There’s these really fancy crackers – I won’t mention their name but they tempt me in the aisles of Whole Foods. The palette of jewel tones representing the different flavors. The nuts and seeds and dried fruits peeking at me through the cellophane window. Hanging out with their high class friends – brie and cambozola and honeycomb – trying to lure me, and my Visa, their way. And credit card it’s going to take. A 6 oz package of these can set you back close to $10.
Then the other day I was flipping through Whitewater Cooks at Home. Sometimes I forget how much I like all these cookbook from Shelley Adams (and I recently realized she has a new one I don’t have yet!). I need to pull them down every now and then to remind myself.
As I was perusing the pages I came to a recipe for Marie’s Rosemary Nut Crackers. The resemblance was uncanny to that highfalutin commercial version. Plus it came with all the benefits of being homemade.
One of those benefits is being able to tailor the recipe to your personal likes. So no offense to Marie – the originator of this recipe – but I couldn’t help make a few tweaks.
For starters I used teff flour because teff is my current favorite thing. This flour switch out has the bonus of making my crackers gluten free.
Instead of using brown sugar I used coconut sugar.
And finally, I cut the Parmesan and used dried cranberries and apricots instead of the raisins.
I topped mine with lemon ricotta, slices of peaches and plums and strawberries with a sprinkling of edible flowers and chopped basil.
Plus it’s always more fun to show up with something you made besides just a trip to the grocery store. Cheers!
- 1 cup teff flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 Tbsp coconut sugar
- 2 Tbsp agave, honey or maple syrup
- ½ cup dried fruit, chopped (I used dried cranberries and apricots)
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
- ¼ cup pecans, toasted and chopped
- 2 Tbsp sesame seeds
- 2 Tbsp flaxseed
- 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray an 8˝ x 4˝ loaf pan with non stick spray.
- Mix together the flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
- Add the buttermilk and sweeteners.
- Stir in the dried fruit, nuts, seeds and rosemary just until combine and everything is wet.
- Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake for about 35 minutes or until golden and springy to the touch.
- Remove from pan ad let cool on a wire rack. The cooler the loaf, the easier it is to slice it really thin. Consider putting it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.
- Slice the loaf as thin as you can and place the slices in a single layer on a baking sheet.
- Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes, then turn them over and bake another 10 minutes until crisp and golden in color.
- Remove from pan and let cook completely on a wire rack. Store in a sealed container or freeze.
