Pecorino Crackers for Cheese and Snack Boards

In case you don’t already know, cheese is my love language. And cheese and crackers for dinner is a perfectly legitimate meal in my eyes. It doesn’t have to be a full snack board, even.

But what if you put cheese on a cheese cracker? Would that be too much cheese? Enter homemade Pecorino crackers, a way to fully maximize cheese consumption when snacking.

These are not the thicker, shortbread-style round crackers that you’ve seen in many celebrity chef recipes.

These are thinner, more like the fancier cousin to homemade Cheez-Its. However, I wouldn’t be opposed to serving both versions of crackers as part of a snack board.

Yes, these crackers are fairly impressive when serving them to others as part of a appetizer array. I’m talking about anything from a cocktail party situation to a picnic or a tailgate—they can go highbrow or low-key.

And if people don’t think you’re thoughtful for serving them homemade crackers, you need new friends. (Or maybe I’m just bitter when people don’t appreciate my homemade cracker game.)

But these Pecorino crackers are also absolutely worth making for a party of one. When my husband’s out of town on one of his football weekends, I love to put a cheese board dinner on the meal plan.

Making homemade crackers as part of that dinner might seem like a little bit of overkill, but I like to think of it as an extra “treat yo self” moment.

What to Serve with Pecorino Crackers

I also love for any opportunity to pair up salty and sweet. (See also: cranberry pretzel salad and Chex Mix.)

Because Pecorino is so naturally salty, these cheese crackers are a natural contrast and compliment to the sweeter elements of a cheese and snack board.

Pair them with:

• candied walnuts or pecans
• dried fruit, like apricots or cherries
• fresh fruit, like apples, pears, or grapes
• preserves, jams and jellies

A special note on the jam and jelly pairing with Pecorino. While you can use almost any fruit preserve in the pantry and it will play well, there’s one in particular that I love here.

Red pepper jelly, that Southern staple that’s usually served with cream cheese or other soft cheeses, is a slam-dunk, hands-down winner here.

Hatch pepper jelly, one of my newest discoveries, brings together my love of Southwestern chiles and my love of cheese. It’s so good I might have to make some Hatch jelly for myself next year.

A Quick Cheese Grating Hack

While I usually advocate for grating and shredding cheese fresh, I hereby give you permission to buy the pre-grated Pecorino in the deli section of the supermarket for this recipe.

Your arm might fall off if you try to freshly and finely grate 1 1/2 cups’ worth of craggy Pecorino cheese.

Unless… you have a Vitamix! Here’s a hack you might not know: you can quickly grate hard cheeses like Parmesan and Pecorino into powdery fluff with a high-speed blender.

Chop the cheese into small (about 1 inch) chunks and add to the blender. Start on low speed and incrementally increase the speed as the cheese pieces are pulverized.

Pecorino Crackers

Yield: about 5 dozen crackers

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Additional Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 2 hours

Savory homemade Pecorino crackers are easy to make but impressive to serve. They're perfect for pairing with cheeses, nuts and fruit as part of a snack board or as an accompaniment to soup or chowder.

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Ingredients

• 170 grams (6 ounces; about 1 1/2 cups) finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese
• 180 grams (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading and rolling out the dough
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup milk or neutral-flavored non-dairy milk

Instructions

1. Stir the cheese, flour, baking powder, black pepper, and salt together in a large bowl.
2. Blend the butter in with your fingertips or a pastry blender until the flour is moist and uniformly crumbly (using the same technique as making pie crust).
3. Add the milk, stirring gently until a dough forms.
4. Press and knead the dough gently against the sides of the bowl to form a smooth ball of dough—this will take about 2 minutes total.
5. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour.
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
7. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and return 3 of them to the bowl, covering it to prevent them from drying out.
8. On a floured work surface, roll one piece of dough out into a thin 10-inch square.
9. With a pastry or pizza cutter wheel, slice the dough into square or rectangular cracker shapes. I like to make mine 2 inches square.
10. Transfer the crackers to the prepared baking sheet and prick the center of each square with a toothpick to prevent it from puffing up into a pillow as it bakes.
11. Repeat with the remaining dough. (You may have to bake your crackers in two batches, depending on the size of your baking sheets.)
12. Bake the crackers for about 15-18 minutes, switching and rotating the sheets in the oven halfway through. Keep an eye on them, as the crackers on the edge may brown more quickly.
13. Transfer the crackers to a wire rack to cool completely.
    

Notes

These crackers won't keep as long as store-bought crackers, so store them in an airtight container and use them within a few days!

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 100 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1019Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 51mgSodium: 709mgCarbohydrates: 175gFiber: 6gSugar: 1gProtein: 39g

The nutritional information above is computer-generated and only an estimate.

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