I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

sprint cup snacks

The Simplest Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

The Simplest Slow Cooker Pulled Pork doesn’t have simple flavors. Robust flavors from a great cut of mean that has slow cooked all day in beer!

Pulled Pork is a great dish that you can prepare quickly, then let your slow cooker take over to do the rest. You’ll love being greeted to dinner when you get home from work. Yum

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Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Balsamic Pork Tenderloin

Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Balsamic Pork Tenderloin – a sugary tangy twist on a classic piece of pork that you can start after lunch and enjoy for dinner

Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Balsamic Pork Tenderloin

This has become one of my favorite slow cooker recipes.

And I use my slow cooker a lot. Umm, a lot a lot. Like I’m posting 2 back-to-back slow cooker recipes because my slow cooker is my new best friend.

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Well that is life now, lots of freezer meals and using my slow cooker all the time. Hey, it works and it keeps things sane at night as we are settling into the schedule of things starting when I pick Autumn up by 5, Price getting home around 6.15 and a whole mess of things like taking care of the dog and baby, eating, pumping, cleaning, showers, and next day prep before going to bed before 10-10.30.

So this recipe was great before but now it’s even better because of how it makes things easy for dinner on the weekend and how we get to enjoy the leftovers during the week.

Plus, once you make something that is so good it’s hard to shake. It’s just that the layers of flavor on the pork tenderloin is so dang good. The combination of the spicy, savory, sweet, and salty flavors just work so well. Well, I’ve tweaked it enough to find the perfect combination at this point.

This pork tenderloin recipe is the 2nd to last post missing from my Sprint Cup Snacks series. When I was trying to think of yet another recipe to signify Virginia for the last race held there I was starting to get stumped. Seriously NASCAR, 4 races in Virgina?!?! Trying to kill me?!?! ha! Well, the Ham and Cheese Sliders I shared for the first race held at Martinsville Speedway were a HUGE hit. One of the most popular posts from last year. So I was thinking along those lines and ended up with another pork recipe to share.

I hope that you’ll try this recipe and fall in love with it as much as I have.

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Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Balsamic Pork Tenderloin

Makes 12 servings

Ingredients

  • 6 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup spicy brown mustard
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
  • 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth or water
  • 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
  • 2 1/2- 3 lbs of pork tenderloins

Process

  1. Combine the garlic, mustard, brown sugar, Worcestershire Sauce, balsamic vinegar, water, and pepper together.
  2. Place the pork tenderloins into a 5-6 quart slow cooker. Then pour the mixture over the pork tenderloins.
  3. Cook on high for 4 hours. Flip the pork half way through the cooking process (but if you’re not around it’s not a big deal). Remove from slow cooker and enjoy!

Banana Pudding

Banana Pudding

So I was doing a really good job of doing weekly posts for my Sprint Cup Snacks series last year, but then tragedy struck!!! My damn desktop crapped out on me. And where were my photos that I needed to edit and slap into my drafted posts? Oh, on the damn desktop! So bam! My posting schedule hit a speed-bump, so I had to face the I would just have to redo some recipes I already made. And of course instead of attacking them quickly I fell behind on my posts, and then got busy, and then had a baby… well you get the point!

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And since Daytona is next Sunday (yay!!!!!) I just knew I had to get into gear (see what I did there?) and finally get around to posting the last few recipes that I had passed up last year.

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I’m kicking things off with this delightful Banana Pudding that I made for the Coke 600 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway way back in October. I had to pick something super southern to honor this race. And Banana Pudding was the perfect pick!

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I had made this and brought it into work and one of the guys there was saying how great it was. Well, that was nice of him. What I didn’t know was that he was from the South. He continued on saying how he grew up eating Banana Pudding and how this reminded him of his childhood and how good this Banana Pudding was. Well… score!!! yay!!!

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And I think we all need more pudding in our lives. Just because.

And I think we can justify having this as there is fruit involved. Totally healthy. And it does has reduced fat vanilla wafers, which really just does a better job of holding up the wafer texture better than the regular vanilla wafers, but still… ha!

