Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Cheese Buttons Fit For a Lady of Leisure


I declared today my "Lady of Leisure" day or LOL for short. Naming it offered a legitimate excuse to bum around in pajamas all day. First order of business was sleeping in until 7:30am. I then made the bed and threw on all the decorative pillows (ones you don't actually sleep on and are used only for decorative purposes), dragged myself downstairs for some coffee, walked back upstairs with cup of coffee and laid back down in the bed I had just made. It felt awesome. Around 9am via text message, Mr. Incredible asked what I was up to today.  "Celebrating lady of leisure day. Duh." Send text.


9:05am movie time. This morning's feature, Marie Antoinette starring Kirsten Dunst. I could learn a thing or two from the ultimate LOL. I really wanted to do this day correctly. I took detailed notes. I will need a bouffant styled white wig, a corseted ruffled gown, petit fours, liquor and a lady's maid. 

Having none of those items on hand, I settled for cheese buttons and a diet Coke. Perfect for nibbling in a leisurely manner :)


Cheese Crackers
from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups aged cheese such as cheddar
  • 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup cold butter (cut up)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste and is optional)
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt for sprinkling

 Directions

Put all of your ingredients (except the milk and kosher salt) into a food processor. Pulse until all ingredients are well combined and look like fine crumbs. Add milk and pulse until the dough comes together.

Remove dough from food processor and knead in your hands for a few minutes. Fold in half, fold in half again and continue until dough is soft and well mixed. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a floured surface roll out the dough to a 1/8 inch thickness. Any thicker and the crackers will be soft in the middle. Cut dough into desired shape. I used a round cookie cutter and a slightly smaller cutter for the button like detailing.


Place cut dough on parchment lined baking sheet about 1/2 inch apart. Using a tooth pick make a small holes in dough. Sprinkle lightly with kosher salt.


Bake crackers approximately 25 minutes or until lightly browned around edges and crackers are firm to the touch. Some softer centers may occur if the thickness of the dough was not uniform.


Remove crackers to wire rack to finish cooling.


18 comments:

  1. Wow! I love these! One of the most original recipes I've seen lately and great pics! Thanks for sharing

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  2. These are too cute! I love leisurely days like yours. It's so nice to take a break and ignore the world for a while. Enjoy!

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  3. Thank you ladies :) If you haven't experienced an LOL day yet I highly recommend them!

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  4. In college, my friends and I would declare ourselves Ladies of Leisure sometimes, too! At least for a day we felt like pampered princesses even though we never indulged in anything royal.

    I love reading your posts. I could have really used this cheese buttons this afternoon!

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  5. Fun. I need a LOL day. I don't see it happening, though, unless a baby's maid comes along with that lady's maid!

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  6. This is *exactly* the kind of justification I've been searching for! LOL Day. It has such a beautifully refined yet deceptively lazy sound to it.

    Cheese buttons and a Diet Coke sounds smashing, my dear. Gorgeous pics, as always.

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  7. LOL! I LOVE it. I'm in DIRE need! It's been a busy, busy summer and it doesn't look like it's slowing down any time too soon. So glad you enjoyed your day, but also took time to post for us!

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  8. Oh my! These look so adorable!! Another delicious way to snack on cheese!!

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  9. Great little snacks - love the button shape. Seems like we don't ever have enough time to have these luxury days. My husband and I call them "veg days".

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  10. I love these cute as a button (I couldn't resist!) crackers… and your right..we all need to bring out the Marie Antoinette-ness sometime or the other and just indulge ourselves!

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  11. These look really good! Can Parmesan cheese be used?

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  12. what if we don't have a food processor? how do we do the first step otherwise?

    thanks

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  13. I've done this recipe with a hand mixer and it turns out just fine :)

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  14. I made these with some liquid smoke and paprika and omitted the cayenne...they came out tasting like smoked cheese. Very yummy. I got 100 1" square crackers.

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  15. Mmm, smoked cheese. That sounds scrumptious Bee!

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  16. http://allrecipes.com/PersonalRecipe/62387332/Cheeze-crackerz/Detail.aspx?prop31=1

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  17. Just found you by way of TasteSpotting. Thought it funny (and flattering) that you used my recipe! So glad it worked out well for you! I love that you made buttons as I am a seamstress by trade! Would love it if you left a review on my recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/PersonalRecipe/62387332/Cheeze-crackerz/Detail.aspx?prop31=1

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  18. Jan, those are crazy coincidences! Your cheese crackers were just calling to be made into button shapes :) Thank you for sharing your recipe. They were delish!

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