A cheesy, spicy cracker good enough to give as a gift
When I was a kid, my parents sometimes brought home tins of deliriously delicious cheese crackers. I can't remember the brand - I think it was a British import - but I do remember that my sister and brother and I would inhale them as soon the tin was opened. All these years later the flavor of those crackers, richly cheesy and spicy, remains burned into my memory. This recipe is my attempt to resurrect them.
The ingredients and technique for making these crackers are similar to those used to make pie dough. Butter and flour (with added flavorings) are its bones. And as with pie dough, as soon as you combine gluten (the protein in flour) with a liquid, you have to mix quickly and briefly or the end product will be tough. So be careful not to overmix the dough.
The stars of this recipe are its two cheeses: Extra-sharp cheddar and Parmesan. The spice, which is added to the dough at the start, then dusted onto the outside of each cracker, is provided by Colman's Mustard powder (a venerable English brand) and cayenne pepper.
Happily, this recipe is simple to make. The dough is mixed quickly in a food processor, then shaped into a cylinder and chilled for an hour, time enough for the gluten to relax and the dough to solidify, making it easy to slice and bake. The typical cracker recipe requires you to roll out the dough and cut it with a cutter, a method that takes a lot more time - and generates a bigger mess - than my cylinder method.
Another advantage of this method is that you can freeze the cylinder (just take care to wrap the dough well, first in plastic, then in foil) and then, when guests show up unexpectedly, let the dough soften on the counter for a bit, then slice off and bake as many crackers as you need.
Or you can package the baked crackers in batches of 10 or 12, tie them up with a bow, and give them as gifts. No matter how you use them - as presents or served at home - I believe your family and friends will make them disappear as quickly as my sister, brother and I made that tin go poof.
• Sara Moulton is host of public television's "Sara's Weeknight Meals." She was executive chef at Gourmet magazine for nearly 25 years and spent a decade hosting several Food Network shows, including "Cooking Live." Her latest cookbook is "Home Cooking 101."