Cheese Wafers with Pecans
Cheese Wafers with Pecans is a shortcut recipe for Cheddar cheese crackers with chopped pecans stirred in the dough and crowned with a whole pecan on top! These cheese pecan wafers taste like a cross between the traditional Southern cheese straw and a pecan-covered cheese ball.
Servings: 32 servings
Calories: 85kcal
Cost: 8
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup salted butter (1 stick), softened
- 8 (ounces) pre-shredded sharp cheddar cheese*
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)
- 32 pecan halves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
- Cut the softened butter in 4 pieces and place in a 4 quart food processor.
- Pulse the butter, scraping down the sides between pulses.
- Add the cheese and pulse until combined, scraping down sides between pulses.
- Add the flour and pulse until mixture forms a ball on the side of the bowl.
- If you are adding chopped pecans to the dough, add them now, then pulse two or three times just until combined. You can finish mixing them in with a spatula so you don't overwork the dough.
- Using a cookie scoop or your fingers, divide dough into 32 (one tablespoon) portions. You can also divide them into 16 (two tablespoon) portions for larger cheese wafers.
- Then, roll each portion into balls and place on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Using your fingertips, gently flatten the cheese wafer balls.
- Place a pecan half on top of each one and press down slightly.
- Bake for 15 minutes for smaller cheese wafers and 16 minutes for the larger cheese wafers. Remove from oven when the bottoms of the cheese wafers are slightly browned and the tops are firm. The edges will be slightly golden brown.
- Let the cheese wafers cool on thebaking sheet 1 minute, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
*You can also shred your own cheddar cheese from one (8-ounce) block of cheese.
Pro Tip: Pick out any broken pecan halves in the bag, first, and chop those for inside the dough, leaving the whole halves to put on top.
My shortcut trick to softening butter is to microwave (1200 watt) the whole stick straight from the fridge for 9 seconds on HIGH. Flip the stick of butter to the opposite side and microwave another 9 seconds.
No need to roast the pecans before baking these cheddar pecan wafers. The pecan halves will roast while baking on top of the dough.
Rice Krispie Cheese Wafers: It may sound a little odd, but stirring in 3/4 cup of puffed rice cereal like Rice Krispies instead of chopped pecans (or in addition to), before shaping into balls adds a ton of crunch.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cheese wafer with pecans | Calories: 85kcal