How to Make Cheez-Its at Home

All week long, our very own Jennifer Steinhauer from Weeknights with Jenny will be sharing recipes from her new book Treat Yourself: 70 Classic Snacks You Loved as a Kid (and Still Love Today). Follow along to win one of five copies we’re giving away -- and to take a trip down memory lane. 

Today: A throwback to after-school soccer practices and the bags of Cheez-Its that accompanied them. 

I directly associate this snack with tomato soup, the perfect pairing throughout junior high, when consumed post-soccer practice in front of reruns of "The Rockford Files." 

The dough for our recipe is prepared in a food processor because, as Gail the baker explains, "the sharp blade and its fast rotation cuts the cheese into tiny bits quickly, dispersing them through the dough to promote a flakier texture." If you spooned these out into little balls, people would think they were a high-end cocktail snack. Cut into squares, with a neatness level that will depend on how compulsive you are, they are a bagged lunch treat completely loyal to the original. The paprika is responsible for the tang; the better the cheese you use, the sharper and more elegant the taste, yet they will still remain distinctly Cheez-It-esque.

Cheez-Its

Makes approximately 120 one-inch cheese crackers

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out the dough
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon paprika
3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup vegetable oil

See the full recipe (and save it and print it) here. 

We're giving away a copy of Treat Yourself every day this week! To enter to win today's copy, tell us in the comments: What was your go to after-school snack? We'll pick five winners at random next Monday, June 9th!

Photo by James Ransom. Excerpted from the book Treat Yourself: 70 Classic Snacks You Loved as a Kid (and Still Love Today) by Jennifer Steinhauer. Reprinted by permission of Clarkson Potter Publishers. All rights reserved.