Gorgonzola & Sun Dried Tomato Crackers

If you like cheesy crackers, then you will love these little guys. They have a nice cheesy flavor and the sun dried tomato rounds it out. I developed this recipe for Uncovering Food's July Mystery Ingredient Challenge. While I don't have the recipe quite as vetted as I usually like before posting, I am on a time crunch and out of town to boot. I am visiting my mom in Seattle, which usually is a chance for a week of unbridled cooking and eating. Unfortunately, it is hot in Seattle right now. Like record breaking hot. And not just like "hottest temperature recorded on this day" hot, but like "hottest temperature recorded in Seattle ever" hot. Not the best conditions for playing around in a kitchen with the oven on.

Nonetheless, I think the recipe is good enough for an initial post. I will make any necessary tweaks when I get back home. I ate quite a few the evening I made them and enjoyed them thoroughly. The only two issues I am not 100% happy with is the salt level and the best baking temperature and time. I started at 425 degrees and initially undercooked them as they did not get crispy. When I cooked them longer, they got too browned too quickly at 425. I think that baking them at 400 would alleviate this problem and allow them to stay in the oven long enough to get nice and crispy without over browning.

The recipe starts out just like making a pie crust. Place the flour, salt, and thyme in a food processor. Whir to mix briefly.

Add the Gorgonzola and butter and process briefly to make a coarse meal. Dump in the milk and process, pulsing, until it just comes together into a ball. Dump the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and mold into a disk. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

You can either make these all at once, or freeze some or most of the dough to make small amounts of crackers whenever you want them. I made one-quarter of the dough and froze the rest for later. Roll the dough out fairly thin, as thin as you can and still have the dough maintain its integrity. Use plenty of flour to keep the dough from sticking to the counter. Cut into small, one inch squares. I used a fluted ravioli cutter to make them pretty.

Transfer the crackers to a parchment lined baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Using a toothpick, cake tester, or fork, prick the top of the cracker. Brush with egg wash (one egg yolk and a tablespoon of water). Sprinkle with a little kosher salt or crushed sea salt, if desired. I like the little salty edge, so I used sea salt from a grinder.

Bake crackers until they are nicely, deeply golden. If you under cook them, they do not crisp up very well when they cool. Expect them to be in the oven at least 15 minutes. Look how flaky they turned out! Delicious!


Gorgonzola & Sun Dried Tomato Crackers
Yield: about 80 1"-crackers

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp fresh thyme, minced
2/3 cups crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
1/2 cup cold butter cut into small cubes
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup oil packed sun dried tomatoes (press to drain off excess oil)

Combine flour, salt, and thyme in a food processor. Process briefly to mix. Add the cheese and butter. Process until just resembles coarse meal with pea sized chunks. Add the milk and process just until the dough starts to form a ball. Dump onto a piece of plastic wrap, form a disk and chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out however much of the dough you want to use at the current time. One quarter of the dough makes about 20 crackers. Cut into one-inch squares and transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with kosher or sea salt. Bake at 400 degrees until nicely browned, about 15-20 minutes. Remove and cool on a rack until completely cooled.