Top 8: Get your Christmas party going with the cream of fancy crackers

But even the most basic Jacob’s cream crackers are good vehicles for toppings. 

Cheese-flavoured crackers are an option, too, but they can be difficult to pair with the right topping. 

However, they are quite satisfying if served as bites instead of crisps.

Try unusual pairings of sweet biscuits with cheese to mix things up. A good shortbread or oatmeal biscuit is excellent with cheddar. 

West Cork Biscuits does good shortbread (€3.99). 

Go wild and try the lemon-flavoured polenta biscuits from Lismore Food Company (150g €5.99, good as a gift, too) with a scrape of creamy mozzarella or anchovies mixed with cream cheese. 

Think about sweet and salty for a delicious, rich balance.

Bring out your kitchen goddess and make your own. Check online for recipes. 

Most ingredients feature just flour, salt, oil/butter, and water, so they’re economical, too, and really easy to make. 

They’re good for gifts, and they will keep for weeks in sealed bags or jars.

We shopped far and wide for this week’s Top 8. 

The shortest list of ingredients we spotted was in Rakusen’s Matso crackers (good value at 150g €1.90).

Tim’s Table Lavosh crackers 150g €5

Made in Limerick from flour, water, milk, sunflower oil and egg white, these are thin and light. 

Some of the 2.28% sea salt is sprinkled on top, so the dough isn’t very salty, with sesame and poppy seeds throughout. 

Protein at 11% is higher than many (often 8%). Delicious spread with ricotta, sprinkled with cumin or za’atar, or tomato paste with onion seeds. 

See www.timstable.ie for online sales or the nearest stockists. Top marks for this newcomer.

Score: 10

Peter’s Yard Sourdough Crispbread 145g €4.99

With a hole in middle, the shape is festive for a creamy topping, with scope to add some seasonally red, dried cranberries or cherries, or a drizzle of chutney or pesto. 

Good with spiced beef on cream cheese with chutney for a substantial serving, ideal for a standing starter. 

Beautifully crunchy and flavoursome, salt is 1.6%, with milk, rye, wholemeal wheat flour, sourdough and honey. Top scorer.

Score: 10

Kelkin Lentil Cracker Thins 100g €3.05

This chilli-flavoured version is gluten-free and made from lentil, corn, and rice flours along with sustainable palm oil (good to see noted). 

The spicing is gentle, and the salt, at 1.6%, is not overdone. 

The rectangular shapes are small, so they are best used for single dipping in creamy cheeses or trying with beetroot hummus. Moreish.

Score: 9

Foods of Athenry Gourmet Sodabread Toasts 100g €4.80

These honeyed almond and rosemary toasts are made from gluten-free flours (rice, potato, maize, buckwheat, tapioca), buttermilk, sunflower seeds, almonds, and flavoured with rosemary, honey, and sugar. 

Very crunchy, and full of nutty and slightly sweet flavours. 

Good topped with a thin layer of salty mature cheddar, manchego or parmesan. 

Try using a potato peeler for ultra-thin slices. Low salt 0.3%.

Score: 9

On the Pig’s Back Irish rye crackers 140g €3.50

Irish rye flour, unbleached white flour, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt 1.1% make a good base for fancy cheese. 

Takes a blue cheese well, as well as other salty cheeses. Particularly good for rich patés also sold in the café-deli at Douglas Woollen Mills and English Market Cork stall.

Score: 9.5

Sheridans Irish Brown Bread crackers 140g €2.95

A commendably short list of ingredients – wholewheat flour, buttermilk, butter, sea salt 1.2% makes a good base for cheese and hummus. 

Try buzzing some pesto to a creamy cheese for an easy topping. A good range made by West Cork Biscuit Co.

Score: 9.5

Dunnes Stores Simply Better Fig, date & sultana crackers 125g €3.49

Flour moistened with corn oil has a generous amount of figs, dried apple and date paste, and sultanas, which contrast nicely with 2.1% sea salt for a festive kind of flavour. 

It is delicious with blue cheese – St Agur from France is richly creamy — or goat’s cheese (or blue goat’s from Boyne Valley). 

The hazelnut, almond, and pecan crackers went down well with tasters, too. Try those with meat patés.

Score: 9.5

M&S Collection Beetroot sourdough cracker 130g €4

Pretty pink hexagonal, thin, crunchy crackers have an impressively short list of ingredients – wheat flour, buttermilk, sourdough, dried beetroot, salt 1.15%, black pepper. 

The result is a nice peppery rather than beetroot flavour. For a festive treat, try with brebis, a creamy sheep’s cheese. 

Date, plum and hazelnut biscuits are also delicious with salty cheeses. 

Try a sliver of parmesan to contrast the sweetness.

Score: 9