Discovering 2014: Homemade Cheez-Its

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

Today's project was Homemade Cheez-Its, which used a recipe blogged by Shopgirl. Take note that she uses "tsp" for tablespoon instead of "tbsp", which may save you some confusion when it comes to the water.

The only differences I made was using an 8-oz bag of pre-shredded mild cheddar cheese and needing 5 tbsp of water instead of the 3-4 she noted. I also didn't have a fluted pastry cutter, so we used a pizza cutter. Since I used our convection oven, the cook time was about 3-5 minutes more than her max of 10 minutes.

While I wouldn't say it's an exact replica of Cheez-Its, they are definitely tasty (and have my kids' stamp of approval) and are similar in flavor. Check out my pictures below taken during the creation process.

After mixing the shredded cheese, butter, and half the salt.

Mixing in the flour.

My dough after five tablespoons of ice water.

Ready for refrigeration!

The husband helped with the rolling and cutting of the squares.

On the pan before going in the oven.
IMPORTANT: Use parchment paper here, not wax paper!

The final product! I over-salted them a bit, but they are so good.
I finally had to shoo the kids out and put them away to stop nomming.

Tomorrow's project is Bubble Wands!