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)     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

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F on Convection mode and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Add dry ingredients to a large bowl. Using biscuit method, cut butter into dry ingredients with hands until butter is pea-sized form.
  3. Add remaining ingredients to bowl and mix until dough forms.
  4. 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.
  5. Place in oven for ten minutes or golden brown on edges.
  6. Set on cooling rack.

Smoked Cream Cheese

  1. In a medium sized bowl, soak apple and hickory wood chips in water for 30 minutes.
  2. Place cream cheese block on a quarter-sized sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
  3. Ignite grill on char-broiler side and adjust temperature to 225F (use the thermometer gage on the outside of grill lid).
  4. Strain from water and load the smoke box with apple and hickory wood chips. Place the smoke box on char-broiler side.
  5. Place sheet pan with cream cheese on opposite side of char-broiler. This will create indirect heat from wood chips to cream cheese.
  6. Smoke cream cheese for about an hour with grill lid closed.
  7. Set aside to cool.

Caramelized Onion Jam

  1. In a large bowl, toss sliced onions with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
  2. 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.
  3. Once caramelized, take pan off the heat and stir in apricot preserves and horseradish. Leave to cool in pan.

To serve:

  1. Smear smoked cream cheese on each caraway seed cracker. (*TIP*)
  2. A small amount of caramelized onion jam is placed on top of smoked cream cheese.
  3. 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.

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