Basil, Walnut and Pecorino Spelt Crackers

I think I can say that home made cookies and home made crackers are the best. What do you think? Most of the time I bake sweet cookies but once in a while I crave after something salty, something savoury… like these crackers. 

I was curious where the crackers come from so I searched the internet and I found this: “Crackers are said to have been invented in 1792 when John Pearson of Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA made a pilot-like bread product from just flour and water that he called Pearson’s Pilot Bread. An immediate success with sailors because of its shelf life, it also became known as hardtack or sea biscuit. This was the first cracker bakery in the United States, and produced crackers for more than a century.

The real revolutionary moment in the life of the cracker came in 1801 when another Massachusetts baker, Josiah Bent, burned a batch of biscuits in his brick oven. The crackling noise that emanated from the singed biscuits inspired the name – crackers – and a bit of ingenuity, as Bent set out to convince the world of the product’s snack food potential. By 1810, his Boston-area business was booming, and, in later years, Bent sold his enterprise to the National Biscuit Company, which now does business under the Nabisco name.”

Now that I’m writing this post, watching this mouthwatering photos I know I have to bake them again this afternoon… yes, it’s this addictive. The good news: baking these crackers is easy as it gets.

In a bowl crumble the cold butter with the flour. Add salt, cheese, basil and walnut. Mix everythig together until incorporated. Divide the dough into half and transfer each of them to clingfilm and shape into logs (10-12 cm long, 3-4 cm diameter). Wrap well and place in the fridge until hard, at least 1 hour.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 170C (325F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Unwrap the logs and cut crosswise into 5 mm thick slices. Arrange the crackers on the prepared pan. Bake the crackers until golden brown on the edges and lighter in the centre (for about 15 minutes). Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. The crackers will keep in an airtight container in cool dry place for up to 10 days.