Homemade Cheese Crackers

I'm a sucker for homemade crackers.  Especially homemade crackers that involve cheese.  My kiddos also love cheese crackers.  So this recipe is great for the whole family.  I make them in place of Cheez-Its and Goldfish.  It's nice knowing what ingredients are in your kids' snack.  Homemade is always better and these crackers are a cinch to whip up.  Here's the DL...
Ingredients
1 cup flour
4 Tablespoons cold butter, cubed
1 cup grated mild cheddar cheese
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1-4 Tablespoons water
Directions

In a food processor combine flour, butter, cheese, salt, and cayenne pepper and pulse until crumbly, resembling cornmeal.

Add 1 tablespoon of water and pulse.  Continue adding water 1 tablespoon at a time until dough forms.

Place dough in gallon size Ziploc bag.  Using a rolling pin roll dough out.

Bag will crease up.

So every once in a while open up the bag and smooth out the wrinkles.  Then reseal the bag and continue rolling.

Roll dough out until it fills up the bag.  Place dough on a flat surface and chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Carefully cut the edges of the plastic bag open to reveal dough, be careful not to touch the dough.

Cut dough into one inch squares (I like to use a ruler for this part, keeps my lines straight).  Or you can use a cookie cutter at this point if you want the crackers to be a certain shape.

Place dough squares on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 18-20 minutes.  Let cool completely and enjoy!  Store in an airtight container.  Makes about 100 square crackers.

Soft Pretzel Bites

Pretzel bites have been a favorite snack in our family for the past couples years.  I would just buy the frozen  ones and nuke them in the microwave when needed.  But the frozen ones are expensive and  who really knows what they put in them.  I had avoided making homemade pretzel bites because quite frankly, raised bread dough scares me.  I've often struggled with it and the only two things I make bread-wise are pizza dough and 1 hour dinner rolls.  The other day I really wanted some pretzel bites but we were out of them, & so was the grocery money for the month.  So I finally buckled down and tried making these babies for myself.

I gotta tell ya, I don't know what I was so scared of!  They were super easy, the dough was very forgiving, and one batch made around 85 pretzel bites (way cheaper than the frozen ones).  These were gobbled up so fast and I froze a big bag of them to warm up as needed.  There's nothing like warm soft pretzels.  I don't usually do step by step pictures, but because the idea of making these scared me I thought the pictures would put any other timid bakers at ease.  You've got to give these a try,  they really are amazing.  They would make a great snack for you kiddo's class too.  Here's the skinny...
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups warm (not hot) water
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 1/4 (or 1 package) active dry yeast
4 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 1/2 cups flour
vegetable or canola oil
2 quarts water
1/2 cup baking soda
egg beaten or melted butter for brushing tops
coarse sea salt
Directions

Combine water, sugar, yeast, and butter in mixer bowl.  Let sit 10 minutes.
Using the dough hook, mix in the salt and flour on low speed just until combined.  Increase speed to medium and continue mixing until dough is smooth and starts forming into a ball.  Remove dough from bowl and shape into a ball using your hands.  Coat a large bowl with canola/vegetable oil.  Set dough in oiled bowl, roll dough around so it is coated with oil.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Bring water to a boil in large pot.

Meanwhile divide dough into 4 equal parts.  Roll each section out into long rope about an inch in diameter.

Cut dough into 1 inch pieces.

You should have a bunch of these babies waiting and rearing to go.

Add the baking soda to the boiling water.

Boil a few dough  pieces at a time for 30 seconds.  You don't want the dough pieces to touch while they're boiling so don't put too many in there at once.  Remove pieces with a slotted spoon or spider.

Transfer boiled pieces on to greased baking sheet with about 1/2 inch in between each piece.  Brush the tops with beaten egg or melted butter, sprinkle each one with coarse sea salt.

Bake for 15 minutes or until tops are dark brown.  Remove and let cool a few minutes before serving with Cheese Sauce (I suggest American or cheddar cheese sauce).  Enjoy!

Zucchini Bites

Well, it's that time of year again.  The time where I start figuring out creative ways to use zucchini.  I personally love zucchini, but not everyone in my family does.  So sometimes I have to figure out how to hide it, but still use it.  This recipe hit the nail on the head.  I could easily eat a hundred of these in one sitting.  My son, the pickiest eater in our household and not a huge veggie fan, even loved them.  Dip them in some ranch and you'll have the yummiest veggie based treat this side of the Mississippi!  Here's the DL...
Ingredients
2 cups grated zucchini
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 medium red onion, diced
2 eggs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Italian style bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a mini muffin tin with non-stick spray.
In small pan melt butter.  Add the onion and cook for 6-8 minutes, or until onion is translucent.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
While onion is cooking grate the zucchini and squeeze out the excess water.  Set aside.
In medium bowl mix the eggs, Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and cooled cooked onions.  Add zucchini.
Place tablespoon of zucchini mixture into muffin cup or until cup is filled to the top.  Press down lightly with the back of the spoon.  Repeat until mixture is gone.  Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the top is browned.  Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes.

Serve with ranch for dipping and enjoy!  (makes about 24 bites)