Gluten Free Cheese Its Recipe [Gluten-Free Cheez Its Crackers]

Note: This recipe was first posted on my original blog, Celebration Generation, on November 15, 2016. It was transferred over to this blog – existing comments and all – on 9/17/2021. This blog post was most recently updated on 1/14/2024.

Hey, did you know that Beyond Flour 2 came out a couple weeks ago?

Neither did I!

Well, I guess technically I DID… but between a convention, Halloween, the election, etc… I managed to completely forget to formally announce it.

Whoops!

I’m definitely more of a recipe developer than a book marketer, so dropping the ball on promoting it probably shouldn’t surprise me. Yikes, though.

It’s a great book, if I do say so myself.

After tackling a bunch of “Holy Grail” type recipes in the first Beyond Flour – Chewy cookies, stuffed pasta, perogies, proper pita bread, and more – I had even more confidence and experience when it came to developing the sequel, so I got to play around a bit more.

It’s fun to see what you can come up with, when you throw convention to the wind.

I’m particularly proud of the gluten-free graham crackers and hybrid tortillas – each of which make use of *one* specialty ingredient, which makes all the difference with each respective recipe.

In the graham crackers, that recipe’s secret ingredient means the difference between those vaguely cinnamon flavoured GF crackers that are labelled as “Graham crackers”, and proper graham crackers that are completely indistinguishable from the source material.

For the hybrid tortillas, THAT special ingredient meant the ability to create a tortilla that looks and acts like a flour tortilla, but with the taste of freshly roasted corn.

SCIENCE. I love it!

Also pretty proud of the bagels and soft pretzels, but I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging. 🙂

ANYWAY.

2 weeks late, I’d like to mark the occasion of the book release, by sharing one of the recipes from Beyond Flour 2: homemade cheese crackers.

Gluten-Free Cheez-Its

This gluten-free cheez its recipe is one of a few cracker recipes in the book, including butter crackers (Like Ritz), and a grainy rectangular cracker inspired by my favourite from my pre-GF days, Vinta.

I’ve just never really been into the commercially available GF crackers, you know?

They tend to cost an exorbitant amount of money, and tend to be either mini hockey pucks, or basically compressed powder.

Also: They almost always taste like sadness.

I wanted flaky, crispy crackers that tasted right. Buttery, flavourful homemade gluten free crackers with airy layers… that would also hold up to being served with toppings.

It was a tall order, but I did it!

These delicious gluten free cheese crackers were inspired by Cheez-Its… but they’re so much better.

The use of good cheese in these really elevates this copycat recipe over the source material, with a cleaner, clearer cheese taste.

These puff up significantly in the oven, yielding very flaky, buttery crackers. These crunchy crackers are the perfect snack time treat.

You may want to double the batch, as they go fast – literally by the handful!

Anyway, let’s get to it!

Ingredients

If you’ve done any of my gluten-free baking before, you’ll find that this gluten free cheese crackers recipe takes really basic ingredients. Anything you don’t have on hand should be easy to find in almost any larger grocery store.

The ingredient amounts and instructions are in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, but I have some notes for you on some of the ingredients.

Gluten Free Flour Blend

As with all of my gluten free recipes, this recipe uses a couple different types of gluten-free flour, plus a starch and a binder.

I don’t find the gluten free all purpose flour mixes to really mimic wheat flour universally. The flours and starches I choose are specific to each recipe, guaranteeing the best flavour, texture, and behaviour.

For this recipe, that mixture involves:

Corn Starch
Light Buckwheat Flour
Millet Flour
Xanthan Gum

Of those, the millet flour is the only one that I don’t use a TON of in my recipes. It’s best for savory recipes, especially breads.

Shredded Cheese

Cheese is obviously a key ingredient in homemade cheez-its.

I use 2 cheeses to give this delicious snack recipe the in your face cheese flavor you’re looking for in gluten-free copycat Cheez Its.

For the cheddar, I like to use sharp cheddar cheese / old cheddar cheese, as it packs a stronger cheddar cheese flavor and has more bite.

Orange is obviously more visually accurate, but you can definitely use an old white cheddar, if you prefer.

Just note: For the cheddar, a block of cheese is preferable to pre-shredded.

In addition to the cheddar, I use some shredded Parmesan cheese, to add a bump of savory, salty bite.

I’ve never tried making this recipe with anything but real cheese, but theoretically it would work with a dairy-free cheese.

If you happen to try this with a vegan cheez, let me know how it turns out, in the comments!

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need some unsalted butter and salt. That’s it!

Equipment

You’ll need a few basic pieces of equipment to make these delicious cheese crackers.

A food processor, for making the dough. If you don’t have a food processor, you can make it by hand – you’ll need a large mixing bowl and a pastry blender or potato masher.

A rolling pin – for rolling the dough out. I recommend using a Rolling pin with adjustable thickness guides, as it makes it easy to get a really level roll, at a specific thickness.

1 Inch Square Cookie Cutter, for cutting the crackers out. Multi Square Cookie Cutters are also available – they make it super fast to cut a bunch of crackers at once. That said, you can always cut them by hand, with a knife or pizza wheel.

Baking sheets and parchment paper – for baking these cheesy crackers.

Share the Love!

Before you chow down, be sure to take some pics of your handiwork! If you Instagram it, be sure to tag me – @BeyondFlourBlog – or post it to My Facebook Page – so I can cheer you on!

Also, be sure to subscribe to my free email newsletter, so you never miss out on any of my nonsense. Well, the published nonsense, anyway!

Finally, if you love this recipe, please consider leaving a star rating and a comment, and/or sharing the link on social media!