size). Use a toothpick or skewer to punch a hole in the middle of the square. In addition to making it look like an authentic Cheez It, this also keeps the cracker from puffing up too much. Separate the squares and transfer to a baking sheet. You can put the crackers pretty close to each other as they don’t spread very much during baking.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. The more color they have, the more they will taste like a true Cheez It. Cool completely. The recipe makes about 100 crackers.

(Recipe adapted from In Katrina’s Kitchen.)