Gluten-free and Vegan Cheez-Its
This is probably THE proudest moment in my life so far.
I know what you must be thinking:
“Making a food product is one of your prouder moments? Do you even get out?!”
And the answer is no, no I do not.
But just think what would happen if I did get out.
I wouldn’t be able to have paved the way for you with these:
And we shall call them:
The tastiest snack in the world.
(((Too sexy?)))
I’ll be working on that one.
When I had the idea of re-creating one of my all-time favorite cheesy crackers
into a gluten-free and veganized version I thought:
Is is even possible…?
No.
But is it…?
Maybe.
Can I…?
I don’t know…
So I did.
And let me tell you.
Holy $#!*
Proudest moment ever.
Praise Cheez-Its Recipe
They’re so good, you will really want to praise the heavens!
Makes: Not enough to share.
INGREDIENTS
- 3/4 c. AP gluten free flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill because I knew that bean flavor would work perfectly…and spoiler alert: it did!!)
- 1/2 tsp xantham gum
- 1 c. Daiya vegan “cheese”
- 3 Tbs Earth Balance butter, softened
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 Tb ice water
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- In a mixing bowl, beat butter and cheese together until blended nicely with a hand mixer.
- Combine flour, xantham gum and salt in a separate bowl until fully mixed together.
- Add 1/2 the flour mixture into butter/cheese mix until blended. Add remaining 1/2 and mix well.
- Add water and stir in with a rubber spatula, making sure all scraps on the sides of the bowl have been incorporated.
- Place ball of dough on a piece of parchment paper and lightly knead until a smooth ball is made. Divide dough in half and place 1 of the 1/2s in a bowl and put in the fridge.
- Roll out other 1/2 of dough with a rolling pin (I put an extra piece of parchment paper over it to ensure it didn’t stick). Roll thin (about 1/4″ or so).
- With a pastry cutter (these have squiggly lines that give the fun shape to the cracker) pattern out the shapes of the squares, going horizontally and diagonally.
- Take a stainless steel spatula and slowly and gently place each cracker on top of a parchment lined baking sheet, making sure you give about 1/2″ worth of room per cracker. This might be the longest part of the process but you do want to go slowly in order to maintain the shape.
- Make a little hole in the center of each cracker. Sprinkle the tops with a little dash of coarse salt.
- Place the crackers on the baking sheet in the freezer for 10 minutes while you repeat the same process for the next 1/2.
Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until lightly browned.
I couldn’t believe the crunch that these crackers gave.
Not to mention the cheesy flavor!
Daiya, I didn’t give you enough credit, my friend.
I take it all back.
You really DO know how to make a delightful vegan cheese!
I give to you the perfect little snack.
These were literally gone within in an hour.
Greg’s reaction:
“You need to sell these!”
Oh my little entrepreneur…
thank you cara, can’t wait for my friends to try them, will keep you posted!
Cara
What did you use to make the hole, and what tool did you use to cut the edges.
Hi Linda! So excited for you to try these 🙂 I used the flat side of a skewer stick for the hole and a pie crust ridged-edge cutter. Hope that helps! xo