When I was a kid, on a regular basis we would have cheese and crackers for our lunch. It was easy to put together for my mum and we always enjoyed it. As a kid the cheese was always the star but as I have gotten older I have grown an appreciation for the crackers as well. Also partly because the crackers have gotten fancier!
These days they come in a variety of flavours and incarnations. Italian Flatbread crackers, sesame crackers, salted crackers, herb crackers the list is endless. As a kid it really was a choice between, digestives, water biscuits and cream crackers. Which I love and still do to this day, which is why I wanted to revisit one of these crackers and pimp it up a little for my more grown up pallet!
Taking inspiration from my post 2015 Food Trend Predictions, post I wanted to use fresh rosemary and a smoked flavour so mashing it all together I came up with these lovely Rosemary Smoked Sea Salt Cream Crackers.
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The base of the recipe is not mine, I have adapted it from a cookbook (one of the many!) I have. Links and information are at the bottom of the post. The recipe was for a basic cream cracker I just fancied it up a little by using smoked sea salt and fresh rosemary and I think it made a world of difference.
The cream lends itself to making these crackers so flaky but that doesn’t stop them from being crispy and having a lovely bite to them. I really think they go wonderfully with a cheese board.
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I honestly can’t rave about these crackers enough, Michael and I went through a whole batch in less than 24 hours. And thats saying something for a man that usually just samples but no more, no one else got to sample these crackers even the second time I made them they never got out of the kitchen!
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So next time you fancy a cheese and cracker fest, instead of heading out to buy crackers give making your own a go. These are simple to put together, no real fancy techniques are needed. They are quick to make and the resting time isn’t excessive. They will be totally worth it I promise.
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I am really enjoying sharing these savoury recipes with you, I hope you are enjoying them too.
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Recipe adapted from:
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Rosemary Smoked Sea Salt Cream Crackers
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary very finely chopped
- 125 grams plain (all purpose flour (1 cup))
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar (preferably caster but granulated will do)
- 15 grams unsalted butter (cool but not hard (1 tablespoon))
- 1 teaspoon smoked sea salt flakes
- 4 tablespoons double (heavy cream)
- 3 to 4 tablespoon water at room temperature
Instructions
- Chop the rosemary up as fine as you can get it, then place to one side.
- Sift the flour and sugar into a medium sized mixing bowl.
- Cut the butter up into small flakes add it to the bowl and using your finger tips gently rub it into the flour until it resembles very fine breadcrumbs.
- Stir in the fresh rosemary and smoked sea salt.
- Add in the cream and 3 tablespoons of water.
- Using a round bladed knife, mix everything together. Add more water if needed, one teaspoon at a time to make a soft but not sticky dough. It will feel a little like a short crust pastry.
- Lightly dust your work surface with a little flour, knead your dough for just 5 seconds to smooth it out a little but no longer.
- Place the dough back into the bowl and cover with clingfilm (plastic wrap) and leave to relax the dough for 30 minutes.
- Near the end of the 30 minutes, preheat your oven to 180C / 350F / Gas mark 4. And line 2 medium baking sheets with baking parchment.
- Lightly dust your worktop again with flour, then roll out the dough to a very thin sheet approx. 35cm x 45cm.
- Cut the sheet in half and very gently lift one half onto your lined baking sheet. Prick the dough all over with a fork and using a very sharp knife or a pizza cutter trim the edges off so they are nice and neat. Then cut the dough into equal squares. Repeat the process with the other sheet of dough, if you only have one baking sheet do this in two batches.
- Then place the dough into your hot oven and bake for 15 - 17 minutes until they are a lovely light golden colour. For a slightly more even bake, rotate the baking sheet half way through baking.
- Remove them from the oven, don't panic its perfectly natural that they have shrunk during baking, allow them to sit on the hot tray for 2 minutes.
- Transfer the crackers to a wire rack to fully cool down.
- If you keep them in an airtight tin at room temperature they will keep for up to 5 days.
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Crackers are one of my favorite snacks! Lately I’ve been eating them as a afternoon pick me up with a little slice of cheese. I can’t wait to give yours a try!
Hi Pamela, thank you. If you’re are a fan of cheese and crackers then you will love these 🙂
These crackers look perfect, Emma! I love the fresh rosemary and could easily see myself snacking on these all day long 🙂
Hi Kelly, I did find myself snacking on them all day long! Next time I will need to make a bigger batch 😀
We rarely had fancy crackers growing up—just saltines and the occasional Ritz. Cheese and crackers were still well loved back then—and they still are 🙂 But I’d much rather eat my cheese on one of your homemade cream crackers—they look wonderful!!!
Hi Liz, thank you 😀 It’s strange how popular cheese and crackers have remained so simple and quick to put together and so yummy!
I’ve never made homemade crackers before, but these look way better than anything found from a box! Love this grown-up take on a childhood favorite.
Hi Brianna, thank you its always fun to revisit your childhood favourites from time to time 😀
Well, I could easily finish the whole batch by myself at one go! They look so crumbly and great.
Hi Angie, thank you. They were very moreish!
Those crackers could be in a magazine!! What an incredible job you did both with the crackers and the photos.
Hi Maureen, thank you so much for your kind words. I find food photography hit and miss one day it works great the next day it’s terrible 😉