These homemade Gluten Free Cheese Its - flaky cheese crackers - are from my book "Beyond Flour 2: A Fresh Approach to Gluten Free Cooking and Baking". They're just like store bought Cheez-Its... only better!
Note: This recipe was first posted on my original blog, Celebration Generation, on November 15, 2016. It was transferred over to this blog - existing comments and all - on 9/17/2021. This blog post was most recently updated on 1/14/2024.
Neither did I!
Well, I guess technically I DID... but between a convention, Halloween, the election, etc... I managed to completely forget to formally announce it.
Whoops!
I'm definitely more of a recipe developer than a book marketer, so dropping the ball on promoting it probably shouldn't surprise me. Yikes, though.
It's a great book, if I do say so myself.
After tackling a bunch of "Holy Grail" type recipes in the first Beyond Flour - Chewy cookies, stuffed pasta, perogies, proper pita bread, and more - I had even more confidence and experience when it came to developing the sequel, so I got to play around a bit more.
It's fun to see what you can come up with, when you throw convention to the wind.
In the graham crackers, that recipe's secret ingredient means the difference between those vaguely cinnamon flavoured GF crackers that are labelled as "Graham crackers", and proper graham crackers that are completely indistinguishable from the source material.
For the hybrid tortillas, THAT special ingredient meant the ability to create a tortilla that looks and acts like a flour tortilla, but with the taste of freshly roasted corn.
SCIENCE. I love it!
Also pretty proud of the bagels and soft pretzels, but I don't want to sound like I'm bragging. 🙂
ANYWAY.
2 weeks late, I'd like to mark the occasion of the book release, by sharing one of the recipes from Beyond Flour 2: homemade cheese crackers.
Gluten-Free Cheez-Its
This gluten-free cheez its recipe is one of a few cracker recipes in the book, including butter crackers (Like Ritz), and a grainy rectangular cracker inspired by my favourite from my pre-GF days, Vinta.
I've just never really been into the commercially available GF crackers, you know?
They tend to cost an exorbitant amount of money, and tend to be either mini hockey pucks, or basically compressed powder.
Also: They almost always taste like sadness.
I wanted flaky, crispy crackers that tasted right. Buttery, flavourful homemade gluten free crackers with airy layers... that would also hold up to being served with toppings.
It was a tall order, but I did it!
The use of good cheese in these really elevates this copycat recipe over the source material, with a cleaner, clearer cheese taste.
These puff up significantly in the oven, yielding very flaky, buttery crackers. These crunchy crackers are the perfect snack time treat.
You may want to double the batch, as they go fast - literally by the handful!
Anyway, let’s get to it!
Ingredients
If you’ve done any of my gluten-free baking before, you’ll find that this gluten free cheese crackers recipe takes really basic ingredients. Anything you don’t have on hand should be easy to find in almost any larger grocery store.
The ingredient amounts and instructions are in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, but I have some notes for you on some of the ingredients.
Gluten Free Flour Blend
As with all of my gluten free recipes, this recipe uses a couple different types of gluten-free flour, plus a starch and a binder.
For this recipe, that mixture involves:
Corn Starch
Light Buckwheat Flour
Millet Flour
Xanthan Gum
Of those, the millet flour is the only one that I don’t use a TON of in my recipes. It’s best for savory recipes, especially breads.
Shredded Cheese
Cheese is obviously a key ingredient in homemade cheez-its.
I use 2 cheeses to give this delicious snack recipe the in your face cheese flavor you’re looking for in gluten-free copycat Cheez Its.
For the cheddar, I like to use sharp cheddar cheese / old cheddar cheese, as it packs a stronger cheddar cheese flavor and has more bite.
Orange is obviously more visually accurate, but you can definitely use an old white cheddar, if you prefer.
Just note: For the cheddar, a block of cheese is preferable to pre-shredded.
In addition to the cheddar, I use some shredded Parmesan cheese, to add a bump of savory, salty bite.
If you happen to try this with a vegan cheez, let me know how it turns out, in the comments!
Everything Else
Rounding out this recipe, you will need some unsalted butter and salt. That’s it!
Equipment
You’ll need a few basic pieces of equipment to make these delicious cheese crackers.
A food processor, for making the dough. If you don’t have a food processor, you can make it by hand - you’ll need a large mixing bowl and a pastry blender or potato masher.
A rolling pin - for rolling the dough out. I recommend using a Rolling pin with adjustable thickness guides, as it makes it easy to get a really level roll, at a specific thickness.