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Banana Pudding

Makes 12-16 servings

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • Dash of salt
  • 2 1/2 cups milk
  • 1 (14-oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
  • 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 cups sliced ripe bananas, about 5-6 bananas
  • 1 box of reduced-fat vanilla wafers
  • 2 cups of whipping cream

Process

  1. In a medium saucepan, combine the flour and salt. Place on your stove-top over medium heat.
  2. Gradually stir in the milk, sweetened condensed milk, and egg yolks, and cook, stirring constantly, for 8 to 10 minutes or until thickened.
  3. Remove the custard mixture from the heat and then add in the vanilla extract.
  4. In a 5 quart trifle dish, out 1/3 of the pudding on the bottom of the trifle dish, then 1/3 of the vanilla wafers, then 1/3 of the banana slices, and lastly 1/3 of the whipped cream. Be sure to place some of the pudding, banana slices, vanilla wafers, and whipped cream along the side so everyone sees the yummy layers. Repeat the process 2 more times topping off with whipped cream.

If you are serving these individually, then just serve in 1 cup dishes or in pint ball jars. Layer the ingredients in the process stated above to create a dessert with 6 layers.

Adapted From: My Recipes

Chicken Fajitas

chicken fajitas

I’ve been feeling quite proud of myself lately for the fact that I have been cooking dinner during the week for us. Earlier on when I was dead tired to the world we did the cereal and boxed mac and cheese thing quite regularly. This week we only had cereal for dinner once!

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And I’ve been baking. Maybe it’s the nesting stuff kicking in? I thought that would be more related to things like laundry, cleaning, and decorating, though. Either way people in my and Price’s office seem to enjoy it when I bring in goodies. I’m just making it up to them in advance for my 3 months away while on maternity leave.

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Ugh, don’t get me started on maternity leave. 12 weeks?!?!? That is going to go by in a blink of an eye. :-/ I’m sure there will be plenty of nights of cereal or boxed mac and cheese during that time period was well… it all comes in cycles.

Well, one of the yummy things I whipped up this week for dinner were these Chicken Fajitas. I had them in mind to celebrate this weekend’s NASCAR race in Phoenix. I couldn’t resist making fajitas for my Sprint Cup Snacks series once I had that them in my head!

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I actually prepped these one morning before work by making the marinade, trimming the chicken, and setting it all up to marinate for the day. So when I got home all I had to do was take out the chicken, cut up the veggies, assemble the toppings, and just cook the chicken and then the veggies. It all came together quite quickly and nicely. Plus you cook the chicken and then the veggies using the same pan so clean up was pretty quick too!

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These chicken fajitas will be a hit at your house this weekend or any week night. Plus if you make a mega batch you can give your significant other leftovers for lunch to make up for the cereal you served for dinner earlier on in the week. ha!!

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Chicken Fajitas

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • Salt
  • 2 Tbsp canola, safflower, peanut or grapeseed oil (a high smoke point oil)
  • 1 large onion, sliced into 1/4-inch strips
  • 3 bell peppers of various colors, sliced into 1/4-inch strips

For the marinade

  • 2 Tbsp lime juice
  • 3 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 jalapeno, seeded and minced
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

For assembly

  • 8-12 flour tortillas
  • Your prefered toppings: shredded cheese, salsa, sliced avocado/guacamole, sour cream, thinly sliced iceberg lettuce dressed lightly with salt and cider vinegar

