I created this silly little jack-o-lantern on a whim this afternoon and paired it a few crackers and a bunch of apple slices as an afternoon snack for Miss G. Being that it was the first time I’d ever served her a jack-o-lantern made of cheese, I knew she’d really get a kick out of it, but she honestly thought it was the funniest, BEST thing EVER. Who knew a simple cheese snack could make someone’s day?
These little cheese crisps are Gracens ULTIMATE favourite snack. We don’t make them that often, but when we do, they have to be kept in a high cupboard hidden from both Grae and Bradley if they have any chance of surviving more than a day or two. They’re the kind of snack you pull out when your little one’s getting his or her hair cut, or when you’re attempting to complete a 10 kilometre seawall walk with your munchkin strapped into a stroller for an hour and a half. The bonus is that they’re ridiculously easy to make and take all of 3 minutes from start to finish.
All you need is some cheese (we normally use an all-natural cheddar and today we also tried some jalapeño havarti) sliced and cut into squares {the thickness doesn’t really matter – both thin and thick work perfectly} and a griddle or a frying pan and a stove top.
We start with the griddle unplugged and off so that Miss G can help out like a little sous chef should. Place the cheese squares on the griddle leaving plenty of space in between each (we placed ours too closely together today and ended up with a couple of GIANT cheese crisps).
Once your cheese is on the griddle, plug it in and crank it up to 300 degrees {when we use the stove, we just start with a hot frying pan over medium heat}.
Watch closely as the griddle begins to warm up and work its magic.
Give it a few minutes so that all of the cheese is fully melted and bubbly. Here’s the key… For the first bit, the cheese will look melty and very oily (yes, gross). But suddenly, the oil will seem to disappear and the cheese will look slightly browned, crunchy, and ‘dry’. Dry is the key. At this point, you want to use a spatula or flipper to remove the rounds from the griddle. Place them on a couple of paper towels to cool and use another paper towel to gently blot any extra oil from the tops of the crisps (I despise using paper towel because it’s not at all environmentally friendly, but I have tried using a cloth towel, and it just doesn’t seem to do the job quite as well).
When they’re done, your cheese crisps should look something like this.
Give a couple to your toddler and watch her gobble them up like you haven’t fed her in a week. Quickly hide the rest and hope they last longer than a day.
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