*** Homemade Cheeze-Its

• 1 stick (8 Tbsp) cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
• 4 oz extra-sharp orange cheddar, grated (about 1 cup)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/8 tsp freshly ground white pepper
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Put the butter, cheese, salt, white pepper, and cayenne in a food processor and pulse until the butter is broken up into bits and the mixture forms small curds, like cottage cheese. Add the flour and pulse until well combined. It will now look more like wet couscous. Add the Worcestershire sauce and pulse again. The dough should be moist and come together in your hands.

Turn the dough onto a work surface and knead it once or twice until ti forms a ball. Pat it into a disk, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Roll the dough out a scant 1/4 inch thick. (If the dough seems sticky, flour the work surface, though you probably won't need to.) Using a fluted wheel cutter and a ruler, cut the dough into long 1-inch-wide strips, and then cut the strips into 1-inch squares. Gather and reroll the scraps and continue cutting.

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. The crackers won't expand, so you can fit them fairly tightly. Make a small hole in the center of each cracker with a skewer or the stem on an instant-read thermometer. A toothpick isn't quite big enough.

Bake for about 15 minutes, until the crackers darken just a bit. Cool completely on a rack and store in a cookie tin for up to a week. Makes 70-80 crackers.

Makes 8 servings, 220 calories each.