Monday, March 4, 2013

Flax Seed Crackers- Vegan, Gluten Free, Grain Free, Refined Sugar Free

 photo 100_6745_zps268f3061.jpgI first heard of flax seed crackers from a friend of mine, J, who dabbles in raw veganism. She makes her crackers with whole flax seeds and red peppers and I don't know what else, and they're yummy. But I never made them her way.
I recently saw a recipe for flax seed and banana crackers- a 2 ingredient recipe- (forgot where exactly), and I took the idea and expanded on it, and made a flax seed banana cracker with more than two ingredients. They taste good, but they're sweet, so they work well with sweet toppings like peanut butter and jelly, cream cheese, etc... or anything really that would taste ok on a cinnamon raisin bagel.
But since not everyone wants something banana flavored, I made a cracker recipe that wasn't banana based- it uses carrot puree with the flax seeds. They came out terrific as well.
The texture of these crackers is terrific- crunchy, but not jaw/teeth shattering like lots of gluten free crackers I've tried making. They're a drop thicker than your standard cracker, but they still work fine even so and the texture isn't negatively affected because of that.

 photo 100_6747_zpsebd9ebf3.jpg
Banana flax seed crackers with peanut butter and homemade grape kiwi jam

If you're a raw foodist, you can dehydrate them to keep them raw. I prefer to cook mine though.

Feel free to play around with the spices and other ingredients in here.
Note- if the recipe says "ground flax seed", that's how much you need, after it is already ground. If it says "whole flax seeds", that is the amount that you need of whole flax seeds, and the amount will be different after ground up.
If you leave out the coconut sugar, these recipes are GAPS legal.

Banana Flax Seed Crackers Recipe
2 bananas
1 1/3 cup ground flax seed
1 teaspoon coconut sugar (or sucanat or white sugar)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Spiced Flax Seed Crackers Recipe
5 tablespoons carrot puree
1 cup ground flax seeds
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon garlic
1 3/4 teaspoon onion powder
2 1/2 teaspoons coconut sugar (or any other sugar)
1 teaspoon water

Sesame Flax Crackers Recipe
5 tablespoons carrot puree
1/3 + 1/4 cup whole flax seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
3 teaspoons onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 teaspoon coconut sugar

1. If making banana flax crackers, mash banana with a fork, don't puree. If using carrots as a base, boil until soft, then puree before using.

2. Grind flax seeds in the grinder. If making sesame flax crackers, you can grind the sesame seeds also, but I think its better not to.

3. Mix all the ingredients together.

4. Spread out flax seed crackers on a silicon baking sheet or on parchment paper as thin as you can. It helps you oil your hands and then use your oily hands to help spread out the dough.

5. Use a pizza cutter to cut the crackers into squares.

6. Cook at 300 degrees until they're 95% hard. They harden some more out of the oven. If they start changing color, they're burning, so many sure to remove them before they burn or the lot will taste bad! They go from flexible to burnt pretty quickly, so watch them closely. They take 20-40 minutes to cook, depending on their thickness. Check them every 5 minutes until they start solidifying, and then every 1-2 minutes once they're more solid. Alternatively, dehydrate overnight.

Enjoy plain or with spreads/dips!

Ever heard of flax seed crackers before? Ever made them? What's in yours? Does this look like something you'd try? Which recipe do you think you'd try first? I like the second one best. 

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