Buttery Cheese Crackers
Although I’ve declared my love for Feta far too many times, I also hold other cheeses close to my heart. I fact I have yet to taste a cheese that I dislike. And that’s why you can always count me in when it comes to an event that celebrates cheese like Loulou’s Fête Du Fromage.
So let’s see what I’ve been preparing for this Oktoberfest…uhm I mean Octobre Fête 
. I’m quite sure that not many of you heard about or had the chance to taste brânză de burduf, an authentic and emblematic Romanian cheese made using methods that are handed down for generations from shepherd to shepherd. Traditionally, brânza (also a generic name for cheese) de burduf is made from caş (that’s another type of cheese made from sheep’s milk or a combo between sheep’s and cow’s milk). The fresh cheese is pressed in blocks for several hours and placed in wooden barrels to ferment, after which it is crushed into a paste and salted. The paste is then stuffed into pine-bark cylinders or in a sheep’s stomach (or skin) that has been previously cleaned and sawed around the edges.
When it’s ready to eat you first feel it’s softness, then, as it’s specific tang makes an appearance, you can also feel that the texture is getting slightly grainy. There are simply no words that could accurately describe its taste! You’ll have to taste it yourself to get the most of its bold and delicious personality. So next time you’re near a Romanian deli or you plan a trip to this country don’t forget about brânză de burduf! It goes incredibly well with polenta.
This “cheesy” post 
made me ask myself what do I love just as much as any cheese in the world. The answer came quickly: why, crackers of course! Combining my two loves seemed like a great idea and that’s how today’s recipe came up to the surface.
Ingredients (makes about 20 savoury crackers)
- 250 g pastry flour
- 125 g unsalted butter (you don’t need full fat butter, 60% fat works just fine) – straight from the fridge
- 150 g brânză de burduf
- 1 egg yolk
- 150 g fresh sour cream
- 2 Tbsp dried (and chopped) green onion
- ½ tsp salt
Directions
Mix all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter cut into small pieces and work the pastry until crumbly.
Add the egg yolk, the cheese and the sour cream. Mix to form a ball. Don’t overwork the dough.
Shape into a 7 cm diameter cylinder, wrap and chill for two hours.
Slice up 6 slices (1 cm thick each), use your fingers to give them back their rounded shape if necessary and place them on your microwave crisp/pizza plate (make sure you distribute them evenly on the plate so that they have enough free space in between). Put the remaining dough back in the fridge till you bake the first batch.
Microwave them for 6 minutes on crisp, flip them over with a wooden spatula and microwave them for another 3 minutes on crisp. If you can’t flip them over without breaking them apart, get the plate out of the microwave and let them rest for 1-2 minutes before flipping them over (they will harden a bit). If you bake less or more crackers at a time you’ll need to adjust the time.
Transfer them to a paper towel coated plate to absorb the extra butter, pat them with another paper towel and allow them to cool for a few minutes. Use another paper towel to absorb the melted butter from the crisp plate (be careful the plate is hot at this point so don’t let your fingers touch it, only the paper towel!).
Get the dough out of the fridge and slice another 6 slices, place them on the crisp plate just like you did the first time but this time microwave them on crisp for only 5 minutes on their first side (that’s because the plate is not completely cold this time as opposed to the first batch) and for another 3 minutes on their other side.
Repeat the other steps for the remaining dough.
Enjoy! 
You’ve made me curious about brânză de burduf — I hope I have a chance to try it some day. I think a cheese cracker is an inspired idea and I’m so fascinated by the fact that these are baked in the microwave. Very cool!
All your recipes are wonderful Lore…but this cracker in particular is really very tempting..and I love that you bake these in a microwave
This post goes so much deeper than its title. Who would have thought “Buttery Cheese Crackers” would cover the 411 on brânză de burduf!
Thanks for all the information here. This cheese is new to me, and I appreciate that you added, “it goes well with polenta,” as if you were reading my mind. Now, to add this to the list of new foods I’m currently on the hunt for—a list that seems to get longer each month!
Brânză de burduf? never heard of it before.. but from the looks, I can imagine that it tastes heaven.
I think I have to search for the German name of it.
Thanks for adding my knowledge about cheese Lore.
what a fab looking (and named) cheese! Your photos had me salivating.
Oh yes buttery cheesy crackers how divine Lore - you really have great talent
Rosie x
I have never heard of that. It’s so cool! I always learn something new with every post of yours!
This is beautiful with a capital B!
Nice cheesey recipe there Lore! Do you think it would go with a nice wine? I think so. That would boost the morale too, come to think of it
WOW - awesome post… love the cheese. Thanks for sharing… will definitely be a regular visitor… keep up the good work
I love cheese. This looks succulent.
Looks delicious…
Even though I’ve never heard of it, I just know I’d loved it. I’ve never met a real cheese that I didn’t like.
Delicious! Don’t think I have ever tried this but I’ll never say no to a different type of cheese!
Fluffy as a cloud…take me away!!!!!!!!!!!!
how come all i can do is stare at your yummy post… really amazing, lore…
Hi perfect combo! I love cheese, but i have not had the Romanian chesse you have mentioned. I love crackers too… I wish I could make this, or even better get to taste yours. Love the second pic.. just too tempting..
Oh yummy, what a great melding of flavors.
When i read about the process for making that cheese all I could think was, “Who came up with that process and how?” You have to wonder if it was by accident or experimentation or drunken expermentation, or did it come to them in a dream?
Your crackers sound delicious.
So wait, it’s cheese… made from cheese? Sign me up!!
hey lore
cheers to youe buttery cheese crackers and hail to brânză de burduf, the Romanian cheese. Great work, here in South Africa, we get a variety of the cheese but i would love to taste this cheese .!
The branza sounds delicious… I must try to find a Romanian deli so I can try some!
nothing wrong with being cheesy every now and then.
Yum… cheese… butter… baked! Get’s my vote
Fascinating. I’ll have to see if I can happen upon a chunk of that lovely cheese!
I don’t know how you do it, but everytime your shots make your food so appetizing! These crackers are right up my alley!
What gorgeous cracker! I wish I had one right now.
Lore, as a lover of cheese this sounds and looks so good. Artisan cheeses are the best. Homemade crackers are even better. Homemade crackers with artisan cheese is fantastic!
I’ve never heard of that kind of cheese, but I know I want to try it now! Your crackers look fantastic!
I’ve never heard of this wonderful cheese but with all the Romanians in Italy (In Rome in particular) I should be able to find some…
Thanks for sharing.