Cheesy Carrot Sticks for Toddlers

​Cheese Carrot Sticks for Toddlers

Ever since I discovered that Ruby loves cheese crackers, I have been researching recipes for homemade cheese crackers.  I found this recipe for Carrot Sticks from the fantastic website Weelicious.  I modified the recipe by adding more cheese and salt and incorporating paprika which created a cheese cracker with the healthy bonus of carrots and a good amount of cheesy flavor.  They are pretty simple to make with one caveat; you will get your arm exercise for the day, or week, depending on how often you hit the weights.  Kneading the dough requires some arm strength and a bit of patience, but it is totally worth it.  I went ahead and doubled the recipe and froze half of them to use later.  (You can find directions for freezing them below.)  

Ingredients: 

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp salt

1 tsp paprika

1/2 cup carrot, finely grated

3 tbsp canola or vegetable oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix the dry ingredients and cheese together.  Add the finely grated carrots and mix together with your hands until the carrots are well incorporated into the dry mixture.   Add the oil and use your hands to knead the dough into a ball.  This will require some time and patience for the dough to come together.  Roll out on parchment paper to a 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut into 1/2 inch by 2 inch rectangles.  Place onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 17 minutes.  

Freezing directions: 

After the dough is cut into rectangles, but before they are baked, place them on a cookie sheet and freeze for 30 minutes- 1 hour.  Remove from the freezer and put into a freezer safe ziplock bag.  To bake, add 3-5 minutes to the baking time.