Rosemary Crunchers

You know how trends are cyclical? Well just like the leggings of the ’80s my cracker habit is back in full swing.

gluten free cheez its

There are plenty of healthy, whole food crackers on the market these days but many of the more ‘gourmet’ ones can easily run upwards of $5 for a 2 ounce box.  The way we eat around here that’s a once in a while splurge.

Rosemary is my all time favorite cracker addition so these little crunchers included plenty, fresh picked from my herb bed.  I’ve seriously neglected my herbs this winter but there is still plenty of thyme, oregano, sage, and rosemary out there; I should be throwing it into every meal for some just picked freshness!

Rosemary Crunchers

Pre-heat the oven to 350*

Wheat free and potentially gluten free (if gf oats are used)

Makes 30-40 crackers depending on how big you cut them

  • 1/2 cup of oats
  • 1/2 cup of almond meal*
  • ~tablespoon of rosemary (dried or fresh)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1-2 tablespoons water
  1.  Blend oats in food processor until no whole pieces are left
  2. Add almond meal, rosemary, and salt and process until combined
  3. Add grated cheese and process until combined
  4. With the blade running, slowly drizzle in a tablespoon of water and process for about 30 seconds
  5. Check the consistency, you are looking for the dough to hold together when you pinch it between your fingers.  If it’s still really crumbly then turn the blade on and add another teaspoon of water. It can quickly get to wet so only add a tiny bit at a time.
  6. Scrape the dough onto a baking sheet covered with a silpat or parchment paper and form a ball
  7. nut crackers
  8. There are two options here.  You can either use your hands to press the dough down flat and spread it out or you can mash it down then cover it with parchment and roll it flat with a rolling pin.  Unfortunately the dough sticks-bad-to a rolling pin.  If you find a better method, by all means please let me know!  The objective is a nice flat dough about cracker thickness, whatever that means to you.  Try to get it as uniform throughout as possible so it bakes evenly.
  9. Score the dough with a knife into whatever size/shape crackers you want.  I went with a roughly even squares about the size of a Wheat Thin and got about 35 crackers (I didn’t count until after I’d munched several). You can also dust the top of the dough with a little extra salt if you like that sort of thing.
  10. Bake for 15-20 minutes, keeping a close eye towards the end to avoid over browning.  They are ready when the edges are juststarting to become a dark brown and the center feels hard.
  11. Let cool then break along the score!  They should be nice and crisp once cooled.  I store mine in a wide mouth Mason jar but I’m sure a Tupperware would work just fine.
*You can make your own almond meal by processing almonds in the cuisinart for a few minutes, just make sure to stop before it turns to almond butter!

cheese crackers

 

30 Comments

    • gracefulfitness

      Pace Picante Salsa! It’s one of few “processed” foods that I buy, there are fancier salsa’s out there but I love the stuff.

  1. I’m so grateful for this post. I keep craving crackers lately, but keep cringing at the price every time I go to Whole Foods (we call it Whole Paycheck).

    I will be making these soon. Thanks for posting!

  2. Mia

    Yum! I just made 2 batches of these – was glad to have all the ingredients on hand! I’d love to experiment with other combinations of flavors – maybe thyme instead of rosemary, then a little lemon juice instead of water… Mmmmm.
    I used parchment paper and it worked fine… But after I baked it I remembered I have a Silpat that’s specifically designed for bread baking. It has tiny holes on the sheet (unlike the regular Silpat) supposed to be for even heat circulation. Must try that next time i bake this, and see what happens!
    Thanks for sharing the recipe!

    • gracefulfitness

      Lemon zest with cracked pepper and thyme sounds awesome too! I love the ping-pong inspiration that happens with blogs! That tray would probably work perfect, especially to get the center of the cracker sheet dry and crunchy!

      • Mia

        You have gotten me (happily) addicted to these crackers. I’ve made my 3rd batch in only 3 days – I’m also trying to wean my husband from his Stacy’s pita chips habit. 🙂 I didn’t have plain thyme but I did have herbes de Provence (dried), so that’s what I used – and they turned out great as well. And because I love extra virgin olive oil probably as much as Paula Deen loves butter, I subbed a little of that for some of the water – which probably wasn’t the best idea to expose EVOO to high heat… :-/
        I love recipes like this, where you can play around with ingredients and switch things up according to mood/preference/availability. I didn’t think of adding cracked pepper – that will be for my 4th batch 🙂 Thanks again!

    • gracefulfitness

      If you cut 40 Wheat Thin sized crackers than they are about 20 calories a piece, a good amount of fiber from the oats and almonds, protein from the almonds and cheese, and calcium from the cheese and almonds. These crackers are more satiating than most due to the ample fiber and protein!

  3. elizabeth

    Thank you for this recipe, I love rosemary too. Glad that I can use my leftover almond pulp from making milk. Do you think I could sub nutritional yeast for the cheese?

      • elizabeth

        Alllie, Did you add extra water with the nutritional yeast? How much yeast did you use? Did you use wet or dry almond pulp? I guess my dough was too dry and after the bake the crackers didn’t hold together, so I put them back in the food processor with a bunch more water bake again and it worked better, but they are still crumbly. The baking smell and taste are so good though, I have to figure out the right mix.

        • They were on the crumbly side but held together. I actually did have to add A LOT more water. I didn’t use oat, only almond. I dried/toasted my almond pulp by spreading it on a baking sheet & toasting it in the oven at ~300 first. I’m not sure on the measurements of anything the times I’ve made them — I actually did garlic powder & nutritional yeast, salt & water — I just added a pinch or spoonful of this & that. As for the water, I kept adding it a tablespoon at a time until it was the right texture: holding together sort of dough like. Honestly I probably used closer to 1/4 or even 1/2 cup. Just add it slowly & watch the consistency. Sorry I’m not more help. When I make them again, I will pay better attention!

  4. I am currently doing this right now and my kitchen is smelling so good 🙂 What I did is cover the dough with another parchment paper and roll it on top. It worked quite well 🙂

    I’ll come back to report about how it turned out. I excited! thanks for sharing this!

    Spanish Pinay

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