A week and a half ago I threw a dinner party. It wasn’t your typical party as I fed an entire group of non-vegans a completely vegan dinner. There was raw food and some cooked food. Everyone loved everything and I loved showing these dedicated meat eaters that you can actually make delicious food that is plant based!
One of my favorite appetizers was a flavorful bruschetta that I served on toast, topped with a balsamic reduction. Not completely raw (the bread) but so delicious.
I couldn’t get this bruschetta off of my mind and decided to bring some of the flavors into these wonderful raw Bruschetta Crackers and Basil Garlic “Cheese” Spread. The crackers have a light crispy texture. The tomatoes and onions add flavor. The other bruschetta ingredients, basil and garlic can be found in the easily made cashew “cheese” spread. These were so tasty, I had trouble keeping them around to photograph!
Equipment Needed: food processor, dehydrator
Advanced Prep: Soak almonds and cashews overnight
Almond Bruschetta Crackers
- 3 cups almonds, soaked overnight, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup freshly ground golden flax
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 medium sweet onion, finely diced
- 2 medium tomatoes, finely diced
- Himalayan salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1. Mix together ground flax and water. Let sit until water is absorbed.
2. Pulse almonds in food processor until finely ground. Place in mixing bowl.
3. Stir flax and other remaining ingredients into almonds.
4. Spread dough on 2 non-stick dehydrator sheets. The dough is quite wet. Dehydrate at 145 for 45 minutes. Remove and score.
5. Place back in dehydrator and continue to dehydrate at 115 until the tops are quite dry (about 4 hours). Transfer to screens and finish dehydrating until dry.
Makes two 14 x 14 sheets of crackers
Basil Garlic Cashew “Cheese” Spread
- 2 cups cashews, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 6 large fresh basil leaves
- Himalayan salt and ground pepper to taste
1. Place all ingredients except 2 of the basil leaves in food processor. Process until smooth.
2. Remove to bowl and garnish with remaining basil leaves that have been sliced into thin strips.
Makes 1 cup of spread
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
Susan, thank you so much for sharing your recipes. One of the issues I have with your website is that I cannot decide what I admire more-the food or the photos!
Thanks for the kind words!
You’re right Vanessa!! This site is like a raw vegan porn site!! lol. I salivate all over my keyboard every time I visit. Speaking of salivating, I can only imagine how rawmazing your dinner party was Susan! OH MY!! Just the thought… Okay, off to soak some nuts! I HAVE GOT TO TRY THIS!! And, as usual, I’M SURE I won’t be disappointed! Every rawcipe I’ve made from this site lives up to the site’s name … RAWMAZING!! :-9
Susan,
I love your recipes your presentation is superb. Thankyou so much. You really are an inspired chef.
I am using a few of your recipes on my menu. I am doing up a flyer and would like to acknowlege you and list your website, if that is acceptable to you
Carol
Carol, please email me privately. Susan@Rawmazing.com
Love the pictures of this recipe. I look forward to try this one….
Thanks so much for sharing this delicious amazing recipe! can’t wait to try. Stupid question, when making the crackers, do I need a silpat or wax paper for the dehydrator? Thanks for sharing , always! 7 days raw now and I am excited for recipes!
You start the crackers on a non-stick dehydrator sheet.
Looks so good, why must I vait until tomorrow to eat these <3
Those crackers look amazing..how could you make them without a dehydrator??? Slow cook them? The lowest my oven goes is 170 degrees..thanks,,nancie
YUM! Everything about this post is amazing. Lol. I love bruschetta. I’m going to have to wait to visit my grandma (who has a dehydrator) to make the crackers, but I’m most definitely going to have to make that spread this weekend. Your addition of balsamic is brilliant.
Susan, are your measurements for the nuts before or after soaking?
Before. You do it just as it is written. If it was after, I would say 2 cups soaked nuts.
Susan,
Good point.
I was halving the recipe and using chopped almonds thinking it would be easier to use, but they DOUBLED in size after the soak, so I’m not sure how much to use….. in the recipe…… Thanks as always for your great recipes!
What if you don’t have a food processor? I plan on getting one some time, but it’s not in the budget right now. I have a Vita-Mix, but I am guessing both of these would be too thick…
Within the past year I just wanted to get healthy and keep the weight off. I’ve done the veggie detox with the juicer, and just eat nuts and legumes. I feel so much more energized and healthy, but I love to cook and well veggie juices kind of take away that part of my creativity. This gives me inspiration that I can try on my family. I just made the eggplant bacon and cut the chipotle down…my 2 year old loves it. My son is still a bacon lover (9), but I’m hoping that I will find recipes that he likes too. He loves smoothies but thinks my veggie juices taste like grass! I just want him to live a long healthy life where he gets accustomed to the healthy foods before it’s too late.
Looks delish and I have everything in my pantry. I’ll make this, this weekend….but my mind is drueling already.
Oh and Aimee D, you are correct the eggplant bacon is Devine!
I love a great raw cheese spread. This one looks wonderful. I have yet to make a raw cracker…maybe this one will inspire me to do so.
Your recipes look fantastic! I have many food sensitivities including flax seed, coconut and cashews.
Would I be able to substitute chia seeds for flax seeds in this cracker recipe?
I just want to Thank You so very much for your site, your time and for being so giving of your recipes. It means a lot to me since we have been on hard times and I just cannot afford to buy books and things right now. I recently became raw and sticking with it for the long run is important to me and having some other choices helps make it better. just wanted to Thank You.
Hi! Thank you for your amazing website! I am fairly new to a raw lifestyle and this is so inspiring and way more fun to me than cooking!
To the point, I’m confused on the nuts. If I were to soak/dehydrate all of my nuts right after I get them then say I want to make this ‘cheese’, am I soaking for a second time essentially and then dehydrating again as well?
You can end up soaking twice, once for the enzymes and once for the hydration needed in the recipe. But, you can always hold some nuts aside if you know you are going to be making something that requires soaked nuts.
This looks delicious. I’ve been looking for a healthy cracker recipe. Thank you!
You are welcome, Kim!
This look sooooooooooooooooooo delicious, would love to try it but don’t have a dehydrator.
Is there any other way to dry these out??????????????
Thank,
I just came across your site and have been going through your amazing recipes.
I have an older large Barron dehydrator with 10 large trays. I don’t like to run it for hours with just one or 2 trays so I will use my oven with just the oven light on. If it isn’t warm enough with a small oven light change to a larger 40 watt or 60 watt light bulb. It works very well with the door just cracked open for more air circulation.
So you can make crackers in the oven without cooking them. You do need a rack to finish the drying after you remove the parchment paper but if you have large cooler racks, 2 set off center may work.
Dehydration works by using lots of air and a small amount of heat to dry the food. I would be concerned that you might get some fermentation or bacteria growth.
Hey Susan I LOVE your recipes and bought your books. I want to make nut cheeses but the only inexpensive nuts I can find are almonds! Is it okay to use roasted nuts?? I mean will it have the same consistency if they’re soaked over night?
I honestly have no idea how roasted nuts would work in this recipe. They are a different texture and have different levels of oil. You could try and see…
How long does this last in the frig?
5-7 days.
Could you please recommend a dehydrator? Thank you
Hi, Rainey…I answered your question where you previously posted it.