Cheese Crisps (LSCDL Recipe)

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Cheese Crisps (LSCDL Recipe)

These do seem to be a hit with the men folk! Not having a full box of

them on the dinner table when my folks come for dinner causes frowns. My

husband, who can take or leave Krivel Krackers (something which astounds

me!), happily munches these.

“Cheese Lace” as it can be called, can be found in many recipe books and

on the Net. This is simply the basic way I've come up with to do it

quickly, efficiently, and in sufficient quantities to keep the household

happy!

I bought eight toaster oven trays after I spent all day making a single

half-pound batch in the toaster oven. You can actually get away with one

toaster oven tray by using large cookie sheets, molding release foil to a

toaster oven tray, and then setting it on the cookie sheet for support.

People who don't want to use foil can use parchment. Now I can do two

pounds of cheese at once! Two pounds of cheese yields about 1 pound of

cheese crisps.

Place the oven racks in the upper two-thirds of the oven. Sprinkle four

ounces of grated cheddar (or other legal cheese) evenly into each toaster

oven tray. Place four toaster oven trays on each shelf of a pre-heated

oven – in the toaster oven, it was set at 150°F; in the large oven, 215°F

works the best. Let heat for about two hours. Remove, and see if it is

slightly dry, but still a little flexible. You don't want it gooey! If it

is dry, but still slightly flexible, remove the trays one at a time and

turn out onto a clean muslin towel. Use sharp scissors and cut each

rectangle into a dozen pieces. I cut it in half, then each half in half,

then each quarter in three.

Place on paper towels or muslin towels and place back in the oven for

another hour. The towels help wick most of the oil away.

If you have an Excalibur dehydrator, I bought a set of bar wipes (you can

also use flour sack towels) at Sam's Club, which I fold on the dehydrator

trays. Place the chips on it and just let them dry at 150°F overnight.

If you do not have a dehydrator, you can lay the wipes on the trays,

place the crisps in them, and put them back into the oven at the low

temperature for a couple of hours.

The bar wipes soak up the oil, and then I can just toss them in the

washing machine, instead of wasting roll after roll of paper

towels[1]. With the folded bar wipes, three

toaster trays of crisps fit on one dehydrator tray, but it is a good idea

to leave a shelf empty after two shelves of crisps to be sure the air can

circulate properly.

Crisps store just fine at room temp; mine haven't lasted long enough to

say how long they’ll store.

Cheese crisp variations can make all sorts of great snacks. Using

different cheeses and different spices, you can make a lot of different

tastes. Trust me -- the straight cheese crisps are what both Doritos® and

Cheetohs® wish they were.

[1] However, do wash them separately -- my husband

made the mistake of tossing a set of his tee shirts in with a set of

crisp cloths and ended up with cheese-scented tee shirts. Which he

said he didn't mind, except it made him hungry all the time...

—

Marilyn

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

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