We’re having a cheese-cracker renaissance in our house. It started when I sent Gus out to pick up something to take to a party. A grown-up party. I thought he was going to come back from the store with a nice bottle of wine. Maybe some fancy cheese. Nope. He bought Goldfish.

I was more than a little embarrassed. Our hosts also seemed skeptical. I decanted the paper bag into a bowl and ran away. But guess what? The Goldfish were a huge hit. At first one or two people started nibbling tentatively. Then a few more. Soon everyone was eating them compulsively and sharing childhood Goldfish memories. They made the party. And we all realized that they were much more delicious than we had ever remembered.

So now we’re in the habit of picking up the occasional package of Goldfish or Cheez-Its for our own snack pantry. And they really hit that pre-dinner sweet spot. But, well, you know me. I’m a baker. I couldn’t just keep buying store-bought cheese crackers and feel good about it. I needed to make my own contribution to the cheese-cracker revival of 2014.

Good thing the people at Food52 are into that kind of stuff. They asked me to bake up a homemade version of Cheez-its for their Small Batch column. Turns out the from-scratch-its are even better. Well of course they are: real cheese! Click here for the recipe and I promise you’ll have a new party snack worth celebrating.