Since when are you the type of person to make your own crackers?
Since… today.
You’ll feel fancy. You’ll feel accomplished. You’ll want to show off.
… and all you did was whip up some crackers. Kind of amazing.
What’s going on in these here crackers?
Crunch from cornmeal. Salty goodness from the Parmesan cheese. Spice from cayenne pepper. Nuttiness from whole wheat flour.
Geeez! That’s a lot packed into one little round.
I like using the food processor.
Oh! Did I mention the buttermilk in these crackers?
Heck… they’re nice.
Cracker dough. That took seven minutes from measuring to mixing.
Is this how to people at Ritz make their crackers?
Probably not. Make your own crackers. Show Ritz a thing or two.
Spicy Cornmeal Parmesan Crackers
adapted from 101 Cookbooks
makes about 75 crackers
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 1/2 Tablespoon unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes
3/4 cup cold buttermilk
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, cornmeal, salt, baking soda, cayenne pepper, Parmesan cheese and butter. Process until the mixture resembles coarse meal. With the machine running, add the buttermilk in a stream. Blend until the dough forms a ball within the mixing bowl.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead for a few seconds. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 15 minutes.
Cut the dough into quarters. Rewrap the rest of the dough while you work with each quarter. Roll the dough out to 1/16-inch thickness. Use a 1-3/4-inch biscuit cutter to cut out the crackers and place them on a baking sheet. Imprint each cracker with the tines of a fork. Repeat until all the crackers and cut out. Bake at 375 degrees F for 12-15 minutes, until the cookies are golden and crisp. Keep a close eye on the crackers after 8 or 10 minutes. They brown quickly. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
{ 50 comments… read them below or add one }
Whoa. I thought maybe it was time to hit the hay tonight (before it’s tomorrow). But, I was wrong. I just happen to have all these ingredients waiting for me…and I’m on it. Crackers, homemade – a first for me! They sound yummy, and my over is preheating right now!!
:)
dang your fast! happy midnight baking!!
Oh my…these are easy – and delicious!
Yum! Thank you for a new fave. :)
These are amazing! If only I weren’t giving up crackers.
These look incredible, and I LOVE crackers, especially for lunch, with some cheese and cut up veg…
BUT! What if I don’t have a food processor? Am I doomed?
Yum! These are totally now a part of my “to bake” list!
Great idea, my food processor isn’t big enough but I’m sure I’ll manage anyway…
nice flavors..nice crackers…
I’ve done crackers using a wooden spoon and a bowl before so I think I can hit this the same way. Though “seven minutes from measuring to mixing” won’t be quite so accurate. :-)
I’ve never done any crackers before, I’m too much of a scaredy cat!
So… When faced with a food processor dough recipe (like many modern pie dough recipes) i usually go with the pastry blender to get a similar result – if I’m faced with the opportunity to make crackers I will definitely give that a try and let you other non-food-processor owners know how it turns out! They look great! I LOVE buttermilk.
Hooray for crackers! Baking crackers needs to be appreciated more….thanks for the encouragment. :-)
Impressive! I have yet to make a foray into the art/science of homemade crackers, but this recipe just might have to be my first.
The only crackers I’ve tried to make are graham crackers… and those were a disaster. I might have a chance with these :)
I made crackers on Monday as a matter of fact. Lavash crackers.
Crackers are so easy to make, it’s almost not worth buying them.
HAWT! Those look so awesome! Not to mention that they have little butter, whole wheat flour, and are cheesy! :O I’m gonna try making these, though I’ll use unbolted (aka, “whole”) cornmeal. Maybe I’ll try fluting the edges, ’cause that’s fanceh.
Joy, only you would inspire us all to try and bake crackers.
Okay, but as delicious as they look, this isn’t exactly why I’m writing. I’ve been trying to contact you all week and commenting seems like my last resort since Twitter and gmail didn’t. So, sorry for the public cry, but did you know that your Friends of Joy link was down? Please, please, pretty please help! Thanks.
These look great. I love your cracker posts. Many have been made and brought to parties. It always knocks everyones socks off when you say they are homemade. Shhhh… they don’t have to know how dang easy they are to make.
Thanks
ok you’ve convinced me. I want to be the type of person that makes my own crackers.
Oh yum! I’ve been wanting to make my own crackers for a while now, since we go through 2 boxes of Triscuits a week. And I’ll eat anything with cornmeal in it, period. I can’t wait to make these this weekend! Thanks!
Wow! I am definitely going to save this recipe…I have some buttermilk in my fridge to use up. I never would have though that I would become a homemade cracker maker…who knew?
Hi Joy,
Great recipe!!
Can I use “normal” flour? and milk instead of buttermilk? I live in Italy and sometimes it’s hard to find the ingredients – not the parmesan though…. ;-)
Thanks :-)
You could always make your own buttermilk. Top regular milk up with vinegar, stir, sit. Ta Da!
Those are some tasty looking crackers. I make spicy cheddar crackers at the holidays, but I never think to make crackers the rest of the year. That is a shame since they are so much better than store bought crackers.
I just made yeast bread this week, so why not crackers? I’m on it!
Fascinating. Its never occurred to me to make my own crackers. To me, crackers have always been magical little salty bites that are born in stacks neatly wrapped with plastic sleeves. This flips my whole world around.
