Recipes Bread + Dough Pimiento Cheese with Salt-and-Pepper Butter Crackers Be the first to rate & review! Chef Carla Hall makes her own crunchy crackers to serve with this cheese spread, a riff on a Southern classic. Slideshow: More Bar Snack Recipes By Carla Hall Carla Hall Instagram Website Carla Hall first won over audiences when she competed on Bravo's Top Chef and Top Chef: All Stars and shared her philosophy to always cook with love. She believes food connects us all, and she strives to communicate this through her work, her cooking, and in her daily interactions with others.Expertise: cooking, soul food, food TV, cookbooks.Experience: Carla spent 7 years co-hosting ABC's Emmy award-winning, popular lifestyle series The Chew, and she currently brightens the mornings of millions as a Culinary Contributor to Good Morning America. Carla is featured on Food Network shows such as BakeAway Camp, Thanksgiving Baking Championship, Holiday Baking Championship, and Worst Cooks in America, as a judge and a host. She was also a judge on Netflix's Crazy Delicious. Carla hosts a podcast on the Wondery Platform, called Say Yes with Carla Hall, focused on interviews with successful people to explore how they overcame challenges and found ways to flourish. Her latest cookbook, Carla Hall's Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration, was published in 2018, landing on best cookbook lists across the country and receiving a NAACP Image Awards nomination.Born in Nashville, Carla grew up surrounded by soul food. When the time came for her to select her career path, she first opted for a business route – she graduated from Howard University's Business School and worked as an accountant for two years – before deciding to switch gears to work as a runway model. It was during that time, as she traveled (and ate) her way through Europe for a few years, that she truly realized her deep-rooted passion for food could be her career path.Today, she is a trained chef who has worked in several professional restaurant kitchens in and around the Washington, D.C. area and is an accomplished television personality and author. In addition to being featured in numerous cookbook collections including The Chew series of cookbooks, she authored Carla's Comfort Food: Favorite Dishes from Around the World and Cooking with Love: Comfort Food That Hugs You.Carla is very active with a number of charities and not-for-profit organizations that reflect her passion for causes close to her heart. She is on the board of trustees for Helen Keller International, Pajama Program, GenYouth, and 4H. The thread which runs through all of these things is advocating for the physical and mental well-being of children.Carla lives in D.C. with her husband, Matthew Lyons. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on December 1, 2015 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email You can’t have a derby party without pimiento cheese. I just won’t allow it. This classic version from Carla Hall is made in the food processor and can be refrigerated up to one week in advance. While the butter crackers are highly recommended, use store-bought saltines and celery sticks if you’re tight on time. Photo: © CON POULOS Active Time: 1 hrs Total Time: 2 hrs 45 mins Yield: 12 Ingredients CRACKERS 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting 2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour 2 tablespoons baking powder 2 tablespoons sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper, plus more for sprinkling 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and chilled, plus 3 tablespoons melted butter 6 tablespoons canola oil 2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water PIMIENTO CHEESE 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1 jarred roasted red bell pepper, chopped 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (2 cups) 8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (2 cups) 4 ounces cream cheese at room temperature 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1 teaspoon cayenne 1 teaspoon kosher salt Directions Make the crackers In the bowl of a food processor, pulse both flours with the baking powder, sugar, salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Add the cubed butter and the oil and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the water and pulse just until the dough comes together. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and knead several times. Divide the dough in half and form into two 1-inch-thick squares. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured work surface, using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out 1 piece of dough to an 1/8-inch-thick square. Using a fluted pastry cutter, cut the dough into twenty-four 2½-inch squares. Arrange the crackers on the prepared baking sheets, spaced 1/2 inch apart. Poke 4 rows of holes in the center of each cracker. Freeze the crackers until firm, 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Brush the crackers with half of the melted butter; sprinkle with pepper. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, shifting the pans halfway through. Transfer the crackers to a rack to cool. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 with the remaining dough. Meanwhile, make the pimiento cheese In a food processor, pulse the garlic until finely chopped. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until well blended. Scrape the pimiento cheese into a large bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving with the crackers. Make Ahead The pimiento cheese can be refrigerated for 1 week. The crackers can be stored in an airtight container overnight. Rate it Print