Traveler Bill’s Test Kitchen: Cheese Crackers and the Big Game

Just about every year I make my way up to New York’s Capital Region on Super Bowl® Sunday to watch the big game with my oldest friends.  This year will be no different.

Being the show off that I am I always try to up my game and bring something memorable.  Last year I made sliders.  Generally considered a rousing success.  As opposed to the fondue from the early ’00’s.

But this year I’m pulling back…to a point.  The host of this party has been, for the past several years, my buddy Cheese Crackers.  No, that is not his Christian name, but it isn’t a pseudonym pull out of the air either.  Cheese Crackers was notorious for scavenging cheese crackers.  The name stuck.

So when I saw this recipe for Cheese Crackers I knew what I would be bringing this year.

(Traveler Bill’s Test Kitchen does not publish unadapted recipes without permission, and we’re too lazy to get permission.  However, you can get the recipe at the  NY Times website.  The site does require registration to access many articles in their archives, but it was, at time of publication,  free (albeit with a tiered pay structure on the horizon. -Traveler Bill)

As an aside, this recipe is from the archives of Mark Bittman,in the now defunct Minimalist column of the NY Times.  I’ve had his book How To Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Foodfor a couple years and it is a fairly comprehensive cookbook.

Take flour, salt, Parmesan cheese, butter and cream

Set your oven to 400° F (205 C) and line a baking sheet with parchment

Into your food processor add the flour…

…Salt…

…Parmesan cheese…

…Butter…

…A few grinds of pepper for good measure…

…Then pulse to combine…

…Slowly add the cream…

…Turn out onto a floured surface and roll out to a thickness of an eight of an inch.

Transfer to the line baking sheet and score with pizza wheel.

Bake until crackers are just starting to brown.

Cook on a rack.

(Also is it me or did the cracker in it’s entirety look awfully reminiscent of Australia?)

Conclusion: This post is being written several days before the crackers are to be presented.  As such it will be embargoed until game time on February 6th.  I will attempt to update with Mr. Cheese Crackers response on the day.