Beet and Cheddar Crackers

These are delicious little crispy bites that are completely addictive.

I love homemade crackers, as they are easy, fast and always so delicious. So I thought that I would spruce them up with the color and flavor from beets. I actually wanted to use the purple beets, but believe it or not, I could not find a fresh purple beet in three stores- so red it was! (However, I still think that beautiful berry-purple tone would be really pretty)

The crackers taste of the sharp white cheddar cheese, the earthy beets and a hint of shallot flavor. Sprinkled with a touch of kosher salt, they are really good and great for snacking or entertaining. I served these the other night as a quick appetizer paired with chevre, grapes, figs and pears- delicious and pretty!

Beet and Cheddar Crackers, makes about 4 dozen

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbs butter, chopped and cold
1 cup white cheddar, grated

1tsp butter
3 Tbs red or purple beets, finely diced
1 small shallot finely diced

kosher salt

In a small pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the beets and the shallots and sprinkle lightly with salt.

Let them simmer a few minutes and add a few tablespoons of water or beet juice to the pan if it starts to get dry.

Cook them for about 5-8 minutes or until tender.

Add the beet and shallot mixture to a small food processor or mash finely with two forks.

You will wind up with about a scant ¼ cup of the beet mixture. Set aside.

In a food processor, combine the salt and flour and pulse until combined.

Add in the butter, and pulse until well combined and mealy.

Add the cheese and pulse.

Add the beets to the food processor with the flour.

Pulse it until you get a uniform, moist dough.

Place the dough on a piece of wax paper, and form it into a disc. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and prepare two sheet pans with silpats or parchment paper.

Roll out crackers (with a little bit of flour) really, really thinly! The thinner they are rolled, the crispier (and the better!) they will turn out. I used a wavy pizza cutter to cut these into squares, and I got 48 out of the batch, but cut them in whatever shape you want.

Use a fork to punch two set of holes in the top of each cracker. Sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake the crackers at 325 for about 15 minutes or until they are just starting to turn golden around the edges. Let them cool on a baking rack so they don’t get soggy.