I posted this 'recipe' a couple years ago and haven't posted new photos or versions since then, although they've been made quite often! Here is this weeks versions as I finally grabbed my cellphone while I was making them so I could post new photos.
I also tried to use a sharp cheddar this time that came in 'snack sticks' that are long square shaped logs. I thought they would be quick and easy and make nice shapes but the Sargento brand I used was not drying out sufficiently. I cut the little bites into tiny squares but they took a long time to dry out and even then, weren't as nice as the flat slices. They did puff up and pop a bit but were not as dry and crisp as the flat squares and stayed more chewy. I had to 'repop' them 2 or 3 times to get them as dry and crunchy as the square crackers. I don't plan to make those again.
Homemade Cheese Crisp Crackers
Sliced 'hard' cheese of your choice - but 'real' cheese only. Not 'American' or other soft cheese.
Salt
Spices, herbs - optional
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. If I use a block cheese, I slice it in my food processor using the
slicing blade.
Lay out as many slices as you wish on a sheet of parchment paper or paper towels. Use a knife to cut the slices into 1" squares, or use whatever little shape mini cutters you wish.
Lay out all your little cheese shapes on the parchment paper on the
counter for about 2-4 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 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. (Currently very humid where I live and I left them for 4 days.) 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, 400-425 degree oven.
Bake them for about 3-5 minutes. The oils left in them will cause them
to 'pop' and crisp and sometimes even jump around the pan. (I found 4-5 minutes at 400 or 3 minutes at 425 was about right for my oven.)
Pull them out, let them cool... they should be nice and crisp! Eat them
as you wish.
2021 photos: Cheddar slices, cut into squares
Air dried a few days and ready to pop into the oven.
Video of them sizzle and popping. It takes about 4-5 minutes at 400 degrees or 3-4 minutes at 425 degrees.
Let them cool completely and they crisp up like a cracker
These are the squares I mentioned in my post above. They take longer to dry out, and didn't bake up as nice and crisp as the flat squares. I would have to leave them 2-3 more days to dry out more I think but I'll probably just stick to making square crackers!
