"Competition" Crackers
My son has had a core group of friends since his school days. No matter where we moved, he found great people and hung on to them. One of them was Nick, whose mom had a secret weapon for having the boys want to play at their house. It was what the boys called “Heroin Crackers.” I wasn’t thrilled with the name of it (hence the recent name change!), but I was definitely intrigued. And to tell the truth, a little sad to discover that another mom had found a way to keep the kids at her place.
Fast forward from their 2005 high school graduation and even further into the future! We were getting ready to meet Nick at the train station in Kalamazoo because he was joining us for the holidays! It was 2015, and Nick was coming in from Chicago. My son had come in from New York.
I knew he’d join his mom soon, but while he was in my house, he was mine to feed! So I called his mom to make sure I had this recipe! We met Nick at the train station with a tin of these crackers, and he was so delighted!
Over time, the recipe was modified to replace the crackers with small pretzels; either twists or rounds, or use a combination of the crackers and pretzels. Be my guest to make them any way you like. Here’s the basic recipe.
“Heroin” Crackers (credit to Sandy Rohr)
Ingredients
1 1-oz packet Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing and Seasoning Mix
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon dried dill
1/4 tsp each lemon pepper* and garlic powder
1 16 ounce bag or box of oyster crackers.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degree.
You’ll need a small bowl to mix the oil, dressing mix, dill, lemon pepper, and garlic powder. Mix them completely.
Put the crackers into a 1 gallon ziplock bag and add the seasoning mixture. Seal the bag and toss the ingredients until well-coated.
Arrange the coated crackers in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Bake 15-20 minutes, until golden.
*I have made it leaving out the lemon pepper, and the flavor is still great.