Serves: 24 Gluten-free Buttery “Ritz” Crackers

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 1 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour (I use Better Batter®)
• 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if using Better Batter®)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika (preferably smoked, but that can be hard to find, so don’t sweat it)
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt (or kosher salt), divided
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup cold water, with ice (ice does not count in the volume measurement)

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 375°. Line rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• Chop 4 tablespoons of butter that is still cold from the refrigerator, and place it in the freezer to chill. Place the other 2 tablespoons of butter in a small bowl, and melt it in the microwave. Allow it to cool while you make the cracker dough.
• In a large bowl, whisk well to combine the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, sugar, paprika, and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Remove the chopped butter from the freezer, and cut it in to the flour mixture (using either a pastry blender or two knives) until the mixture resembles small pebbles. Add the vegetable oil and stir to combine. Add the water a bit at a time, stirring constantly until the dough begins to come together, discarding the ice.
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator to chill for about 10 minutes.
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator, place between two large sheets of plastic wrap, and roll out about 1/8-inch thick (about the thickness of a nickel).
• Using whichever shaped cookie or biscuit cutter you like (I like the scallop-edged kind, since that is what the real Ritz look like), cut into shapes. With a toothpick, poke 4 to 6 random holes in each cracker, toward the center of the cracker to help them rise.
• Place evenly spaced on prepared baking sheets (they won’t spread, so you need not leave much space between them), and place one sheet at a time in the center of the prepared oven. Bake until just beginning to brown, about 7 to 10 minutes, depending upon how large your crackers are.
• Remove the baking sheet from the oven, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with remaining salt.
• They cool super speedy quick. Eat them.
• Notes
• Bean flour blends are NOT true all-purpose gluten-free flours. They do not behave like true all-purpose gluten-free flours. Pamela’s® Baking Mix is, similarly, NOT an all-purpose gluten-free flour. It is a multi-ingredient blend. Think of it like Bisquick®.