Dairy and Gluten Free Goldfish Crackers

photo from http://momversusfoodallergy.wordpress.com

What? I saw these here and almost fell over. Where has this recipe been the last 7 years?? I can't wait to make these!! Her recipe was just dairy free so I adapted it. You could use palm shortening instead of the "earth's balance butter" as well. As she notes, you could use the same dough to make cheese its. I am all in!

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour ( I would use 1 cup brown rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch and 1/3 cup tapioca starch plus one teaspoon xanthan gum. Or you could use 2 cups of your gluten-free all purpose flour of choice plus 1 tsp xanthan gum).

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 cup dairy free, shredded cheese (I use Daiya)*

1/2 cup dairy free margarine (I use Earth Balance dairy & soy free)*

5 T cold water

*Keep in mind, you can make these with dairy cheese and butter if you don’t have a dairy allergy in your family.

Here’s what you do:

1.  Put the flour, salt, and garlic powder into a blender (that’s what I used) or food processor and mix by pulsing.

2.  Add the cheese and pulse until well combined.

3.  Add the margarine in small chunks, pulse more until well combined with flour & cheese mixture.  You may have to reach in with a spoon occasionally to get things moving (if kids are helping, you may want to unplug your blender or food processor at this point, unless you want cracker dough on the ceiling).

4.  Add one tablespoon of water at a time and pulse to mix if using a food processor.  If using a blender, you may want to transfer mixture to bowl before adding water, mixing by hand after each tablespoon of water is added.

5.  Transfer mixture to plastic wrap, form into a flattened circle, and wrap well, and refrigerate for at least an hour.

6.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Transfer dough to floured surface, and roll to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick using floured rolling pin.

7.  Using a mini goldfish cookie cutter (or your favorite mini cutter), cut your crackers in the dough.  You can also just use a pizza cutter and make them into squares and add a dot in the center with a fork.  That’ll give you instant Cheez-its.  Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

8.  Bake for 10-14 minutes or until done.  Allow to cool before transferring to an airtight container.

Please forgive me for the lack of pictures of the process in this post.  I don’t always get to take many pictures when making messes in the kitchen with Nathan.  The picture below is right before we transferred the crackers to the parchment paper for baking.