~ "By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; Through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures." ~ "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing" ~ "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." ~ "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."~

Monday, June 6, 2011

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.

11 comments:

M Family said...

I want to try with all chickpea flour so I can share with my nephew who has a special diet. Did you notice if they were more crumbly than when you used all regular flour? it will probably be awhile before I can try, but I will let you know the results :D

Ellie said...

M Family, You know, I didn't notice it being crumbly at all...actually I felt the crackers were crispier, but definitely weren't crumbly.

You've got me now to make it with all chickpea flour as well:). But if you do make it, I'd love to hear how you like them....

After I made these, I came across this cracker recipe that uses all chickpea flour...

http://www.anjasfood4thought.com/2011/06/herbed-chickpea-and-sesame-crackers.html

I'd love to give it a try. Thought you might like to check it out as well.

Speranta said...

Te admir foarte mult pentru tot si pentru aceasta reteta...
Sa ai o zi binecuvantata !

Ellie said...

Speranta, Esti o scumpa! Multumesc mult pentru incurajare...apreciez mult ca ma vizitezi. Iti doresc si tie o zi binecuvantata:)...

Ellie said...

Megi, A great idea to use coconut oil! I am sure the coconut oil will work....I really don't see why it shouldn't. It would probably even make for a better cracker:)... .and that would be just delicious.

I'd love to know how you make it...

megi said...

Ellie, thank you! The crackers are fantastic, I especially loved the fact that the recipe includes chickpea flour. Here is what I did, I used half chickpea flour and half spelt flour, substituted coconut oil for the olive oil. I also used emmental cheese and slightly crushed caraway seeds.

I really, highly recommend these crackers! I stored them in an airtight container because I promised my husband I wouldn't freeze them. :) Thanks for another great recipe, Ellie.

Ellie said...

Megi, YAY!! So glad you liked the crackers...made my day that you tried them and enjoyed them. I absolutely love your substitutions. I just knew that you would come up with something excellent. Love the coconut oil...love the spelt flour... the cheese and the caraway... a winning combination for sure.
Thank you for taking the time to let me know your feedback...I am just thrilled that you liked them!

Amy said...

I can't wait to try these tomorrow! I am planning on using all chickpea flour since I am attempting to cut back if not eliminate wheat from my family's diet. I am always on the lookout for good healthy foods that I can make for my family and hope that my kids will really like these. I am also going to try some nutritional yeast instead of the cheese since we have eliminated dairy from the kids' diet!

Ellie said...

Amy, I would love to hear how the crackers come out for you. It would be wonderful if it works with all the substitutions. You never know unless you try:).
Hopefully it would be a healthy snack the children would enjoy.

Unknown said...

great recipe! i substituted the all purpose flour with brown rice flour and the sesame seeds with chia seeds and it came out great! they seem sturdy but i didnt make the original version so i dont have much to compare it to! thanks again. BTW, i came across this recipe while trying to make chia chips with black bean flour! if anybody has oen pass it on! thanks, Marc

Ellie said...

Marc, That's great! So happy you liked the crackers.

I'm glad you were able to make the recipe work for you. Substituting chia seeds is great, but adding the brown rice flour was genius:)! You made them into GF and I'm sure healthier.

Glad your substitutions worked out for you... the regular recipe makes sturdy crackers as well. I'm thinking you can make this recipe using black bean flour and chia seeds... it should be ok. The crackers would probably have a unique color, but I'm sure they would be tasty.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your feedback. Appreciate it!