Herbed Goat Cheese Shortbread Crackers

The month of February has long come and gone. (Can you believe it’s May already?!?!) Along with it was my friend Anna‘s annual Oscar party. It is a yearly tradition among our group of friends where we drink, talk about all the movies we still haven’t seen, critique celebrity outfits, and wonder why “How to Train Your Dragon” didn’t win all the categories. After last year’s lamb meatballs I knew that I couldn’t disappoint the hungry party goers. This year I brought along herbed goat cheese shortbread crackers and let’s just say that my award-winning Oscar party snack streak continues. Why separate the cheese from the crackers when you can combine them into one?

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 Tbsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp. dried parsley
• 1 tsp. celery seed
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 cup goat cheese

Procedure:

1. Combine all of your dry ingredients—flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, parsley, celery seed, and oregano—into a large bowl or food processor.
2. If using a food processor, add in butter and goat cheese and pulse until everything is incorporated. Large crumbs will form and then after a bit longer you will start to see a loose dough coming together. This can be done manually with a pastry blender by cutting the goat cheese and butter into the dry ingredients.
3. After a loose dough is formed, roll in plastic wrap into logs and chill for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat your oven to 375˚F.
5. Slice dough into 1/4″ rounds and place on baking sheet. Put in oven and bake for 16 minutes, flipping crackers over after 8 minutes.
6. Cool and serve. (I paired it with blackberry jam to spread on top.)

Now it’s time to start thinking about next year’s winning appetizer—any suggestions?