“Cheez-Its are a thing of beauty, especially when you’re late-night snacking with gal pals. Because we challenge all great late-night snacking with a sense of ‘from scratch’ wonder, we just had to challenge how in the world they packed all that cheddar into those little cheesy crackers. We took our results to a whole other level with the help of sweet, spicy, fermented kimchi, a required refrigerator ingredient if you’re in the Momofuku family.”
- 1 cup kimchi (store-bought or homemade)
- 3⁄4 pound cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 1⁄3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 packet (1⁄4 cup) cheddar powder
- 1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Blue Cheese Dip (recipe follows)
“You can buy cheddar powder at Amazon or kingarthurflour.com. It’s the same stuff that comes in packets in boxed macaroni and cheese!”
- Put the kimchi in a strainer lined with cheesecloth set over a bowl and let it drain in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours.
- Heat the oven to 250°F.
- Remove the kimchi from the strainer and discard the liquid (or use it to make kimchi Bloody Marys!). Put the drained kimchi in a food processor and puree it until it’s completely smooth.
- Combine the kimchi puree and shredded cheddar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together until very smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape the bowl down with a spatula, add the flour, cheddar powder, and cayenne, and mix until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl down again and mix on low for an additional minute. The dough will be very stiff. If it’s too much for your mixer, finish kneading it by hand.
- Divide the dough into 6 portions and shape into balls. Put each ball between two sheets of parchment or wax paper and, using a rolling pin, roll it to a cracker-like thinness, about 1⁄8 inch.
- Remove the top piece of paper from each dough round and then, using a paring knife or a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 1-inch squares. You should get about 40 small crackers from each round. Transfer to greased or lined baking sheets. You will need about one baking sheet per dough round; bake them off in batches.
- Bake the crackers for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 180°F and bake for another 8 minutes, or until the crackers are completely dry and just starting to brown on the edges. Cool completely.
- Serve with the blue cheese dip.
Blue Cheese Dip (makes 2 cups)
- 2 tablespoons dried chives
- 2 tablespoons onion powder
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1⁄2 teaspoon sugar
- 1⁄8 teaspoon dried dill
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1⁄4 cup mayonnaise, preferably Kewpie
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1⁄4 pound good blue cheese, such as Stilton, crumbled
- Mix the dried chives, onion powder, salt, garlic powder, pepper, sugar, and dried dill in a small bowl.
- Whisk together the sour cream, mayo, and vinegar in a medium bowl. Add the seasoning mix and stir until completely incorporated. Stir in the blue cheese, smashing it a little along the way to break it down.
- Let the dip sit for at least 3 hours in the fridge to develop flavor. It will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