Process

  1. Depending on the size of the chicken breasts, slice them in half horizontally, so that the center thickness is around 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch thick. *Do not pound the chicken breasts, doing so will not result in the right texture/consistency for fajitas.*
  2. Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the chicken, coating well, cover, and let marinate at room temperature for 1 hour or in the refrigerator for up to 8 hours, but remove them an hour before cooking so that they can come closer to room temperature.
  3. Once done marinating, wipe off most of the marinade and sprinkle the chicken with salt.
  4. Heat a large cast iron frying pan on high heat for 1 to 2 minutes. Add a tablespoon of canola oil to the pan. As soon as the oil begins to smoke, lay the chicken breast pieces in the pan. Let the chicken cook undisturbed for 2-3 minutes, until you have a good sear.  Once seared well on one side, turn the pieces over and cook for another 2-3 minutes until well seared on the second side.
  5. Once seared on the second side, remove to a cutting board, stack the pieces on top of each other, and cover with aluminum foil to rest for 5 minutes. If you want to test for doneness, cut into one piece with the tip of a sharp knife.  It should be just done, if not, you can put it back in the hot pan for a minute or two.
  6. While the chicken is resting, cook the onions and peppers. Add another tablespoon of oil to the very hot frying pan. As soon as the oil is hot, add the onions and peppers to the pan.  Use a metal spatula to scrape up some of the browned bits from the chicken and stir to coat the onions and peppers.  Spread the onions and peppers in an even layer in the pan, letting them cook undisturbed for 2 minutes so they sear with some blackening. Stir the vegetables and continue to cook for another 2 minutes.
  7. Slice the chicken against the grain into strips.  Serve at once with the peppers and onions, some warm tortillas, and your preferred toppings.

Adapted from Simply Recipes

Monster Cookies

Monster Cookies

Sorry I couldn’t resist. Not this time…

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I have really tried to steer clear from making cookies, or most sweets, while I’ve been pregnant. Sometimes I cave, but I at least plan on getting them out of my house ASAP and share so I don’t eat them all.

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You see it’s just that I’ve been too afraid that I can’t resist just having one and before you know it the whole batch of cookies are gone.

Or a tray of brownies.

Or a pie.

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I can’t stand that I am in love with sweets now. I can’t get off Pinterest looking at desserts hoping they would magically instantly appear in in my kitchen just for me. So when I decided to make Monster Cookies for this weekend’s race at “The Monster Mile” I was just about going to eat my laptop screen. But thankfully I resisted and held out for these mega cookies to appear in real life. And of course, hot from the oven!

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These babies are large and in charge. They look really cute with the teeny tiny M&M’s throughout but they are monsters! They pack a punch from the creamy peanut butter, oats, and the double dose of chocolate. Plus they are just giants. Well, isn’t that really the point of Monster Cookies?!?!?!

Hope you enjoy this weekend’s race at Dover.

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Monster Cookies

Makes 18-20 large cookies

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon corn syrup
  • 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/4 cups quick oatmeal
  • 1 cup mini M&Ms
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks

Process

  1. Preheat oven 350 degrees.
  2. Blend together the butter and sugars in a mixer.
  3. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, corn syrup, and peanut butter and blend until combined.
  4. Add the baking powder, baking soda, oatmeal, and flour and mix until everything is well blended.
  5. Stir in the M&Ms and chocolate chips.
  6. Using a cookie scoop (or just 2 spoons!) scoop dough into balls about 1 1/2″ round on a cookie sheet about 2″ apart. Just slightly flatten the dough balls.
  7.  Bake for 11-13 minutes until lightly brown and just set in the middle. Cool slightly on the pan for 3-5 minutes before removing to enjoy

Sourced from Skinny Not Skinny

Maple Walnut Whoopie Pies

Maple Walnut Whoopie Pies

You should totally make these for your dog walker when you leave your dog with her and her adorable family for 4 1/2 days and the idea is totally crushing you. Sure, you really need the vacation before you are cut off from flying and before a cute wiggly baby comes crashing into your heart. But the fact that he has NEVER been without either of you for even a day is freaking you out… A LOT.

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So that is what I did. I made these the morning of our flight so that our super amazing dog walker and her family would have something to enjoy while our pup ‘terrorized’ her life. Hello, middle of the night pee walks!!! In fact I got up so early (crazy lady) that the dog didn’t even want to get up when I checked on him. So I got to make these in peace while he slept another hour. Again, I’m nuts!

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Oh, you aren’t pregnant and crazy about leaving your dog? Then just make these for this weekend’s NASCAR race in New Hampshire since you can’t not have maple goodies while in New England. So you’re not a NASCAR fan and don’t follow along with my Sprint Cup Snacks? Then make these just because you deserve them.

