These Cheese and Rosemary Shortbread Crackers are a perfect way to use up cheeses. These are very easy to make, though you need to allow a couple of hours of chilling time. Once baked, the aroma of cheese and rosemary will make your kitchen smell fantastic! These are butter and tender and perfect for a party tray or with a bowl of soup.
Today’s post is one of the simplest and quickest savory snack crackers that were a lovely complement to the Roasted Butternut Squash & Apple Soup that I made last weekend. You can use just about any kind of cheese for this recipe. White Cheddar would be terrific, but I only had a Quattro Formaggio blend of shredded cheese in my fridge. The four-cheese blend, that I buy at Trader Joe’s has Fontina, Asiago, Parmesan and Mild Provolone cheese.
Fortunately, we have a healthy rosemary bush in our yard. I chopped a couple of sprigs of rosemary to equal about two teaspoons. Thyme would be a nice substitute, too.
In a bowl, I measured about 1-1/4 cups of shredded cheese. To that I added 3/4 cup of unbleached flour, 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper and 1/4 teaspoon of coarse salt.
..and 1/2 teaspoon of dry mustard
I also decided to kick up the flavor with a pinch of Cayenne….
…and then the finely chopped rosemary.
You need a stick of softened unsalted butter. Yes, one stick. (That’s why homemade crackers taste so good). You can use a hand-mixer, your own hands if you wish. I use my stand mixer, because it makes my life a little easier.
Begin, by beating the butter until smooth. Now add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter…
…and gently blend until combined. You don’t want to over beat it.
Next, tear a large piece of plastic wrap….
Dump the dough onto the plastic wrap and pat the dough together…
Cheese and Rosemary Shortbread Crackers
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1-1/4 cups aged white cheddar cheese grated (or any cheese of your choice)
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp fresh rosemary finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp dry mustard
- pinch cayenne pepper optional
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
Instructions
- In a bowl, beat butter until smooth. In a separate bowl, toss together cheese, flour, rosemary, mustard, salt and pepper. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture, mixing until the dough comes together. Shape the dough into a log about 9 inches long, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours*.
- *NOTE: I froze these for about an hour and sliced them very easily.
- Preheat oven to 325F. Slice the log into 1/4-inch rounds and place rounds 2 inches apart on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake on the middle rack of oven until cookies are lightly golden around the edges, about 20 to 22 minutes. Cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Mmmm.. yumm… these look absolutely delicious!!! Can I have some, please????
Wow – your photos are just brimming with savory aromas!
You're really getting your new camera to shine Debby. Love all of the photos. Perhaps my own camera could be accidently run over in the driveway…repeatedly:D
Yummy. Already printed! Thank you so much. I make a savory cheese dough with olives in the middle. These remind me of them but, well, flat and without the olives. lol Can't wait to try them.
I'll take a savory cracker over a cookie most days of the week! These look fantastic, Debby, and would be perfect with a salad or bowl of soup.
Can you say I need a glass of wine to enjoy with these savory and buttery crackers? Love it.
I love love love finding savory applications for traditionally sweet treats! These sound like the perfect soup cracker!
These look amazing. Quite a posh dinner party recipe, I think.
These look wonderful! So photogenic and, I'm sure, delicious.
I love savory crackers! Perfect timing as I am making the soup…yum! I can hardly wait for dinner.
I am so making these! It's so funny because I was just thinking about cheese crackers today when my son was begging for Cheezits. I thought a nice homebaked cheese cracker would be nice to add to the pre Thanksgivnig dinner snacks. These would be perfect!!
I forgot to add…I wanna know more about the gadget you're chopping your Rosemary with!
They look so tender and flaky!
I just had a thought…you said that if you were to slather cheese on them the cracker would probably fall apart. I wonder if you could soften the cheese and pipe it on, then dab a bit of jam on that?
BTW, Always nice chatting with you on the telephone. I hope you get some rest and feel better soon.
~Monica
They look great!! I really need to get a mezzaluna, or the tool you use? What is it called? Chopping parsley and such can be tiring… 🙂
Any recommendations would be great!
Thank you,
http://katherinejanes-recipes.blogspot.com/
Yum! Like the idea of adding some cayenne.
Hope you can keep that cold at bay.
These look just delicious and (I am thinking) perfect to take to a party as a gift too~
Rosemary is so stinking good in anything. It just fills up your mouth with such amazing flavors! I can only imagine how it tastes in these crackers. I bet that would be so good in a Caesar salad! I hope you're feeling better.
I was just craving cheese crackers–these look so buttery and good. I fear I would eat way too many of them. 😉
These look absolutely delicious! Having them around for a nibble or two would be perfect–and we are enjoying lots of soup these days that would welcome them!
I'd say you've nicely gotten the hang of the new camera. I'm still working with mine but getting a little better with each "snap".
Still enjoying your adventures with Monica in SF!!
Best,
Bnnie
Me again! Re the spiced pumpkin balls, I serve them alongside the cranberry sauce. I use the smaller side of the baller and they are just right for popping in one's mouth whole!! What can I say, everything goes better with wine!!
Enjoy!
Best,
Bonnie
Debbie – I confess to hoarding cheeses. In fact, my cheese drawer is always so full that it is exploding. However, a girl has got to be equipped with various amounts of cheese, right?
These crackers looks delightful and I'm sure that my family and I could make very quick work of them!
I hope that you and your family have a wonderful and tasty Thanksgiving!!
These crackers would be absolutely perfect with some of the soups of fall and winter that we are all making!
I am going to make these today!!