This is a nice and tasty “shortbread” cracker. It’s pretty quick, other than needing to refrigerate for 30 minutes, and not really a lot of work. I do not use pre-shredded cheese. Now I know I’ve mentioned I’m a big fan of cooking shows. One of those is America’s Test Kitchen. Well I learned, thanks to an episode of their show, that most pre-shredded commercial cheese has an ingredient added to it to prevent clumping. Unfortunately this adds a weird texture and sometimes flavor to the cheese; and can inhibit it melting smoothly. So, based on their recommendation, I stopped buying it and just grate my own. It’s really not that much extra work and I have noticed that the flavor is much better. Enjoy!

Parmesan Thyme Cracker

• 1  1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp.
• 1 heaping cup of finely grated cheese
• 1 Tbsp fresh minced thyme*
• 1/2 Tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 Tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

Using a food processor, I like to use my KitchenAid Stand Mixer with the KitchenAid Flex Edge Beater, cream the butter for about 1 minute. Turn the mixer down to low-speed and add the parmesan, thyme, salt and pepper. Mix until combined, it’ll be really clumpy and you will probably have to scrap down the bowl. Slowly add the flour and combine; it’ll be very crumbly.

Turn out onto a board and shape into a log. I like mine square but you can do round as well. It should be about 2″ in diameter. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or for up to 4 days.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut the log into 1/4″ slices and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. I like to sprinkle the tops with extra grated parmesan cheese. Page for 20 to 25 minutes or until very lightly browned.