OK, now you’re just showing off ;) These are incredible! What a lovely little snack. I’m sure if you served these at a cocktail party, your friends would be floored.
Also, if you’re interested, I’m having a silicone muffin pan giveaway on my blog – You should enter!
Interesting. Think you could use a cookie press for these crackers in lieu of rolling dough?
Joy, I have a question for you. You’re practical. You’re inventive and inspired. You also know when there are too many steps or too much fuss in a recipe to give it your love. You can say no. I appreciate that, which is why I’m looking to you for advice. In all things homemade, its cheaper to do it yourself. In most cases, it tastes better than storebought. What do you think about homemade baby food? I know know, not quiet your realm. But that’s cool! I’d still appreciate your advice. Too much work? Beachnut has the market, let them do the heavy lifting? I’m perplexed and without a friend who has knowledge of the kitchen like you, or a friend who has a baby. Your sage advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a million! I guess a better question to reach a bigger audience would be your take on canning. Fruits, veggies, sauce. . . the like. I know you like to soak cherries in bourbon, but I don’t know how that will go over with a 1 year old.
Hey SoMD_Baker – Joy may chime in on your post, but I thought I’d let you know that we made all of our own baby food for both of our girls – super easy…cheaper than jarred baby food….all you need is an immersion blender and some ice cube trays. Check out the book “Super Baby Food” by Ruth Yaron – it gives all of the information you’ll ever need!! Best of luck!
Let me second the “Super Baby Food” book and making your own!! So worth it..cheaper, really easier..honestly. If you plan right you’ll have goodies in the freezer ready so you never have to run to the store to feed baby. Also, a little hand crank, food mill is perfect as your little one gets old and can just eat what you are having..I had one that came in it’s own little tote. Mashed it right at the table and dished it up. :) Good luck!
Hi SoMD_Baker – I’m just seconding Melinda’s reply. Three kids – no regrets. The ice cube trays make it soooo convenient. I am older (evidently) and never had an immersion blender, just a (very) old one – but the “puree” button did its wonders and poof! baby food. Not just cheaper, but peaches off my own tree have just GOT to be better for baby, right? Your library will have books (including Super Baby Food), the process itself is simple, simple and takes very little time. Have fun blessing your baby with fresh, wholesome food!
Making baby food is definitely the way to go! smittenkitchen has an entire different website dedicated to baby food! Good luck.
I LOVE these! I’m already working on a guest list for an excuse to make these (and not eat the entire batch myself) as I read this. You and the way your clever culinary mind works fascinate me – always something different, fun, and delicious.
wow, what a great effort to deliciousness ratio :)
Wow! Crackers can be hard to come by for me, since most processed crackers are made with sugar. These look great! It had honestly never occurred to me to make my own crackers…
Love homemade crackers!!
crackers!!!!!!! great thinking ;)
Thanks for making it look so easy. I’m thinking of making crackers now, so I can spread cheese, chutney, prosciutto and whatever else I can think of!
now you’re thinkin! prosciutto sounds perfect on these!
Me me me me me! I make crackers! I think I got the poppyseed cracker recipe from you, but I didn’t have any poppy seeds at the time so I used sesame seeds. Just for the record, they were awesome. I love making crackers.
Wei Wei
You are amazing, Joy!
A question: yellow cornmeal is what is used to make polenta?
Thank you for your answer.
Cheers,
Sil (from Buenos Aires)
These look sooooo good, and to be honest, cornmeal crackers sound like the best kind of crackers! I need these.
People are always super impressed when you make homemade crackers. If only they knew how easy they were to whip up. Actually the first crackers I ever made were your poppy sea salt crackers. I ate like 30 of those in a couple hours–it was a new low point for sure.
My first Joy the Baker recipe! And I can’t believe it was CRACKERS! I mean, I’ve been reading awhile and you post delectable things like every other second. But it was the chunk of fresh parm sitting in my fridge that called out to me to make these. And the cornmeal. And ever since I figured out I can make buttermilk with reg ol’ milk and some vinegar… since I NEVER have buttermilk when I want it! For anyone without dedicated biscuit cutters of all shapes and sizes, I scanned my cupboard and decided that a shot glass would cut out the perfect sized cracker. It did! Thanks Joy!
Oh delicious…so if we can make our own Ritz crackers…we just need to learn how to make our own cheese right?
Oh, I like to find new recipes for homemade crackers, they are super super cool… ^_^
i’ve always wanted to make my own crackers, and this recipe seems so doable. thanks!
I made these last night and they came out fairly tasteless ): unfortunate, because I feel I “wasted” a good chunk of parmigiano reggiano on it. The cornmeal really overpowered the crackers and covered up a majority of the cheese taste. I couldn’t even get the boys at work to eat em, and they’ll eat anything. I suppose on the bright side, they came out looking really pretty! Mine were also more dense than light and crisp. I definitely had better luck with the poppy seed ones from last December (:
I admit I’ve never made crackers and honestly have never thought about making them, but having seen your post I will definitely reconsider. I can see it would be a perfect way to spice up a cheese platter with your own home made crackers instead of store bought ones.
Great recipe. Thanks for the idea :)
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