thyme and gruyere crackers

After having some heavy decked out meals recently I wanted to scale it back a bit, trim the waist line, lighten my food consumption. What better way to do this than to throw together some crackers and eat them for lunch. What? It’s balanced, right? But I’ve had recent issues with crackers. My last attempt ended up in the garbage and to be honest, I lost faith in crackers. I couldn’t get the nightmares of break your teeth hardness out of my head or the fact that I would prefer to eat a piece of cardboard more than one of those crackers again.

Looking back, there were several things that should have clued me in to the fact that the recipe would be a struggle. Something about “add the flour in thirds, alternating with the water, beginning and ending with the flour” seemed a little too pretentious to me. So I took a different approach. I didn’t think creaming butter or freezing dough was all that necessary. I wanted something quick without any fuss. I pulled out my food processor and packed in the cheese, loaded up on the thyme, added some flour, salt and butter with a tad bit of milk and blended them together until it formed dough. I steered clear of the ice box method and went straight into rolling out the dough. I cut them into little squares and baked. Out came slightly puffy, golden edged, full of flavor crackers that dispelled my doubt that crackers can, in fact, be made at home.

Thyme and Gruyere Crackers

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons thyme, minced
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 cup packed gruyere cheese, finely grated
1/4 cup milk, more as needed

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. In the bowl of a food processor add flour, salt, thyme, butter, cheese and milk. Blend until combined and comes together into a ball. (If it does not come together, add more milk a teaspoon at a time, until mixture holds together but is not sticky. I only needed the above listed amount to pull the dough together.)

Turn out on a lightly floured surface and gather together into a ball. Roll out dough until 1/4-inch thick. Cut dough into individual sized crackers (I used a fluted pastry wheel cutting 1 1/2-inch squares; you could also use a cookie cutter) and place an inch apart on your baking sheet. Using a fork, dock each cracker several times and then bake until edges start turning golden brown, about 12 minutes. Cool on rack; serve warm or at room temperature.