Description
A holiday version of my viral gluten-free seed cracker recipe. Slightly sweet, oil-free, and so simple to make!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup almond flour (see notes for alternatives)
- 1/2 cup ground flaxseed (or flaxseed meal)
- 4 tbsp chia seeds (1/4 cup)
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries, chopped small
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp maple syrup (see notes for alternatives)
*All the ingredients for this recipe are from our pantry and freezer tips!
Instructions
- Mix all of the ingredients, other than the water and maple syrup, in a medium sized bowl. Make sure your cranberries are chopped quite small.
- In a measuring cup or other vessel, dissolve the maple syrup into the 1 cup water.
- Pour the sweetened water over the seed mixture and stir to combine. Make sure that the cranberries are evenly dispersed and not clumped together.
- Preheat your oven to 275 degrees F and allow the mixture to sit and soak for 10 – 15 minutes until the water has been absorbed. Prepare two large baking sheets with parchment paper. *Do not use wax paper as the crackers will stick!
- Once the water has been absorbed, spread half the seed mixture on each prepared baking sheet. Spread the mixture into as thin a layer as you can. The thinner you spread the mixture the crunchier the crackers will be. You should have a rectangle of about 12×10 inches.
- Bake the crackers for 20 minutes then turn the pans to encourage even baking and loosely cover the crackers with another sheet of parchment paper so they don’t burn. *See notes for my alternatives if you don’t have parchment paper.
- Bake for an additional 20 minutes.
- Turn the oven off, remove the crackers one sheet at a time and quickly score the crackers into squares using a knife (be careful to not drag through the larger nuts and seeds damaging the cracker). Return the scored crackers to the oven and allow the oven and the crackers to cool down. Cooling in the warm oven will remove excess moisture and the crackers will become really crispy and delicious! You can loosely cover the crackers again during this time if you’re worried they might get overdone but keeping them uncovered can help to dry them out. Sometimes I check them after about an hour and remove the cover at that point.
- Once the oven and crackers have fully cooled, break the crackers along the score lines and store in an airtight container on your counter for 2-3 weeks. They will also stay crispy in an airtight container in the fridge but mine are usually gone after a few days on the counter!
Notes
Approximate Cost: $3.07 CAD for 260 grams that’s about $1.18/100g. Store-bought gluten-free or “healthier” seed crackers cost me approximately $4.83/100g at my local grocery store and at least $1.50/100g at my wholesale store.
In place of maple syrup you can use any liquid sweetener you have. Alternatively, you can dissolve a granulated sugar in water, allow the mixture to cool slightly and then add it to the seed mixture. If you prefer to keep the cracker unsweetened, simply omit the sugar and add plain water to the seed mixture.
For a nut free version try using oat flour in place of the almond flour and substituting the sliced almonds with more pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds. *To make oat flour simply grind quick or rolled oats in a food processor until a fine flour forms.
Baking Tips: these crackers are more prone to burning because of the sugar used to sweeten the water and the delicate sliced almonds. The lower oven temperature and allowing the crackers to cool in the hot oven produces the best results. Using parchment paper to cover the crackers halfway through the baking time still allows heat to penetrate through but prevents the crackers from much burning. An aluminum tray can also be used in the event you don’t have parchment paper. Balance an aluminum baking tray on the edges of the tray holding your crackers and make sure it is on an angle that covers the crackers but allows steam to escape.You don’t want to fully enclose the crackers because you don’t want them to steam. Oddly, I have found that aluminum foil loosely covering the crackers does not allow enough heat through and the centre crackers will stay soft so I prefer to use parchment or another baking tray.
In the event your centre crackers are still soft after they cool you can save them! Bake them again at 175 degrees F for about 30 minutes. The lower oven temperature will prevent them from burning (cover them again with parchment if you’re concerned they will burn) and you can check them every 10 minutes or so to see when they are dry. You can also try flipping the crackers over so the bottoms receive more heat and dry out quicker.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Resting Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Snacks
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American, Canadian