Southern Cheese Spritz Crackers are amazing little morsels full of cheesy buttery crunch. These tasty treats are totally addictive and super easy to make. They’re very similar to Southern Cheese Straws, but made with a food processor and a cookie press. One bite and you’ll be totally hooked.
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Table of Contents
Ingredients
The stars of the show here are butter and cheese with flour and baking powder to hold the dough together. The flavorings are simple – salt and a bit of cayenne pepper. That’s it!
Making the Southern Cheese Spritz Crackers
I’ve been making these amazing crackers for as long as I can remember using a hand-held electric mixer to blend the ingredients together. Then one day, I wondered if the food processor could be used to simplify things. Guess what, it worked like a charm!
Step 1: I started by adding the room temperature butter and shredded cheese, along with baking powder, salt and cayenne pepper to the bowl of my food processor fitted with a steel blade (Photo 1). Then, I pulsed processed the mixture 8 to 10 times until everything was well incorporated (Photo 2).
Step 2: Next, I added the flour to the butter/cheese mixture (Photo 3). I pulsed processed the ingredients 8 to 10 times until the mixture was crumbly. Finally, I processed the mixture for about 10 seconds until a nice dough formed (Photo 4).
In less than a minute, I had the perfect dough for my Southern Cheese Spritz Crackers.
Step 3: I decided today to use the daisy disk with my cookie press. After assembling the bottom of the cookie press with the disk, I used a small ice cream scoop to add the dough to the cylinder.
One thing that’s important when making not only these crackers but also spritz cookies is to use an unlined, ungreased baking sheet. The reason is that this is necessary for the dough to stick and form the crackers. The cooked crackers won’t stick because of amount of butter in the dough.
Step 4: Therefore, I used a large unlined and ungreased baking sheet to spritz the dough. The crackers don’t rise much at all. Therefore, I placed them about an inch or two apart. I was able to fit 24 of the Southern Cheese Spritz Crackers on the baking sheet.
Step 5: I popped the crackers into a preheated 350°F oven for 16 to 17 minutes. After that time, they were lightly browned around the edges and perfectly cooked.
Step 6: I transferred the crackers from the baking sheet to a wire rack to allow them to cool completely.
I ended up with 4 dozen absolutely amazing Southern Cheese Spritz Crackers. Each bite was buttery and cheesy and melt in your mouth perfect. Yum!
Frequently Asked Questions
If you don’t have a food processor, you can mix the dough with an electric mixer. It’ll take longer this way, but the crackers will be just as good.
My cookie press is the Oxo Good Grips Cookie Press. This particular time, I used the daisy disk, but have used also used the sunflower, fleur-de-lis, wreath, shell, butterfly, snowflake and bear. The only one that didn’t work that well was the bear.
I used a small ice cream scoop to fill the cylinder of the cookie press with the dough.
If you don’t have a cookie press, you can pipe the dough using a pastry bag fitted with a 1-M star tip to form the crackers.
If using a cookie press, don’t be tempted to use a lined or greased baking sheet. The reason is that the cookies won’t adhere to the baking sheet unless it’s unlined and ungreased.
You can easily double this recipe. In fact, these tasty morsels disappear so quickly that you’ll be glad if you do double the recipe.
Watch How I Made These Treats
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Southern Cheese Spritz Crackers
Equipment
- Food Processor
- Cookie Press
Ingredients
- ½ cup (1 stick, 4-ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (4-ounces) shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese, room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 cup (5-ounces) all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Place butter, cheese, baking powder, salt and cayenne pepper in bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. Pulse 8 to 10 times, or until ingredients are fully incorporated. (See Tip 1)
- Add flour; pulse 8 to 10 times until flour is fully incorporated (mixture will be crumbly at this point). Process 10 seconds or until a dough forms.
- Fill tube of cookie press fitted with decorative disk with dough. (See Tips 2, 3 and 4)
- Spritz dough onto unlined and ungreased baking sheet. Bake in preheated 350°F oven for 16 to 17 minutes, or until edges of crackers are lightly browned.
- Remove from oven; transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Store in air-tight container.
- Yield: 48 crackers.
Chula’s Expert Tips
- If you don’t have a food processor, you can mix the dough with an electric mixer.
- My cookie press is the Oxo Good Grips Cookie Press.
- I used a small ice cream scoop to fill the cylinder of the cookie press with the dough.
- If you don’t have a cookie press, you can use a pastry bag fitted with a 1-M star tip to form the crackers.
These look delicious and so easy to make. I will make them this coming week and will let you know how they turned out.
Your ingredients say baking powder but your instructions say baking soda. Which is it?
Yikes – it’s baking powder. Thank you Barbara for pointing that out. I’ve made the correction in the recipe.
Chula
I made two batches of these today for an event this evening. One I made was with Manchego cheese the other with Chardonnay Bellavitano and a little dried thyme. This is a fantastic recipe, so easy, so savory delicious and so versatile by adding herbs or seasonings. This is going to be my go-to recipe for the holiday get-togethers this season. Thank you so much for sharing!
Excellent Jeanette. Your changes sound yummy!
Chula
These are, without a doubt, the best AND the easiest cheese straws (crackers) I have ever tasted or made. Thank you for so great a recipe. Every single instruction was exactly as you said and worked like a charm. It is on my desktop to make often.
So glad they turned out for you Valerie!
Chula
I was SO happy to find this recipe! My mom, long ago passed, always made these at Christmas and so did I. I somehow lost the recipe and found yours. It must have been the same because everyone agreed they were the same as ‘Grannie’s.
I’m so pleased that you found the recipe!