Ranch Crackers

I was recently asked to make some snacks and desserts for a candle party.  I immediately thought of those ranch-seasoned oyster crackers that I'm sure we've all had.  Those always seem to be a hit whenever they are served.  I thought they would be great as the "salty" snack item for the party.

While I was shopping for supplies and having a very difficult time finding oyster crackers (seriously?), I stumbled upon something fun:

Mini saltine crackers!  Of course I jumped at the chance to make the classic snack new with these fun crackers. 

Just how mini are they?  Each cracker is approximately 1 inch by 1 inch.  So many possibilities...

Anywho, I'm sure you all have the recipe for these oyster crackers (or you can find it on the internet), but I thought I'd share how I made these anyway. 

Items needed:

• Crackers--I used two 11-oz. boxes of mini saltines
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 envelope Ranch dressing mix
• 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
• 1 tsp. dill weed

One more sidenote:  You're supposed to buy the Ranch Dressing mix, but I apparently didn't pay close attention and bought the Ranch Dip mix.  I have to say that it didn't seem to make a difference.

Alrighty, here we go.

First, dump the crackers into a large bowl.  (I had little hands to help me with this task.)

Then measure your oil into a liquid measuring cup.  I like to use my 2-cup cup so I can mix all the seasonings in right in the measuring cup.  Use a whisk to incorporate the Ranch, garlic salt, and dill weed.

Then pour the oil mixture over the crackers, and carefully stir them until all the crackers are evenly coated.

Pour the crackers onto a cookie sheet.  I probably should have divided them between two cookie sheets.  Oh well.

Bake at 280 degrees for 40 minutes.  At least, that's how I baked mine.

My original recipe is from my grandma.  The sight of her handwriting is one of the most beautiful things to me.

Her recipe says to bake between 300 and 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  I recall past times when my crackers ended up a little more brown than I would have liked, so I set my oven to 300 this time.  Then I noticed that the crackers were a little brown straight out of the package, so I lowered my oven temp to 280.  Mine took 40 minutes, but you could probably do 300 degrees for 30 minutes. 

I stirred my crackers at 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 25 minutes, 30 minutes, and 35 minutes.  

The finished tasty crackers:

These taste just as good as the oyster cracker version.  Now I'm just thinking about what else I could make with these cute little crackers!

Jessica