Gluten-free Crackers

Gluten-free Crackers

This is a recipe for a mix of sweet and savoury gluten-free crackers made with ground almonds, egg, oil, salt and a little water. Half is sweetened with honey and poppy seeds, half is made savoury with rosemary and pepper.

These are actually great. I keep meaning to make up a batch of the dough and freeze it so I’ll have it to hand (rather than reaching for crisps or some other shop-bought substitute) – but never get around to it. I find almond flour one of the best substitutes for normal flour – not in terms of flavour or consistency – just in terms of liking the results. These are quick, easy and cheap to make. And they’re a nice healthy option. Give them a go.

I started abitmoreveg with a couple of recipes for dips, guacamole and hummus. I love snacking. And you can snack on healthy things too. I’ve a sweet tooth though so I’ll often opt for the dessert-style snack but every so often I want to snack on something savoury, like crackers and cheese or maybe some (hopefully nutrient-dense) spread (homemade, well maybe…).

I experimented with these a couple of times before getting it right. I found some recipes for gluten-free crackers made with ground almonds but they tasted too dense and very dense nutty things can give me a thumping headache. The solution was easy enough just add a little water. The only problem is that this makes the dough a demon to shape. (see update below)

poppy-crackers
Well, on the plus side, no one will suspect that you just bought them and said you made them.

They are very easy to make, they are difficult to shape and transfer to the baking tin (see update below), surprisingly though they don’t stick to the baking tin so they are easy to remove, they cook in 10 minutes and then they cool very quickly. Most importantly, they work well as crackers and they are rich in protein which is usually a good thing. I’m definitely going to make them again. On the whole, they are an easy, gluten-free alternative to wheat crackers.

By the way if you are thinking of making these vegan and using coconut oil instead of a mix of egg and olive oil, this didn’t work for me, but I didn’t add any liquid that time so that might have helped.

I only made a small batch of crackers this time, because the last attempts were no good, and I halved the dough, added poppy seeds to one half and rosemary and ground pepper to the other. I think the poppy seed crackers are best with sweet toppings and the rosemary and pepper are really great with cheese so I’ve titled this one Sweet and Savoury Gluten-Free Crackers.

Update:

I’ve made these a couple of times since posting the recipe and actually they are quite easy to shape and transfer to the tin. Just don’t roll out the dough too thin and make sure the baking paper that you use to cover the dough while you roll it very well oiled. That’s it. I know, so easy…

Ground almonds, egg, salt, oil and…

Gluten-free Crackers

Makes 6 - 8 Savoury Crackers and 6 - 8 Sweet Crackers

Gluten-free Crackers

Ingredients

  • 150g ground almonds
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea-salt
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • some poppy seeds
  • fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
  • pepper, freshly ground

Instructions

  1. Place almonds, oil, egg and salt in a blender and mix till it forms a ball of dough or clumps together. Add the water and mix around again.
  2. Take the dough out of the food processor and divide between two bowls. To one half, add the poppy seeds, the other add the rosemary and pepper. Mix the additions in well.
  3. Grease some cling film. Wrap the dough in the cling film and leave in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
  4. Heat the oven to 200 C.
  5. Take the dough out of the fridge, grease one side of a large sheet of baking paper, cut in two, place a ball of dough on one of the greased sided of the baking paper, top with the other greased half of the paper and with a rolling pin. Roll them out to cracker-like thinness but not too thin or it becomes too difficult to transfer them from the baking paper to the baking tin.
  6. Remove the top piece of baking paper and shape the cracker either using cutters, a glass or a knife. Peel them off the baking paper and transfer to a greased and lined baking tray.
  7. Once on the baking tray, dot little holes in the crackers with a fork, otherwise they might puff-up during baking.
  8. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until they have turned golden with the edges browning a little. Take out and leave to cool for a few minutes on a wire tray.
http://twimii.com/recipes/gluten-free-crackers/

add water
And a little water – it makes them that bit messier to shape but otherwise they taste too dense.

 

2 ways
I divided the dough in two. I wasn’t sure if this was going to work so I thought I’d try out two different tastes at the same time. Maybe one would work better than the other. As it happened I like both.

 

ready to chill
Mix the different ingredients into the dough halves with a fork.

 

wrapped
Wrap in greased cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

 

ready to roll
If you try to roll the dough with a rolling pin it is too wet a mixture and will just stick to the pin. Instead roll it out between two greased sheets of baking paper.

 

rolled
Place the dough between two sheets of greased baking paper and roll out.

 

ready-to-bake
Getting the dough off the glass onto the baking sheet wasn’t as straightforward as I expected – but actually this turned out to be the easiest way to do it. Be sure to puncture the dough with a fork – I forgot to do this with the poppy seed crackers and a couple of them puffed up a little in spots.

 

shape crackers
Rather than use the glass as a cutter, this time I went for cutting out the shapes with a knife. Using a glass is better.

 

not so thin
They are in fact quite easy to shape and transfer to tin – provided you don’t roll them out too thin and grease the baking paper well. I know, so simple… And don’t worry they are still perfectly thin enough to make good crackers.

 

cool it
Remove from the baking tray. Leave on a wire tray to cool – doesn’t take long – like 5 – 10 minutes.

 

bite
They may not look the neatest – but they definitely work as crackers.

 

pcrackers-figs
Not so pretty by themselves but spruce them up with some natural greek yoghurt with a spoon of honey mixed in, fresh figs and an extra little drizzle of honey and suddenly they seem totally worth it.

 

sweeter-bite
Well, I had to check if it tastes as good as it looks…

 

Just one more small bite – it will look best like that. Hmm…

 

Once you get used to rolling them out right and shaping them they’ll end up looking like these – pretty regular looking crackers.