Garbanzo bean crackers

Oh Crackers... how I miss you! But paleo life says no. How can I make myself happy and stick with my plan? Beans... pureed, seasoned, and baked, maybe....

So, here's my go at homemade crackers. Light, flaky, delicate crackers... like pie crust, but nutty. Just beans, no gluten, no cereal, no problem!

Garbanzo beans are up for debate in the Paleo diet world. However, beans agree with me, and my doctor said they are good. So as I really miss crackers with my salad, I went on a quest for a bean based cracker with out any cereal grains. In the pantry I had a few types of flours- coconut, almond, amaranth, and flax- not really a flour but looks like one. I wanted to add a nutty flavor, so I went with almond and flax.


Garbanzo (chickpea) crackers

Ingredients-
16 ounce of organic garbanzo beans- drained and rinsed
1/4 cup of flax seed meal
6 tablespoons of almond flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/3 cup water (varies with humidity)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Equipment-
food processor
oven
offset spatula
baking sheet
parchment paper

Add rinsed and drained beans to you food processor and process for 5 seconds.
Add to food processor half of oil and pulse a couple of times.
Add to food processor flax meal, almond meal, and salt. Pulse a couple of times.
Add to food processor water and rest of olive oil.
Process for 2 minutes and scrape sides down as needs. You are looking for a smooth paste.

Once processed, remove mix from processor bowl into mixing bowl and add the baking soda. Stir to incorporate and turn out onto a parchment lined baking sheet. With an offset spatula, spread dough as smooth as possible. The smoother and more even the dough, the more even the browning.

Score the dough into squares and dock. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes to until brown. Once browned, lift the parchment, with crackers on top to a cooling rack. Crackers will be delicate because without gluten, there is little strength to the cracker.

You can change up the top seasoning to include garlic, chili powder, sesame seeds, etc.

None of my recipes are tested, professionally. I am a home cook, all be it a foodie. This recipes is not necessarily part of the official paleo diet.

term used:
pulse- pushing the pulse button down and release
offset spatula- a spatula, used in the cake industry, with the blade about and inch lower than the handle.
score- with a knife or spatula draw lines into the door as guide for breaking the crackers when done. I like to score all the way to the pan.
dock- using a fork, poke holes in each cracker. It prevents the cracker from rising too much.

Energy snack- chocolate, pecan, and fig

If there is three things I love, it is chocolate, pecans and figs. I recently purchased an "energy snack" at a local health food grocer. They seemed like a good idea for a quick bite to keep in your purse when you have to time for lunch. They were chocolate and sunflower seeds. However, the sunflower seeds were not toasted and they lend the "snack" a rather stale flavor.

So, I struck out on my own to create a better version without strange stuff and with more flavor!






Chocolate, Pecan, and Fig Energy Snack

12 dried figs, cut in quarters
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup of pecans, toasted
2 tablespoons of ground flax seed
2 tablespoon honey
3 pieces of candied ginger (optional, and not strictly paleo due to the sugar)

 

Place figs, pecans, flax and ginger in a food processor and process until very finely chopped. Once processed, remove the fig mix to a bowl. Add chocolate to the food processor and chop until the pieces are half their size, then add them to the fig mix.

Add the honey to the fig mix and stir together.
Once mixed, form the mixture into 3/4 inch balls and let them sit for an hour to firm up.

The balls will be sticky. So, you could roll in exterior of your choice, chopped nuts, toasted coconut, or simply cut in squares and wrap in parchment.


In summary:

Advisements- This recipes is untested, and contain nuts.