Monday, February 13, 2012

Savory Valentine's Heart Crackers

Savory Valentine's Heart Crackers

Did I say savory? For Valentine's Day? Yup, because man cannot live on chocolate alone. Women can, of course, but I find that men need something crunchy, too!

Savory Valentine's Heart Crackers
On weekends Brian frequently pokes around the kitchen and asks what there is to snack on. In our usually healthy household the answer is typically fruit, veggies or fat free yogurt. But for the weekend before Valentine's Day I thought I'd make him something a little more special.

Savory Valentine's Heart Crackers
The truth is that these butter-free, olive oil based crackers are actually healthy as well as ridiculously easy to make. The recipe comes from one of my favorite savory tart doughs. There's always a little dough left over which I bake on the sheet pan with the tart and which we love snacking on. That leads to snacking on bits of the tart crust and so on and so on... So for a little treat I decided to just forget the filling, roll out the crust dough and cut out fun shapes to bake with a bit of Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

Savory Valentine's Heart Crackers
Obviously I was having a little fun with my three sizes of heart shaped cutters but, holiday cuteness aside, you can just cut out rounds and serve these delicious crackers with cheese or dip any time of the year. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 1/4 Cups all purpose flour
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1/4 Cup olive oil
1/3 Cup low-fat buttermilk

Combine the flour and salt in a bowl and make a well in the center. In a separate bowl, whisk together the olive oil and buttermilk and add to the flour mixture. Using a fork or whisk, combine the wet and dry until you don't see any more flour. Place the dough in a plastic baggie and refrigerate for about an hour.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface to approximately a 1/4" thickness and begin cutting any shape desired. You can re-roll the scraps and continue cutting shapes. If the re-rolled dough begins to break apart, let rest on the counter for a couple of minutes. The olive oil will begin to seep out again and relax the dough so you can re-roll.

Savory Valentine's Heart Crackers
Place the cut out crackers on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for approximately 35-40 or until lightly golden brown. You can place the shapes fairly close together on the sheet pan because this dough will not spread in the oven.

This recipe is easily doubled if you're making a top and bottom crust for a tart. If you're cutting out shapes, this amount will yield anywhere from one to two dozen crackers depending on the size cutter.

11 comments:

  1. Wonderful heart-shaped crackers!!What could be more apt for this time of the year:)Thanks for sharing and have a lovely valentine's Day:)

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  2. Making crackers is a fun project and yours do look tasty! I am sure the olive oil and parmesan gives them a wonderful flavor. Saving this delicious recipe. You and yours have a wonderful Valentine's!

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  3. This sounds like a nice little snack for Valentine's Day.

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  4. Hahaha i totally agree with you! Men can no live off chocolate and sweets :P I know my boyfriend would have loved these!

    He gets over having so much sweet :D

    Thanks for sharing this recipe!

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  5. Is that bake time right? 35 to 40 minutes just seems awful long at 350 degrees, and 1/4" thick. Just wondering...seems like they would be burned. Let me know. Thanks so much.

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    1. Hi Terry - Yes, the bake time is correct. I started checking them after 20 minutes at 5 minute intervals. When I've tested my oven with a thermometer, it ran pretty true to temperature but I would suggest you also start checking after 20 minutes until you see how they do in your oven.

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    2. Thank you so very much Anita.

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  6. Like kicked up gourmet cheez-its! Great recipe!

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  7. These look so good. I love a good savory snack too. Your husband sounds like mine - always looking around the kitchen trying to find a snack. I always tell him to search the refrigerator for the healthier things but he always goes into the cabinet and gets the Ritz Crackers and a small thing of cream cheese from the refrigerator. I say you tell me to buy fruit but you never eat it. There are apples, grapes, clementines - I eat them, my son eats them but he doesn't, so don't ask me to buy them.

    Anyway, these look really good. I have to try them. I am a cracker fanatic.

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  8. These are adorable and look so simple! Thanks for sharing!

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  9. I Love these, will be trying them soon!

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