Caraway Crackers with Smoked Cream Cheese and Caramelized Onion Jam
It is time to drop the box of crackers and make some of your own! This is a great appetizer to entertain guests with using the smoke box for the grill and slow cooking some onions on the stove.
LEVEL: Easy
YIELD: 25 servings (2 cracker appetizers per person)
Ingredients
Caraway Crackers
- 1 ¼ cups              All-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp                    Onion powder
- ¼ tsp                    Garlic powder
- ¼ tsp                    Chili powder
- 1 tsp                     Salt (+ more for garnishing)
- ¼ tsp                    Smoked paprika
- 4 tbsp                  Butter, salted
- ¼ cup                   Water
- 1 tbsp                  Honey
- 1 tsp                     Caraway seeds (+ more for garnishing)
Smoked Cream Cheese and Onion Jam
- 8 oz (1 block)Â Â Â Â Cream Cheese
- ¼ cup                   Apple wood chips
- ¼ cup                   Hickory wood chips
- 2 cups                  Water
- 2 cups                  White onion, sliced
- ½ cup                   Apricot preserves
- ¼ cup                   Horseradish
Method of Preparation
Caraway Crackers
- Preheat oven to 400°F on Convection mode and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add dry ingredients to a large bowl. Using biscuit method, cut butter into dry ingredients with hands until butter is pea-sized form.
- Add remaining ingredients to bowl and mix until dough forms.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out as thinly as possible. Using a 2 ¾ inch fluted cookie cutter, cut out as many crackers as possible (approximately 50 crackers). Place on lined baking sheet.
- Place in oven for ten minutes or golden brown on edges.
- Set on cooling rack.
Smoked Cream Cheese
- In a medium sized bowl, soak apple and hickory wood chips in water for 30 minutes.
- Place cream cheese block on a quarter-sized sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
- Ignite grill on char-broiler side and adjust temperature to 225F (use the thermometer gage on the outside of grill lid).
- Strain from water and load the smoke box with apple and hickory wood chips. Place the smoke box on char-broiler side.
- Place sheet pan with cream cheese on opposite side of char-broiler. This will create indirect heat from wood chips to cream cheese.
- Smoke cream cheese for about an hour with grill lid closed.
- Set aside to cool.
Caramelized Onion Jam
- In a large bowl, toss sliced onions with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Using a 10-inch non-stick pan, add onions and caramelize on low heat for about 25-30 minutes, stirring frequently with a rubber spatula.
- Once caramelized, take pan off the heat and stir in apricot preserves and horseradish. Leave to cool in pan.
To serve:
- Smear smoked cream cheese on each caraway seed cracker. (*TIP*)
- A small amount of caramelized onion jam is placed on top of smoked cream cheese.
- This small appetizer can be garnished with chives or micro greens.
(*TIP*) A piping bag fitted with a star tip can be used for the smoked cream cheese if preferred as shown in recipe image.
