Homemade Cheez Its (Kiddo Friendly)
Folks, I think I’ve died and gone to Cheez Its heaven! Seriously, these are so damn good!! And healthy to boot. And I could not have whipped these up at a better time because I’m needing to create more healthy, on-the-go snacks for Pepper who is now spending two days a week with a little playgroup of kiddos her same age. It’s been really sweet to see her playing with the other kids and getting out of her comfort zone and embracing new situations. This girl melts my heart everyday and these big transitions pull at my heartstrings. I almost cried after I packed her lunchbox to go. She carried it out to the car all by herself like a big girl.
Here’s a little sample of what P takes for lunch. I’m planning ahead on the weekends so this all comes together really quickly during the week! Tuna sauerkraut salad (recipe here— though now that she’s bigger I don’t blend it in the food processor and I added peas this time for good measure), some sliced mini kiwis from our neighbors, energy bites that she packs extra for so she can share with her friends (recipe here) and the cheez it crackers! If more folks are interested in lunch ideas for their toddles let me know! I’m having fun creating new recipes and haven’t posted many on here as the blog is more geared towards savory dinners. But I do love sharing these creations and if you want to see more lunch ideas let me know in the comments!
Anyhow, back to these Cheez Its! They’re are awesome! They’re full of real cheese (we’re spoiled and used some local sharp cheddar), sprouted hazelnut flour (you can use almond flour) sprouted chickpea flour, and a little butter. A few dashes of paprika, turmeric and salt takes these over the top! They’re easy to whip up and stay good for 5 days in an airtight container. This makes quite a few crackers which is awesome because we’re eating them like crazy!
I hope you and your little ones love these crackers as much as we do! I can’t take full credit for this recipe as I was inspired by the blog Feed Them Wisely .
Cheez It Crackers
Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Serves: 17 servings
- 1 cup, freshly grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
- 4 ounces room temperature butter
- 1 cup sprouted hazelnut flour (or almond flour) if you can't find sprouted flour just use un sprouted
- 1 cup sprouted chickpea flour (see note)
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and process until a ball of dough forms. This will take 1-2 minutes.
- Place the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up a bit.
- Divide the dough in half (leaving the second half in the fridge while you work with the first half) and place the dough in-between two large pieces of parchment paper. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into about a 1/6-inch thickness. Try and be careful to keep the thickness even (this will make for even baking).
- Remove the top layer of the parchment paper and use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into uniform cracker shapes. If you feel like it, use a toothpick to dot a hole in the center of each cracker. (No need to peel away the crackers individually yet, they'll break apart easily after baking!) Carefully lift the parchment paper (with the dough still on it) to a baking sheet. Bake in the oven until the edges are lightly browned. About 11 minutes. (my first batch was a bit thicker and took closer to 16 minutes.) Start checking the crackers at the 10 minute mark and keep a close eye on them. Repeat with the second ball of dough.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 5 days.
Notes
*If you can get your hands on sprouted flours (healthyflour.com has some) they are easier to digest. Especially for little eaters. However, using un sprouted will be just fine *This recipe is adapted from the blog Feed Them Wisely
Would love more lunch ideas from you! Can’t wait to try these 🙂
Yes!!! Love the healthy lunch ideas. Gotta try this and the tuna. Keep em coming if you’ve got more!
More lunch ideas coming soon! And let me know if you try the crackers! We’re going to make a kale version too!!
Oh, this is excellent! Cheez-Its are my favorite cracker and I would not have thought of making them with garbanzo and almond flours (I’m in California where we grow almonds and walnuts rather than hazelnuts). I’ll be trying these next time I bake.
Would LOVE to see more toddler lunch/snack recipes! I’ve been following you for years (pre kids!) and now have a 4 year old and a 2 year old 🙂 I’d buy a dishing up the dirt toddler edition cookbook too! Just sayin!
thank you
Ditto on the Dishing Up the Dirt Toddler edition! Lunch and other kiddo friendly food ideas always welcome.
Curious what your thoughts are on tuna with the mercury content for kids? I’ve heard everything from one serving every few weeks is fine to avoid entirely in favor of fish without the heavy metal risk.
I’m totally fine with tuna on occasion. I think the health benefits are high and that it’s an important food to incorporate into a healthy diet. But yes, the mercury is there but that’s why I love variety!! I was so scared of heavy metals in certain veggies for a while and realized contaminants are everywhere and that variety is key!
For sure! Sounds like a very grounded approach.
Got a chance to make these today, and the flavor was spot on! I used a mix of almond, rice, and wheat flour. A few questions –
– Do you score the dough with the pizza cutter and bake the crackers as one large unit, and then break off individual crackers once they’re out of the oven? Or separate them out on the baking sheet as you cut them?
– The texture of mine was super light and crumbly, sort of like a very light short bread… I wonder if that was due to the rice flour (only about 1/3 c)? Or were yours like that as well?
Thanks as always for your awesome cooking inspiration!
Hi Dara! I’m so happy you made these. Your substitutions sound perfect! And the butter is room temperature, I’ll update that. As for cutting the crackers, I score the dough with the pizza cutter and break them apart after baking. I’ll update that too! The crackers are very light with a slight crumb but they shouldn’t fall apart! Yay for homemade cheez its! So glad you tried them!
Awesome, thank you! Not sure why I got the texture that I did, but I’ll definitely try them again and experiment 🙂
Also! Was the butter meant to be melted, soft, or hard/cold?
Would nutritional yeast be a good alternative to the cheese? We’re dairy free and would love to try this without use a vegan cheese filled with unhealthy oils.
I haven’t tried these that way and I know the cheese does help bind these a bit. However, it’s worth a try!!!
There’s a real need for health, farm-focused, seasonal recipes and meal ideas for toddlers online, I would LOVE any and all that you have! 🙂 Excited to try these with my kids; your cashew cardamom balls are a constant hit with them.
Please allllllll the toddler recipes! This is so helpful abd my son loved the pumpkin buckwheat muffins!