The other day I happened to catch the show ReWrapped on the Food Network. I was bored, and they were playing around with the Cheddar Goldfish. I love Goldfish crackers, so I had to watch.
The guy who won the first half (challenge: recreate the Goldfish crackers) was getting statements like “if I closed my eyes I’d never know the difference”. So I had to try the recipe.
Ok, cause its me, I didn’t exactly follow his recipe. Partially because I didn’t have 20oz of cheese on hand (seriously, a pound and a half of cheese??), I only had 16oz, so thats what I used. Partially because I HAVE read the ingredients listing for the Goldfish crackers and I knew that they contained paprika and onion.
They turned out really good. But they’re not “close my eyes and not know the difference” good.
I added a 1/4tsp of onion powder, and a bit less than 1/4tsp of paprika.
I only used 16oz of cheese instead of the 20 he calls for.
I didn’t make a goldfish cookie cutter, squares are just fine by me, plus it uses more of the dough.
Although he doesn’t say it I highly recommend chilling your dough before cooking. I chilled it for half an hour, rolled it out, cut it into squares (1/2″ or so), and chilled the squares for another 15minutes or so while the oven finished pre-heating. Pulled out enough for the first batch, and put the rest back in the fridge. One, the chilled dough is easier to work with, and two since we’re not using yeast the only leavening is the butter, and that works best when its chilled going into the oven. I might even try putting the cut crackers into the freezer next time.
When you’re cooking them make sure you space them out so that they aren’t touching each other. With that much cheese in them they’ll melt together if they touch (yah, I did that with the first batch, the dogs loved them).
I cooked mine at 350 for the full 15 minutes.
I don’t know how well they’ll store, with that much fat in them. None of mine lasted long enough for that to be an issue, but if you’re looking for something to make for snacks for the week I’m not sure this’ll work for you.
Over all I liked them alot, and will likely make the recipe again. But I’m still looking for that ideal copycat Goldfish recipe!
I love the idea of making crackers. I have given it a go a couple of times, and like you, they didn’t last long. However, they seemed like a lot of work for the number I ended up with. Mine were just plain cheese flavored…a bit of Parmesan added.
King Arthur Flour has a basic cracker recipe on their site that I’ve done a couple times, they’ll last several days to a week in a ziplock. But they are a pain to make.
I’m considering seeing if I can modify that recipe to re-create the goldfish flavor, I’ll have to see!