Luxury crackers with blue cheese dip

I confess I made this dip just so these crackers could become a canapé of sorts, but it has turned out to be totally delicious and, even better, is made in a couple of minutes. This was a necessity this week as time was very short with the arrival of Skye, our new puppy, a total time waster, but very very lovely. The crackers take a bit longer, mainly because they are cooked in a lowish oven for a while, but they are definitely worth the time. If you like those pricey upmarket crackers you can buy, you need to give this one a try. Plus you can keep half of the part baked crackers in the freezer, so you need never run out. Either to accompany the totally irresistible dip or simply to serve with your cheese board, this one has to be sampled.

Crackers

Ingredients

250ml milk

60g plain Greek yoghurt

50g soft brown sugar

150g plain flour

3 tsp baking powder

60g rolled oats

60g dried fruit (I used cranberries)

30g sunflower seeds or seed mix

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp dried rosemary

1/4 tsp dried thyme

Salt and pepper

Method

Oven 180° or 160° fan

Grease and line a long narrow loaf tin, mine was 8cm x 23cm x 7cm (w x l x d).

Whisk together the milk, yoghurt and sugar.

Mix all the dry ingredients together and add the milk mix. Stir thoroughly.

Pour into the prepared tin and bake for approx 25 mins. Cook until a skewer comes out clean.

Cool and cut the part baked loaf into half at this stage unless you want loads of crackers. Wrap and freeze both pieces.

When completely frozen (they can be left for a few hours or 3 months!) remove from the freezer, allow to start defrosting for 10 minutes and then slice the loaf, with a serrated knife, into thin slices. Think cracker size at this stage.

Heat oven to 150° or 130° fan

Cut each slice into half and place on a lined baking sheet. They can be close together as they are going back in the oven to dry and become golden, not to rise.

Cook for 30-40 minutes. They can go from gold to almost burnt quite quickly, so keep an eye on them.

When golden in colour, remove from the oven and cool on a baking sheet. They will keep in an airtight container (with a silica gel sachet - see notes) for 4 or 5 days.

Blue Cheese Dip

Ingredients

40g blue cheese, I used St Agur

80g cream cheese, I used Philadelphia

2 tbs sour cream

1/2 tsp finely chopped chives plus a few extra for decoration

Method

Put everything into a food processor and whiz together until smooth. Put into a small dish and keep, covered in the fridge until required (it will keep 2 or 3 days). Sprinkle with more chives to serve.