Updated Cheddar Photos April 2021 - here.
If you've bought some of the store bought versions of cheese crisps then you'll know they are... expensive. There is a brand of little cheese crisp crackers at Sam's Club that we've bought twice in the past year, but at almost $10 a bag, I just can't spare it in the budget so we've not bought them in about 8 or 9 months.
I've made cheese crackers of various styles and all have their pros and cons depending on what you want to use them with, eat them with or what you are hungry for. This particular crisp is good for snacking, and it's my go-to to use with spinach artichoke dip.
Whether you want to flavor them with herbs or spices is up to you.
Homemade Cheese Crisp Crackers
Sliced 'hard' cheese of your choice - but 'real' cheese only. Not 'American' or other soft cheese.
Salt
Spices, herbs - optional
If I use a block cheese, I slice it in my food processor using the slicing blade. However I prefer to buy the sliced cheddar and sliced Swiss from Sam's Club (in the black tub packaging) as it's the perfect thickness but it's also good quality so it makes a good quality crisp cracker with less prep work on my part.
Lay out as many slices as you wish on a sheet of parchment paper. Use a knife to cut the slices into 1" squares, or use whatever little shape mini cutters you wish. If you use a shape cutter, save the cuttings and place them into a Ziploc baggy and toss them into the freezer to use for another dish, just as you would grated cheese.
Now, lay out all your little cheese shapes on the parchment paper on the counter for about 2 days so they start to get dried out. I laid them out on my dehydrator trays! I loved this as it was a compact place to keep them, I could rearrange the trays for optimal air circulation and I could easily flip them over and pat them dry with a paper towel.
As they sit out, the excess oil them can be patted with a paper towel. After about a day or two (depending on where you live and your humidity level) they will be rather empty or hallow sounding when you tap them on the counter, and will start to be dried out. When they can be tapped on the counter top and sound 'empty' but are firm enough to tap, pop them onto a parchment sheet on a baking pan, add any sprinkles of salt or flavoring IF YOU WISH, and put them into a hot, 400 degree oven. Bake them for about 5-6 minutes. The oils left in them will cause them to 'pop' and crisp and sometimes even jump around the pan.
Pull them out, let them cool... they should be nice and crisp! Eat them as you wish. If we don't finish all of them, I put them in a baggy or Mason jar. The next day if they've gone a bit soft due to the humidity, I re-crisp them by popping them into the oven for about 3 minutes. Viola! Crisp again.
I've never kept them more than 2 days. They are long gone by then.
These are Swiss cheese
I simply lay them on my dehydrator trays to dry out. I don't use the dehydrator turned on because it will only melt the cheese. You don't want to melt it, just air dry it.
You can try different spices or herbs. I wanted to make a chicken in a biscuit type on one batch so I used chicken flavoring and onion powder along with a bit of rosemary and garlic... yum! I also made some chipolate and paperika crackers but I like the rosemary/onion version better, and plain with no seasonings best of all.
After baking, let them cool (you can let them cool on paper towels to soak up any remaining oils).
You can let them lay out on the counter. I like to use the trays from my dehydrator as it keeps them in a more compact area and takes up less space.
