Chickpea Chia Crackers

In my never ending quest for creating variety in my daughter's food, along with her long awaited teeth, I decided to tackle the cracker.  I searched the internet endlessly looking for a suitable recipe that was healthy (or could be easily revamped to my whole foods plant based preference) and simple.  I found one from Oh My Veggies that was a great starting point, and went from there, revamping the recipe every step of the way.

What I created was a protein rich, gluten free, healthy cracker that I was happy to serve my daughter.  and the best part, she absolutely LOVES them.  Especially when spread with my homemade sundried tomato and basil cashew cheese (it is to die for...seriously).  This combination puts a whole new twist on the traditional cheese and crackers; it's actually good for you, and does not harm the animals nor environment. 

So let's get started.  Here are a few important tips when making your crackers.

~ Don't over work the dough.  Just get everything incorporated
~ Roll dough out fairly thin in order to have a crispy cracker
~ Roll dough thicker to have more of a chewy cracker
~ Make sure dough thickness is uniform, otherwise you will have an unevenly cooked cracker
~ You can play around with different flours (quinoa and brown rice are great!)

What you need:

* 1 3/4 cups Chickpea Flour (besan)
1/4 cup Black Chia Seed
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 cup Water

* Nearly any combination works here. Easily make your own by grinding whole, uncooked chickpea (rice, wheat bulgur, or quinoa) until a powder forms.  It's much cheaper and easy to do!  I've tried:
~ 1 cup chickpea flour + 3/4 cup whole wheat (easiest dough to handle)
~ 1 cup chickpea flour + 3/4 cup rice flour (needed a little more water)
~ 1 cup quinoa flour + 3/4 cup chickpea

What you do:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, chia seed, and salt.  Add olive oil and water and stir until just combined.

3. Line a large baking sheet with a silicon mat or parchment paper.  Scoop cracker dough onto baking sheet and roll out dough to the thickness of a saltine, remembering to keep it uniform.  Use a knife or pizza cutter to mark dough into rectangles, careful not to cut through dough completely (this helps you easily break the crackers into even pieces once they're done baking -- the first time I made these I skipped this step and had a big jumble of cracker mess!)

4.  Prick each individual cracker with a fork a few times and sprinkle with salt if you desire.

5.  Bake for 18 - 23 minutes (depending on the thickness) or until crisp and just beginning to brown.  Baking time depends on thickness of cracker so make sure to keep an eye on these, especially the first time so you have an idea of time frame.  My dough thickness created 21 crackers.

6.  Store in an airtight container.  If crackers get stale, bake at 225 degrees for 10 minutes or until crisp.

Enjoy!

Nutrition Info Per Cracker:

Calories: 52

Fat: 2.8 g

Saturated Fat: 0.3 g

Cholesterol: 0 mg

Sodium: 49 mg

Carbohydrates: 4.7 g

Fiber: 1.2 g

Sugars: 0.8 g

Protein: 2 g
  

To find more whole food, plant based recipes for your little one and connect with other loving parents, visit our Facebook page Loving Green at Loving Green FB.