Chickpea Flour Crackers with Chives...Parmesan Crackers Revisited

Parmesan Crackers Revisited...using some Chickpea Flour.

I recently came up with another cracker recipe...a variation of the Parmesan Sesame Crackers I posted quite a while back. The original recipe is fantastic as is...a cracker recipe that uses pretty basic ingredients. You can easily adjust the recipe to include various seeds, herbs or spices. And as of recent, I found out that even the flour can be adjusted...

I had some overnight guests coming over, so I wanted to make some crackers to have on hand. As I was getting my ingredients ready, an idea came to me....to use some of the chickpea flour I had sitting in the fridge. On the spur of the moment, I decided to go ahead with the idea....and ended substituting half of the regular flour for chickpea flour.... at the time I didn't know if using so much chickpea flour would alter the taste too much or have a negative affect. I figured it probably wouldn't be too much ..as we like hummus:). In any case, the crackers were a hit... so delicious! They sort of reminded me of Cheeze-its and I think the chickpea flour actually worked in this recipe:).

The crackers are great as a simple snack...when you need to munch on something. But they are also the type of cracker that can stand up to hearty dips...they're thicker and don't break so easily. It's definitely a cracker I will be making again...

I am posting this variation in case some of you would like to make your own crackers at home... and want to go a bit healthier. Feel free to check out the original recipe I posted way back during my very early days of blogging...I still love the recipe:). Hope you enjoy...

Note: I used half all purpose flour and half chickpea flour, but if you like, you can probably get away with substituting the all purpose flour with some whole wheat or even spelt....it might even work with just using all chickpea flour(haven't tried it though)

Tip: After I bake all the crackers, I then like to place the crackers(those that aren't so crispy) in the warm oven with the heat turned off... to crisp up even further. The residual heat is just enough to crisp them up without burning...and they stay crisp for days.

I prefer to store my crackers in the freezer...this way they stay nice and fresh.

You will need: basic cracker recipe

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup chickpea(garbanzo) flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2/3 cup warm water

1/3 cup light olive oil

6 TBS sesame seeds

1/3 cup shredded hard cheese( Parmesan, Manchego, Gruyere, etc.)

Optional add ins:

cayenne

paprika

dried chives

caraway

poppy seeds

sunflower seeds

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F and lightly grease two 14x17-inch baking sheets(grease the pans only if you are not using the parchment paper).

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, chickpea flour, baking powder, sesame seeds, cheese, dried chives, and salt...you can also add any additional add-ins you prefer... such as paprika, caraway seeds, poppy seeds, etc.

3. Stir in water and oil, mixing until smooth dough forms. Halve dough.

4. Roll out half of the dough into large square as thin as you can get it...1/4 inch or so( they will puff up a bit more in the oven) . You can roll out the dough on the back of an oiled cookie sheet... or on a parchment paper.

5. Cut rolled out dough into small squares or whatever shapes you prefer....strips would be fun. Place on baking sheet. Pierce all over with fork. Repeat with remaining half of dough.

I prefer rolling my cracker dough on a parchment paper and then transferring the crackers (parchment paper and all) unto a cookie sheet.

6. Bake until crackers are dry and golden, 10 to 12 minutes. You may need to pull out some of the crackers that brown a bit earlier...so that they don't burn.... leave the rest to continue baking. Re-cut if necessary. Cool on racks. See tip above if you want really crisp crackers.

7. Store crackers in airtight container or in the freezer.