Cheese Crisps

Cheese Crisps made from puff pastry with aged Gouda

Cheese Crisps are crumbly, savory puff pastry biscuits from the Netherlands, topped with aged Gouda. Unlike the thin crackers from the same manufacturer, they have height and flakiness, break crumbly rather than glass-like, and have a strong, aged cheese flavor.

Cheese Crisps by Verduijn's are puff pastry cheese biscuits from Eede in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, sprinkled with aged Gouda and baked until golden brown. They are noticeably thicker than the crackers from the same house, flake when bitten, and put the cheese at the center. A biscuit best eaten standing at the kitchen counter, straight from the bag.

Crumbly, flaky, and intensely Gouda

The Cheese Crisps do not break with a glass-like snap like thin crackers, but rather in a crumbly and layered fashion, just as puff pastry should.

The aged Gouda is no mere hint here, but a statement. It provides the salty, slightly crystalline tang that aged cheese develops, meeting the buttery dough underneath. Hearty, crumbly, and with a long finish. After the third piece, it becomes clear why a 75g bag rarely lasts until the evening.

Puff pastry and cheese are a demanding pair. The cheese draws fat, the dough needs heat to rise, and both must be ready at the exact same moment. Too early from the oven, and the dough remains soggy. Too late, and the Gouda becomes bitter. Of the three varieties from this house, this is the only one not made using a waffle iron, and you can taste the difference immediately.

For an apéritif or as a soup topping

The Cheese Crisps don't need company, but they make everything better. With beer, with wine, or as a crispy topping on a creamy soup.

They are especially good for an apéritif when guests arrive and nothing is quite ready yet. A bowl of these, a few olives, some Parmigiano Reggiano in a chunk, and the first half hour is saved. Crumbled over tomato soup, they replace any crouton. If you prefer things thinner and sharper, choose the Black Pepper Cracker.

They are also a great idea for salads. Roughly broken over mixed greens with vinaigrette, they provide salt, fat, and crunch all at once, making croutons unnecessary. They also fit well alongside savory chips in the snack corner, though the crisps bring significantly more cheese to the table than any bag of chips.

For New Year's Eve, things come full circle. Verduijn's grew up with New Year's wafers, and today the Cheese Crisps are the savory answer to them. They hold up in a bowl, don't get soggy, and pair well with any sparkling wine. If you're expecting guests, better be generous—a bag is empty faster than the appetizer is ready.

Steel belt ovens in Eede, since 2004

The Cheese Crisps are baked by Verduijn's Fine Biscuits, a family business producing in Eede on the Belgian border since 2004, less than ten kilometers from the North Sea and a stone's throw from Flanders.

It all started in 1935 in Breskens with Piet Verduijn, then 31 and a confectionery trader, who began baking New Year's wafers in his home after the war. By 1970, the company already had 35 employees. Through his son Adrie, he connected in the eighties with brothers Jean-Pierre and Henk, who now represent the third generation.

The facility in Eede operates with steel belt ovens according to the BRC food safety standard, but the finer points remain manual: temperature and baking time are adjusted, because a single degree or half a minute makes all the difference. The entire range from Verduijn's is worth a look, and you can find more savory biscuits here.