My youngest son & me

My youngest son & me

About me

Hi!
My name is Tanja (Sater) Miller and I'm excited about sharing my journey of converting my favorite recipes to gluten free! I am not a fancy cook - I prefer just a casual, fun meal. I am married with grown children (and have small grandchildren) & 3 dogs. I work full time as a registered nurse & I am a geek. Yes, I love Star Trek, Star Wars, Fringe, Firefly, Farscape and most of the other Scify shows. You will probably see a little of my geek side come out once in a while! Please join me on my journey of cooking, baking & converting every day recipes into yummy gluten free meals that everyone can enjoy (not just those with a gluten allergy!) Don't be shy about checking out my recipes....I have the gluten free version along with the regular recipe that I adapted from!

Friday, December 7, 2012

Cheese Crisps

Cheese Crisps! Seriously...baking can't get any easier than these! I had these for the first time at a very upscale brunch and fell in love with these crispy cheesy bites! The chef shared his culinary secret with me: baked shredded cheese. Yep, that is it! This takes the place of those little cheese crackers that are wonderful with dips and with a glass of wine. These are low carb and gluten free. You can change it up with flavored cheeses. Two of my favorite cheeses to use are Mediterranean herb or Chipotle Chile Pepper Cheddar cheese. The traditional standby Cheddar, Co-Jack, Gouda, Pepper Jack or Swiss cheeses work great too. They are also fabulous salad toppers in place of croutons and a great replacement for the french fried onions on top of green bean casserole.

Everyone loves these crisps and anyone with a gluten allergy or those watching their carbs can eat them so they are a must for happy hour or holiday appetizers. They also make a great hostess gift paired with a bottle of wine! They are so SIMPLE to make! (It is also a great way to use up any leftover cheeses from party trays). They spread as they bake so each one will have a lacy snowflake pattern. You can also customize the flavor by adding seasonings like rosemary, basil, pepper, Italian seasonings, etc. that will bake into the cheese as it melts.

Cheese Crisps:

Your favorite shredded hard cheese or semi-hard cheese

Place small piles of shredded cheese (you want to make sure they are in mounds because they will flatten when baking) onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for about 7-12 minutes or until brown and crispy. (These should be crispy like a potato chip). You can make them bite sized or larger for dips. You can also sprinkle shredded cheese evenly onto the parchment lined baking sheet rather than making mounds and then break them into pieces later which works fine as croutons or topping for casseroles but doesn't look quite as elegant as the lacy round patterns when making the mounds for individual crisps. I remove the crisps from the parchment paper and place on a brown paper grocery bag or newspaper to let the grease drain off so they get crispy as they continue to cool. (The cheese has fat in it so it will drain out as they are baked).

Shredded cheese on parchment paper prior to baking
One of my favorite cheeses to use for cheese crisps

Stacked Cheese Crisps

Nice Lacy patterned cheese crisp

Pile of yummy deliciousness! :)

Up close look at a larger cheese crisp. Nice lacy pattern.

I hope you enjoyed this super easy but delicious recipe. Gluten free doesn't mean it has to be expensive or difficult.

Tanja
Gluten Free Casually

2 comments:

  1. What kind of dip would be used for these? I'll have to try this over green beans and salad now that I'm trying a low carb meal plan. Thanks for the awesome recipe. how can these be stored? and how long would these be good for?

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  2. You can use these with any type of chip dip, cheeseball, artichoke spinach dip, etc. Basically anything you would use a cracker you can substitute a cheese crisp. You can store them in ziploc bags or rubbermaid containers after they are cooled completely (doesn't require refrigeration if they are baked crispy). They don't last long at my house but I would recommend eating them without 6-8 weeks for best freshness since they don't have preservatives.

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