Gold Fish Cracker Fail

I think it's safe to assume that we all love the little yellow fishy shaped crackers of cheesy goodness. I know in our house that if I buy a bag, it doesn't last a day. Because these suckers are expensive to buy, I scoured the internet to find a recipe for them. I was thrilled when I found the recipe here. It seems so simple to make. Especially with my nifty Ninja food processor. (By the way, if you don't own a Ninja, you must buy one. I don't know how I lived without mine.) I made several mistakes while trying to make these, but I'm positive now that I know what I did wrong, I should be able to make this again without ruining them in the process...or so I hope. One thing to make note of for myself. Trying to bake when tired equals some serious issues.

Here is the recipe and where I went wrong.

Ingredients

8 ounces weighted sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
4 Tbsp of butter, cubed
1 Cup flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp of water

Directions

Pulse everything together (except water) in a food processor until the dough resembles coarse sand. (Mistake #1...I had shredded 8 ounces of cheddar cheese...it wasn't enough.)

Pulse in water 1 Tbsp at a time.
(Mistake #2...I didn't use enough water, resulting in a crumbly dough)

Remove dough from processor. Wrap in plastic and chill for 20 minutes.




Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes. You can use a toothpick to make the eyes and the smile. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes or until crispy.
(Mistake #3...I should have set my timer for 10 minutes as 15 was too long.)

As you can see by the picture on the right, the crackers look a little over cooked and are not exactly the right color. My husband thinks they are great. I, however in my perfectionism think they could be sooo much better.

 I will try this recipe again in a couple of weeks after I get over the fact that I can't be perfect in the kitchen 100% of the time.

According to the recipe, the dough should make close to 7 dozen crackers. I didn't count, but I'm assuming I got close to that.