You totally do.

These are light, spongy maple cookies that are studded with walnuts that sandwich a fluffy cream cheese frosting. Once you take a bite you will be transported right to the middle of the woods in New England with maple taps all around you. Kinda like a Klondike Bar experience.  Kinda. 

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Maple Walnut Whoopie Pies

Makes 13-15 small whoopie pies

Ingredients

Cookies

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1/3 cup maple syrup
  • 1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Filling

  • 8 ounces cream cheese
  • 4 cups sifted glazing sugar OR confectioners’ sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Process

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets, or line them with parchment paper.
  2. For the cookies: Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, and maple flavoring.
  4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Scrap the bowl down between the addition of each egg.
  5. Add in the dry ingredients until the mixture is evenly moistened.
  6. Scrape the bowl again, then mix in the walnuts.
  7. Scoop by the tablespoonful to make 26-30 (even # amount!) cookies onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2″ of space between each cookie.
  8. Bake the cookies for 9 to 11 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly touched, and the edges are a light golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a rack before filling.
  9. For the filling: Place the cream cheese and half of the confectioners’ sugar in a large mixing bowl, and beat at slow speed until the mixture is smooth.
  10. Add the remaining sugar and the flavoring, and mix until the filling is a spreadable consistency.
  11. Place a tablespoon of filling on the flat face a cookie then top off with another cookie, flat face towards the filling.

Slightly adapted from King Arthur

Chicago-Style Deep-Dish Pizza

Chicago-Style Deep-Dish Pizza

Are you ready to dive???

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So NASCAR has been interesting this week! From Saturday night’s race to Monday night’s penalties it was a really interesting week. Oh man. I still can’t believe that things got so far and intense at the end of the race and how that all played out on Monday. While I totally think that strategy is part of any sport it’s just unfortunate how it all played out during the last laps of the last race before The Chase with a suspected purposeful spin-out to bring out a caution and pitting when it was not needed just to help another teammate move up in the points to get into The Chase. And then the penalties on Monday were record setting with docked points that resulted in drivers moving in and out of The Chase, suspending the team GM indefinitely, a $300K penalty for Michael Waltrip Racing.

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Basically, I’m going to be really interested in how all this plays out for the drivers in the effected team for the rest of the races. Will people try to get back at them? Will they under a high powered microscope? Or will everyone play nice? Doubtful! But then it wouldn’t be the intense racing I love.

Anyway…

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Last year I surprised Price with a trip to Chicago for his 30th birthday. Totally surprised him. He didn’t know where we were going until we got to the gate. It was so awesome to plan something that big and surprise him with it. Also, it was so great to walk, sight see, and eat our way through the Windy City (which has nothing to do with wind).

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Of course we had to have deep dish pizza. And of course it was INCREDIBLE! Since then we have been hooked on it for it’s thick buttery crust, it’s ooey gooey cheesy layer that is topped off with meat and/or veggies and a chunky sauce.

This weekend’s kick off to The Chase is at Chicagoland Speedway so I just had to whip up a deep dish pizza for this week’s edition of Sprint Cup Snacks.

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Once you have the 14-Inch Deep Dish Pizza Pan it’s really easy to whip up since you can do the crust an hour before you need it (or make it in the morning like I did) and then it’s not all too different than making a regular pizza, but some extra baking time but it’s worth it. I filled our pizza with a combo of sautéed fresh veggies and a layer of sliced pepperoni. Soo delish!

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How can you resist?!?!?!

