‘Tis the season for tomatoes, and if you’re filled to the brim with caprese salad, tomato sauce, and my personal favorite, BLTs, but still have a countertop full of maters then I have a fun recipe for you! Well don’t get too excited as it only requires one big juicy tomato (or two if you double the batch). But this is one of my tried-and-true favorite recipes ever. I’m still trying to figure out a name for them because “raw nut crackers” really lacks panache. It also sounds like something that a person wearing hemp pants would sell to you at a farmers market in Santa Fe. Dehydrated nut crackers sounds even worse and also makes people think of Christmas and nutcrackers and is just very suboptimal all around. So “grain free crackers” it is!
***Fair warning that you do need a dehydrator (affiliate link) for this recipe. Could you try baking them? Sure, but I have next to zero advice for how long and at what temperature to do so. You have been warned! Proceed with caution if you try to bake these. Low and slow is my only recommendation.***
Recipe here, and more information after the jump. I’ve been on the internet long enough to know that the most common gripe with food blogs and online recipes is that the blogger rambles on for too long before sharing the recipe. But if you happen to enjoy rambles, there will be some below!
📖 Recipe
Grain Free Cracker
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 1 cup raw almonds
- 1 cup raw sunflower seeds
- 1 tomato remove seeds and half of the meat from inside
- 1 onion peeled and roughly chopped
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup ground flax seed
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in food processor until you get a...beige paste. I’m sorry for the weird description but it is what it is!
- Then divide into four batches and spread onto dehydrator-grade non-stick teflon sheets — my method is to use two teflon sheets: put one batch on a sheet, flatted it down with a spatula, and then cover with another teflon sheet. Use a rolling pin to smooth out the mixture (rolling over the top sheet) and gently peel away, scraping any cracker residue off. Add that to the next batch and continue until finished with the trays!
- Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 12 hours or until crackers are verrrrrry crispy! Halfway through, I flip them over and remove the baking sheets and bake just on the mesh racks. Also, I like to lightly score them at the halfway point so it’s easy to break them up into crackers when finished.
Regarding the flaxseeds in the recipe, allow me to ramble a bit. See, I promised/warned of rambles above! One of my most bizarre gripes is seeing foods marketed as healthy because they have flaxseeds, but they only contain whole flaxseeds and not ground flaxseeds. The Mayo Clinic states that, "Most nutrition experts recommend ground over whole flaxseed because the ground form is easier to digest. Whole flaxseed may pass through your intestine undigested, which means you won't get all the benefits." So you’re essentially paying top dollar for something and not even getting the health benefits. Lose lose! Be on the lookout for bread or crackers with copious whole flaxseeds on them and say silently to yourself, “HA! NOT TODAY, FOOD MANUFACTURERS!” and then prance away knowing that you are a Very Intelligent Person and instead buy some whole flaxseeds and grind them up at home in a coffee grinder or blender, thereby reaping the health benefits and cost savings. Or still buy the product but know that The Man is trying to pull one over on you and you're missing out what flaxseeds are rich in:
- fiber
- omega-3 fatty acids
- phytochemicals called lignans
Now where was I? Oh yes. The recipe. As mentioned above, this recipe requires a dehydrator, which I firmly believe is a kitchen staple if you do any sort of gardening or enjoy DIY healthy homemade snacks. As a tried and true hippie (seriously, you should see my tie dye collection), my 9 tray Excalibur Dehydrator (affiliate link) has been one of my prized possessions since circa 2012 and I absolutely love it. I don’t use it all the time, but whenever I do I am so glad I have one. I've carted it on two cross country moves and it has been with me for 9 years of living in nano kitchens with roughly 24" of counter space. That is how obsessed I am with it.
These grain free crackers stay fresh for a week in a sealed container on the counter but I'm unable to vouch for any longer because we gobble them up. I love them as a little snack with some hummus or on top of a salad for some extra crunch. Put them on a lil' charcuterie platter if you're feeling fancy! Then everyone will think you paid Whole Food$ money for small batch raw vegan crackers but you can laugh all the way to the bank knowing you made them yourself. Don't gloat, but you are allowed to casually say, "Oh what these old things? Yeah I made them! No big deal."
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