Description
Crispy homemade goldfish crackers delight snack enthusiasts with their cheesy, crunchy goodness. Baking these playful crackers brings nostalgic charm and satisfying flavors you’ll savor with each delightful bite.
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 cups (226 grams / 8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 cup (120 grams / 4.2 oz) all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons (56 grams / 2 oz) unsalted butter, cold
- 1–2 tablespoons (15–30 milliliters / 0.5–1 fluid oz) ice water, as needed
Instructions
- Mixing: Pulse cheese, flour, and chilled butter in a food processor until achieving a sandy consistency, creating the foundational cracker base.
- Dough Formation: Gradually introduce ice water while pulsing minimally to bind the mixture, ensuring the dough coheres without becoming overworked, then transfer to a clean surface and shape into a disc.
- Chilling: Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes to stabilize and enhance its structural integrity.
- Rolling and Cutting: On a floured surface, roll the chilled dough to a uniform ⅛ to ¼ inch thickness, then craft fish-shaped or square crackers using cookie cutters or a pizza cutter, re-rolling scraps to maximize dough usage.
- Preparation for Baking: Carefully arrange the shaped crackers on a parchment-lined baking sheet, maintaining slight separation between pieces to promote even cooking.
- Baking: Position the sheet in a preheated 350°F (180°C) oven and bake for approximately 10 minutes, watching for a golden-brown edge that indicates perfect crispness.
- Cooling and Serving: Extract from the oven and allow crackers to cool completely, ensuring a satisfyingly crisp texture before presenting.
Notes
- Butter Temperature Tip: Keep butter extremely cold and chilled for flakiest, most delicate cracker texture.
- Dough Handling Warning: Minimize hand contact to prevent warming butter, which can make crackers tough and dense.
- Pulsing Technique: Use short, quick pulses in food processor to avoid overworking dough, maintaining delicate crumbly consistency.
- Rolling Precision: Aim for consistent ⅛-inch thickness to ensure even baking and uniform crispness across all crackers.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Snacks, Appetizer
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 9
- Calories: 192
- Sugar: 0 g
- Sodium: 0 mg
- Fat: 12 g
- Saturated Fat: 7 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 4 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 18 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 6 g
- Cholesterol: 30 mg