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Chicago-Style Deep-Dish Pizza

Makes 1-14″ deep dish pizza/12 servings

Ingredients

Crust

  • 4 cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 3 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
  • 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
  • 2 3/4 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or salad oil
  • 1 cup + 2 tablespoons lukewarm water

Filling

  • 3/4 lb. mozzarella cheese, sliced
  • 1 pound total of Italian sweet or hot sausage, cooked and sliced and/or chopped cooked meatballs, or pepperoni; or about 3 cups of the sautéed vegetables of your choice (mushrooms, onion, zucchini, broccoli, etc)
  • 28-ounce can plum tomatoes or chopped tomatoes
  • 2 to 4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced, optional
  • 1 tablespoon sugar, optional
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons of mixed dried Italian herbs (oregano, basil, rosemary), to taste
  • 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese

Process

To make the crust:

  1. Mix all of the dough ingredients together, and knead — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — to make a smooth crust. This will take about 7 minutes at medium-low speed in a stand mixer.
  2. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a kitchen towel, and let rise till very puffy, about 60 minutes. (It can hang out all day, if needed)
  3. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 425 degrees and prepare the 14-Inch Deep Dish Pizza Pan by spraying it with non-stick vegetable oil spray and then pour in 3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil, tilting it to cover the bottom of the pan, and partway up the sides.
  4. On a lightly greased countertop or baking mat, stretch and roll out the dough to make a circle large enough to cover the bottom and up the side of the pan.
  5. Place the dough in the pan and gently push it up the sides of the pan to stay in place. (It’s okay if some olive oil oozes over the edge of the crust) Let the crust rest for 15 minutes or so.
  6. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, until it’s set and only just starting to brown. While it’s baking, prepare the sauce.
  7. Drain the tomatoes thoroughly, remove the tough part where the stem connects to the tomato, then chop up. Combine the tomatoes with the herbs and garlic. Add the sugar and some salt and pepper to taste.
  8. Cover the bottom of the crust with the sliced mozzarella, fanning it into the crust. Add the meat/sautéed vegetables filling evenly over the cheese. Then top with the tomatoes and then sprinkle with the grated Parmesan.
  9. Bake the pizza for another 25 minutes, or until the filling is bubbly and the crust edge is golden brown.
  10. Remove it from the oven and allow the pizza to cool for about 15 minutes (or longer, for less oozing) before cutting and serving.

Sourced from King Arthur Flour

BBQ Bacon Wrapped Corn

BBQ Bacon Wrapped Corn – try taking your average grilled corn on the cob to the next level. A must make at your next summer BBQ.

Post from 8/23/18, Pictures updated 5/27/18

I’m so out of it this week.

I’m really thankful it’s Friday… Friyay… because this week felt like it was dragging and dragging.

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Cherry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cherry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

It was so chilly the other night that I couldn’t help but thinking of how summer is winding down and that I just have to deal with it. Fall is approaching whether I want it to or not. Don’t get me wrong, I love fall, but it’s that evil winter that follows that hurts. But on the positive side turning on the oven for roasting and baking will warm the house and smells will fill it up with love.

While I had really considered making meat pasties, a Michigan favorite, I couldn’t resist making another sweet cherry treat for this week’s edition of Sprint Cup Snacks for this weekend’s race at Michigan International Speedway. Especially since I’ve been craving sweets lately. So the idea of the sweet smell of cherries filling up the house was just too irresistible to pass up.

I had so much fun looking up desserts using cherries and while the idea of making coffee cake, blondies, and hand pies all sounded awesome I decided on making cookies. I have had cookies on the mind for weeks so I finally got to stretch my baking legs and but my mixer to use.

These Cherry White Chocolate Chip Cookies are some big cookies! I don’t think anything gets better than big fresh from the oven cookies. Well, maybe world peace but cookies can be homemade in under an hour so let’s just go with that. So grab a big glass of milk and a cookie (or a few) and enjoy!!

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Cherry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 24 large cookies

Ingredients

  • 4 1/4 ounces cake flour (1 cup)
  • 4 1/4 ounces all purpose flour (1 cup)
  • 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoons Kosher salt
  • 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 5 ounces light brown sugar (scant 3/4 cups packed)
  • 4 ounces granulated sugar (1 cup, plus 3 tablespoons)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 8 oz white chocolate chips
  • 5 oz dried cherries

Process

  1. Preheat theoven to 350 degrees. Line insulated baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
  2. Sift the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl with a wire whisk. Set aside.
  3. In bowl of electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until very light, about five minutes. Add in the egg and vanilla extract, mix well. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Stir in the white chocolate chips and dried cherries with rubber spatula.
  4. Use a cooking scoop or spoons to drop dough onto prepared baking sheet. Bake 13-15 minutes, or until golden brown and set in the middle.
  5. Allow cookies to cool on sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling racks to cool completely.