1 Inch Square Cookie Cutter, for cutting the crackers out. Multi Square Cookie Cutters are also available - they make it super fast to cut a bunch of crackers at once. That said, you can always cut them by hand, with a knife or pizza wheel.
Baking sheets and parchment paper - for baking these cheesy crackers.
More Gluten-Free Snacks and Appetizer Recipes!
Looking for even more fantastic gluten-free munchies that *everyone* will love? Look no further, I’ve got a bunch of great recipes for you!
Ahi Tuna Nachos
Armadillo Eggs
Crunchy Keto Crackers
Easy Pepperoni Jerky
Gluten-Free Air Fryer Jalapeno Poppers
Gluten Free Beaver Tail Recipe
Gluten Free Cheddar Bay Biscuits
Gluten-Free Chicken Nuggets
Gluten Free Chicken Pakora
Gluten-Free Chicken Satay
Gluten Free Corn Dogs
Gluten-Free Doughnut Holes Recipe
Gluten Free Fried Brie
Gluten-Free Gougeres
Gluten Free Mixed Vegetable Pakora
Gluten Free Mushroom Turnovers
Gluten-Free Paneer Pakora
Pepperoni Chips
Gluten Free Pizza Bites
Gluten-Free Samosa Recipe
Gluten Free Soft Pretzels
Gluten-Free Sauerkraut Buns [Piroshki]
Gluten Free Tempura
Homemade Mushroom Jerky
Hot Smoky Bacon Crab Dip
Jalapeno Popper Dip
Loaded Mini Baked Potatoes
Protein Gummies
Protein Pudding
Vegan Tofu Jerky
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Gluten Free Cheese Its [Gluten-Free Cheez-Its Crackers]
Equipment
- Pizza Cutter
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients
- ½ cup Corn Starch
- ½ cup Light Buckwheat Flour
- ½ cup Millet Flour
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Xanthan Gum
- 8 oz Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
- ½ cup Shredded Parmesan cheese
- ½ cup Cold Butter chopped
- â…“ cup Cold Water
- Additional corn starch for rolling
Instructions
- Measure corn starch, flours, salt, and xanthan gum into the bowl of your food processor, blitz to combine.
- Add cheeses and butter, blitz a few times until mixture resembles gravel.
- Stream in cold water as you run the food processor, just long enough to start to bring it together as a dough – you may need to use a little more or less water. Do NOT over-process it!
- Remove dough from processor, knead lightly to bring it together as a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, chill for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C) . Line 2 baking sheets with a piece of parchment paper.
- Scatter some corn starch over your – clean! – work surface.
- Roll dough out ¼″ thick. Use a pizza wheel or sharp knife to cut dough into 1-inch squares
- Use a chopstick or small straw to poke a hole in the center of each piece, carefully transfer each of the little squares to a baking sheet.
- Bake for 11-12 minutes, or until golden brown and puffy.
- Allow to fully cool to room temperature before storing in an airtight container.
Notes
Nutrition
Older Photos
This blog post was recently overhauled, with higher resolution photos. Here are the originals:
Okay well these look just plain amazing. Will have to make a large batch... any ideas on how long they keep // long-ish term storage? Perhaps vacuum seal?
Vacuum seal would probably help, but might deflate them / squish them - they're a little fragile, being so flaky! Not sure about long term storage, as these are one of those things that ends up disappearing long before they have the chance to go bad!
I did lose a bag of one of my other GF cracker recipes... found it more than a month later. They were still OK (no mold, etc), but were stale. That was just in a normal ziplock.
Hi! Will any starch work in place of the cornstarch? We are wheat- and corn-free. Thanks!
Potato or arrowroot
Can I replace the millet and sorghum flours with anything else? Almond flour or gf all purpose?
Possibly, but the recipe won't necessarily work the same way. It was developed with this flour mix in mind, every GF flour behaves differently when it comes to things like how it handles moisture, etc.
I used a gluten free flour with the X gum in it. I just needed to get the dough level. I used a meet skewer on either side of my dough and then rolled it out. My oven is new so tell a process of learning. And my husband wants more cheese in it. I used Red Mill Gluten free 1 to one. I will tweak it next time.
Hi Linda,
I removed your rating, as you didn't actually make my recipe. I chose the flour amounts to taste and work a certain way - substituting for a generic mix flour will NOT produce the same results.
My grandson cannot have any type of wheat, do the other floors you use have wheat in them??
No