Sea Salt Crackers With Goat Cheese And Apricot Topping Recipes

SEA SALT CRACKERS WITH GOAT CHEESE AND APRICOT TOPPING

Steps:

• In small bowl, beat goat cheese until smooth and creamy. Spoon onto serving plate.
• In small microwavable bowl, microwave jam uncovered on High 15 to 30 seconds or until melted; stir. Spoon over cheese. Garnish with herbs. Serve with crackers.

GOAT CHEESE AND THYME CRACKERS

Steps:

• In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment blend the goat cheese and butter until smooth. Add the thyme, zest, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Taste a bit, and season with more salt, if needed and add a few grinds of pepper. Add the flour and blend until smooth. Remove the dough and using a piece of plastic wrap to guide and mold, roll the dough into an 8-inch long log. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Heat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Remove the dough log from the refrigerator and cut into 1/3-inch discs. Place on an ungreased parchment paper-lined baking sheet, about an inch apart. Bake until golden on top and set, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and slide the parchment off of the baking sheet and onto a cooling rack with the crackers still attached. Cool completely before eating.

AMARETTO CHEESE-FILLED APRICOTS

Steps:

• In small bowl, mix cream cheese, 1/4 cup of the almonds, the cherries and amaretto with spoon. Spoon into small resealable food-storage plastic bag. Cut 1/2 inch off 1 corner of bag.
• With fingers, open apricots along one side so they resemble partially open clamshells. Pipe about 1 teaspoon cheese mixture into each apricot.
• Finely chop remaining almonds. Dip cheese edge of apricots into almonds. Refrigerate 1 hour before serving to chill.

SEA SALT AND PEPPER CRACKERS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F with racks in upper and lower thirds. Brush 2 large baking sheets generously with oil.
• Toast 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper in a dry small skillet (not nonstick) over medium heat, shaking skillet occasionally, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Cool pepper.
• Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon table salt in a bowl (or pulse in a food processor). Add shortening and blend into flour mixture with a pastry blender or your fingertips (or pulse in processor) until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size lumps. Drizzle evenly with 1/2 cup ice water and gently stir with a fork (or pulse) until incorporated.
• Squeeze a small handful: If it doesn't hold together, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until incorporated, then test again.
• Divide dough into 2 portions and flatten each into a 3-inch square.
• Roll out each square on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 20- by 8-inch rectangle. Trim edges and sprinkle each sheet with teaspoon toasted pepper. Run rolling pin lightly over dough to embed pepper in pastry. Brush each sheet with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon sea salt.
• Cut sheets crosswise with a small sharp knife into 1-inch-wide strips (straight or wavy). Arrange strips evenly spaced in 1 layer on baking sheets and bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, 16 to 20 minutes total. Transfer to racks to cool.

CRISPY ROSEMARY SEA SALT FLATBREAD CRACKERS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a silicon mat or parchment paper.
• Place flour, salt, sugar, and grated cheese in a mixing bowl. Stir together until well mixed. Add rosemary; drizzle with olive oil and add water. Mix with a fork until mixture comes together in a fairly sticky dough and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Transfer dough onto floured surface and add flour as you knead the dough. Knead until it no longer sticks to work surface, 4 to 5 minutes. Divide dough in half.
• Dust work surface with flour. Roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness or less. Brush or mist surface of dough very lightly with water. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Prick the entire surface of dough with the tines of a fork to prevent crackers from puffing too much when baking.
• Cut each rolled out half into about 30 pieces with a pizza wheel. You can cut them out in squares, rectangles, or triangles--your choice. Transfer onto prepared baking sheet with a bench scraper or your floured fingers (dough will be very sticky).
• Bake in preheated oven until perfectly browned and crunchy, 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness.

TAPENADE GOAT-CHEESE CRACKERS

Steps:

• In a food processor or in a large bowl with a pastry blender pulse or blend flour and salt. Cut butter into small pieces. Add butter to flour mixture and pulse or blend until mixture resembles coarse meal. Measure 1/3 cup goat cheese, reserving remainder for serving, and break into small pieces. Add cheese to flour mixture and pulse or blend until mixture just begins to form a dough. Halve dough and roll out each half between sheets of parchment paper into a 12- by 10-inch rectangle (about 1/8 inch thick). Chill rectangles in parchment on baking sheets until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375°F. Transfer 1 rectangle of dough on baking sheet to a work surface and remove top sheet of parchment. Working quickly and using a ruler as a guide, cut rectangle into 1 1/4-inch squares without separating squares. (If dough becomes too soft to work with, freeze or chill on parchment and baking sheet until firm.)
• Bake crackers on parchment and baking sheet in middle of oven until golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool crackers on parchment on a rack. (Crackers will continue to crisp as they cool.) Cut and bake more crackers with remaining rectangle of dough. With a spatula carefully remove crackers from parchment. Goat-cheese crackers may be made 5 days ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature.
• Spread crackers with reserved goat cheese at room temperature and top with tapenade.