Sourced from Amanda’s Cookin’

Homemade Cheez-It’s

Homemade Cheez-Its

Post Contains Affiliate Links. Read my full disclosure HERE

Let’s just take a minute to reflect on what a week it has been for NASCAR. First, Kasey Kahne won the Pocono Race!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!! We were sooo excited for that win. Helps him in the Sprint Cup Standings to secure a spot in the Championship. Unfortunately, another driver is surely losing his spot in the Championship standings because of an accident. Tony Stewart was in a Sprint Car accident on Monday night that has resulted in him breaking his tibia and fibula in his right leg.  Already he has had 2 surgeries to repair the breaks, including a surgery in which they put a rod in his leg. I hope he has a quick recovery and can get back to racing soon.

Anyway, when I first started the Sprint Cup Snacks series I had planned on making wine slushies for this weekend’s race at Watkin’s Glen. The Finger Lakes Region of New York is becoming known for their fantastic wines and I have always wanted to have a wine slushy, which they serve up at the New York State Fair.

But guess what… if I can’t have a wine slushy now, you can’t have a wine slushy now!!!

So on to Plan B, which was to make Homemade Cheez-It’s because this race is the “Cheez-It 355 at The Glen”. Oh man, Plan B was such a good idea!!

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These Homemade Cheez-It’s are just killer. Flaky, crunchy, cheesy, salty, crackers that you can’t resist. Sure you can just buy a box of Cheez-It’s but you’ll want to give these a try just to prove to yourself that 5 ingredients (plus some seasonings) quickly turn into pop in your month tasty crackers. Plus as they puff up in the oven you get teased with the wonderful cheesy smell drawing you in.

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 The dough can easily be made in a food processor or in a stand mixer. The key thing is to keep the dough pretty cool so it is easy to work with. I chilled it every chance I got to make rolling it out easier, cutting easier, and then transferring easier. Get the picture? There are so many melty things (cheese, butter, and shortening) that is is very malleable but very tacky. Since you don’t flour your working surface it is really important to use the silpat/ parchment. Don’t skip that part! I only give these warnings to make the process super easy and fun… and ultimately tasty!

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Last year we loved watching the race at The Glen from our seats behind Kasey’s pit on Pit Road (!!) so I’ll miss going there this year but at least I have these homemade Cheez-It’s to enjoy while watching the race on Sunday.

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Homemade Cheez-It’s

Makes 7 dozen crackers

Ingredients

  • 8 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated
  • 3 Tablespoons of unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 Tablespoon vegetable shortening
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 cup flour
  • 2 Tablespoons ice water
  • Coarse salt for sprinkling

Process

  1.  Combine the cheese, butter, shortening, and salt in the bowl of your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or into a food processor fitted with a dough attachment. The mixture will be crumbly.
  2. Slowly add the flour mixing to combine. Slowly add the ice water. You may add a few more drops of water to help it come together but be careful not to add too much as you don’t want a wet dough.
  3. Divide the dough into 2 discs and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 30 minutes.
  4. Preheat oven to 375⁰F.
  5. Cover your work surface with a silicone mat or a piece of parchment paper. Roll each disc to be a 1/8 inch thick rectangle. Using a pastry wheel or pizza cutter, cut into 1 inch squares. Use a toothpick to punch a hole into the center of each square. Sprinkle the crackers with salt prior to transferring to a baking sheet. (If you have difficulty separating and transferring the crackers onto the baking sheet, place the mat back into the refrigerator for 10 minutes)
  6. Bake for 9-13 minutes or until puffed and just browning around the edges. Just be careful not to let them get too dark, it can happen quickly.
  7. Move crackers to a cooling rack.

Slightly adpated from In Katrina’s Kitchen