Homemade Goldfish

   This morning I had the best waking-up experience in quite a while.  My morning routine is to check my phone, my Facebook and my Gmail account before I even put my glasses on.  It's been about two weeks since I've heard anything from my husband.  Apparently internet is not too dependable in his neck of the woods.  This morning, however, I was rewarded with not one, but two emails from him.  Inside were four videos he's been making over the past two weeks, just waiting for a day when he had enough time and signal to send them to us.  It really brought a smile to my lips.

   Apparently he hasn't forgotten our theme song, and he can't wait to get his ass back home, but until then, we're still truckin' along.  Yesterday Monkey and I had fun making some snack time goodies.  We tried out another Pinterest recipe, this one for Homemade Goldfish.  They turn out great, if not as pretty as the originals.

Here's what you'll need:

8 oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
4 TBS butter, cubed
1 cup flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 TBS cold water

(Yeah; that's it!)

Combined cheese, butter, flour, and salt in a food processor.  Mix until it looks like course sand, like so:

Add water, 1 TBS at a time, pulsing after each addition.  Place dough on plastic wrap.  Wrap it up and let chill for 20 minutes in the refrigerator.

Remove from plastic wrap, roll out to about 1/4" thickness, and cut out various shapes.  I used a knife to make the fish shape.  You can also make your own cookie cutters from aluminum, or you can use icing tips or small cookie cutters.  I love that you can make virtually any shape you wish.  I'm thinking hearts for Valentine's Day, snowflakes for Christmas, etc.  Anyway, once you get your "fish" cut out, lay them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until crispy.  The amount of crackers your dough yields will depend on the size of the cutter you use.  The original poster said she got about 7 dozen out of hers.  I didn't count, but that sounds about right.

Our assorted shapes

 My favorite part about these Goldfish is the fact that they're cheesier than the originals, and you know exactly what goes into them.  Enjoy!