November 19, 2008

BBQ Flax Seed Crackers

Help! I have a new food addiction. This time it's Foods Alive Flax Crackers. Every time I go up to Traverse City my second stop (the first has to be our building site) is Oryana Market for a bag of these crackers! I've liked every flavor I've tried but the mustard and BBQ are my favorites. I practically live on them while were up north for a visit. My favorite way to eat them is with Black Star Farms garlic fromage blanc (yes, mommy is guiltily indulging in creamy dairy goodness that her poor son cannot have) but I love them with every dip I'm tried them with.

Seeing that they seemed like such a simple thing to make I made up my mind to attempt a batch at home. I looked around to find some recipes to use as a starting point and followed the ingredient list found on the back of the cracker bag. I was lucky to have some sun-dried tomatoes I had made recently with tomatoes from the farm stand down the road and flax seeds from an Amish stand that my mother in law had given me. The crackers were easy to make and I got the taste spot on (at least I thought so.) I ate them with hummus and chevre but here they are with some mashed avocado and lemon, which was also good. Now I need to work on the mustard flavor and maybe an all raw version.

BBQ Flax Seed Crackers
The recipes that helped me are linked to at the end.
Makes two 13-inch square sheets of crackers

1 cup whole flax seeds (golden recommended)
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)
1 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1 tiny drop of liquid smoke, optional

- Soak the flax seeds in 2 cups of water until they swell and the liquid becomes viscous (6-8 hours or up to overnight.)
-Soak the sun dried tomatoes in hot water for ~10 minutes. Add the tomatoes (reserving the water) to the rest of the flavorings in a blender or food processor (a mini-prep would be perfect for this but alas I own the jumbo.) Blend until a fairly smooth paste forms, adding the tomato soaking liquid as needed.
-Stir the flavoring paste into the soaked flax seeds (do not drain the flax seeds) until evenly distributed.
-Spread evenly onto two solid dehydrating sheets (like the ones used for fruit leather.) *See this VegWeb recipe link for oven directions.
-Dry for 6-8 hours at 110-118 degrees F until the top is firm and dry. Gently peel off the cracker sheet and flip it over onto a perforated dehydrating rack. Dry for another 6-8 hours until the crackers are nice and crispy.
-Break into chip sized pieces and store in an air tight container. The finished crackers should last ~2 weeks.

The recipes that helped me were:
VegWeb Flax Seed Crackers
Gone Raw Flax Seed Crackers


Abbie is determined to be "The Everywhere Cat"