What is a cheese cracker variety if some sort of herby goat cheesy thing isn’t in the mix? Well, guess what today is? For Day 3, take that base cheese cracker dough, mix in some soft, fresh goat cheese, a bunch of chives and a clove of garlic and you’ve got a rather tasty little cracker.
This dough, due to the goat cheese, will be very soft but rolls quite beautifully. Make sure you keep your surface and the top lightly floured and it moves like a dream. Also, I’ve found this one shrinks up a bit during baking so consider going a size up on your cutter to account for this.
Look for those short, fat logs of soft goat cheese or chèvre in your grocery store. I made this accidently once with a honeyed goat cheese (didn’t know that was a thing …?) and it worked just fine so if you can only find a flavored or herbed goat cheese, don’t let that stop you. Can’t find chives (or don’t want to pay for them?) Scallion greens will work, just dice them very finely. I served this one with a nice soft block of Boursin, that creamy herby garlicky cheese I am unnaturally attached to, and it was mighty nice. The cracker flavors reinforce the cheese flavors and visa versa. Just lovely.
To start: base cracker doughs
Day 1: Cheddar Old Bay Crackers
Day 2: Blue Cheese & Fig Crackers
GOAT CHEESE & CHIVE CRACKERS
Makes about 6 dozen or so 1 ½” sized crackers
For this one to be nice and crispy, they’ll bake up rather dark. Keep an eye on them during baking and make sure to rotate the sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking.
¼ cheese base cracker dough
2 ounces soft goat cheese, crumbled
3 Tablespoons finely chopped chives
1 large garlic clove, very finely minced
¼ teaspoon coarse ground pepper
- Into the bowl of a standing mixer, break the cool but pliable base dough into several small pieces.
- Add the goat cheese and mix on low until the cheese just starts to work in – maybe 30 seconds or so. Do not overmix.
- Add the chives, garlic and pepper and mix on low until just combined, about another 30 seconds or so. Do not overmix.
- Between two sheets of lightly floured parchment paper or plastic wrap, roll 1/3 of the dough to about 1/8-1/16” thick. Repeat with the remaining dough. If the dough sticks to the pin, add a bit of flour or pop the sheet back into the fridge to chill.
- Slide the dough sheets onto a sheet pan and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes or up to 2 days, tightly wrapped.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and place the racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven.
- Remove one dough sheet from the fridge, remove the top sheet of parchment/plastic wrap and cut shapes with a 1 ½” cutter (or any cutter /shape you like).
- Transfer shapes to a parchment lined sheet pan, ¼” apart.
- Bake for 7-8 minutes until golden brown and firm, rotating the pans front-to-back and top-to-bottom halfway through baking. Keep an eye on them – they go from perfect to burnt in seconds.
- Slide the parchment from the sheet pan and let the crackers cool on a wire rack.
- Crackers will keep, tightly wrapped, for 5 days.
- Do ahead: you have a bunch of options. Remember the holidays are stressful enough. Don’t add to it if you can help it.
- Base dough: refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months
- Flavored dough: refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months
- Rolled dough sheets: refrigerate up to 2 days or freeze up to 1 month (the thinner sheets are a little tougher to wrap tightly and have a tendency to dry out faster.)
STRESSCAKE 
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