Recipe: Rosemary crackers for cheese

Can something be a tradition if you've done it twice? Let's go with yes. It's tradition now that Matt and I are in charge of the cheese board for Christmas Day. It's pretty much a no-brainer - we love cheese, and we'll go out of our way to stock it with exciting things. Not just cheese, in fact (although, did I mention that we love cheese?) but chutneys, crackers and fruit, too - grapes and Golden Delicious apples, if you're asking.

So we stocked up on an array of cheeses from Morrisons (their Mince Pie Wensleydale was a thing of beauty), chutneys from Waitrose (I highly recommend the plum and Bramley apple) and crackers from Jacobs. But we couldn't find rosemary crackers, no matter how hard we hunted. I know, I know, rosemary crackers are hardly an essential, but they're YUMMY, and we wanted them. It was CHRISTMAS, guys. We should be allowed what we want, right?

Anyway, I decided to see if making them was an option, and turns out it was. Actually, turns out it was incredibly easy. I don't know why I thought making crackers would be so complicated, as I've made biscuits and cookies countless times. Same principles, really.


I adapted a recipe from here, although there are tons of similar recipes out there. This kind of cracker is incredibly simple - just flour and oil, really - so they're vegan and dairy free, too. Kind of defeats the object if you're having them with cheese, but they're actually pretty tasty by themselves.

Rosemary Crackers for Cheese (adapted from here)

150g plain or wholemeal flour (I used plain)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1-2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped (about two sprigs)

1/2 tsp pepper

60ml olive oil

4-5 tablespoons water

Coarse sea salt, for sprinkling

Makes 20-25 crackers.

1. Heat the oven to 190c / Gas Mark 5
2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, rosemary, salt and pepper with a spoon.
3. Add the olive oil and the water, stirring until mixed.
4. Add a tablespoon or two more water if the dough is too dry. It should be crumbly, but hold together if you pinch it between your fingers.
5. Lightly flour a chopping board and roll out the dough as thin as you can with a rolling pin.
6. Cut out the dough with a cookie cutter, and place on a baking tray lined with parchment. Keep re-combining and rolling out the dough until it's all gone.
7. Sprinkle coarse sea salt and fresh rosemary over the top of the crackers, and lightly press into the dough with your fingers, then make small holes in each cracker with a fork.
8. Bake crackers for about 15 minutes, until lightly golden and crisp. These will keep well for a few days in a sealed container.