Your whole food, plant-based life.

Cheezy Kale Crackers

If I don’t have a batch of raw crackers or flat bread around, I am at extreme risk of snack attacks. You know what I am talking about. The attacks that an apple or an orange can’t curb. The attacks that find me riffling through the cabinets for something crunchy and satisfying. The attacks that can lead me to less than desirable food. My cracker recipes are an important part of my raw food recipes collection.

 

Raw crackers are tasty and nutritious. Best of all, just a few quickly satisfy that craving and are so filling I never over-eat them. I also know that I am getting great nutrients, not just empty calories when I eat them.

For this recipe, I wanted to use incorporate kale as I am a huge kale fan. I have also been a little obsessed with making a raw cheese cracker so out came the nutritional yeast (great for a cheesy flavor).

To top it off, I decided to do an experiment. I pulled a bit of dough out and baked it in the oven. Why? Because I am often asked how to make raw recipes (that require dehydration) in the oven and I can’t answer the question. Since this is raw blog, my recipes are developed to be eaten raw. I do not test them for baking times but I decided to experiment with this one just to see what would happen. The rules for dehydration and baking are different (see the FAQ page).

The baked version.

Please know that baking raw recipes destroys a lot of nutrients. Since these recipes are made with healthy, whole, pure ingredients instead of traditional unhealthy ingredients, I realize people want to try them whether they have a dehydrator or not. Plus they are gluten free.

What happened when I baked a tray? They did bake. (Please note, some things that are intended to be dehydrated won’t bake correctly.) I baked them 25 minutes at 200 degrees on the convection setting, flipping once. The result? The taste, when compared to the dehydrated raw crackers was seriously lacking the lovely fresh, intense flavor of the dehydrated crackers.

I had friends try both versions, and the consensus was always the same. The baked crackers lost some flavor (not to mention nutrients). And the kale, instead of tasting like vibrant, fresh kale, tasted, well … baked.

It is interesting to note that I photograph food in many top restaurants. Increasingly I have been seeing dehydrators in quite a few of the kitchens. As chefs search for ways to coax the best flavors out of food, they are increasingly turning to methods like dehydrating.

It makes sense that the dehydrated crackers have more flavor.  But, if you don’t have a dehydrator, and it is not important to you that the crackers are raw, you can experiment with the recipe. Just put your oven on the lowest temp (using convection helps) and keep an eye on it until it looks crisp and done. You will probably need to flip it once for proper drying. If you didn’t have the dehydrated crackers to compare them to, they are definitely passable.

For this recipe, I decided to include a little photo tutorial that covers the process of making these crackers. You will see one of my methods rolling and cutting the crackers.

 

“Cheezy” Kale Crackers (recipe follows pictures)  

To prepare the kale, strip the leaves from the stems.

A salad spinner is a great way to rinse and dry the leaves.

Chop the almonds until fine in food processor.

Add nutritional yeast, coconut flour and spices. Stir to combine.

Finely chop kale and add to almond mixture and stir well.

Mix in the flax/water mixture. I often do this by hand. SO much easier.

Form 1/3 of the “dough” into a rectangle on a non-stick dehydrator sheet. You can also use parchment paper.

Place another non-stick sheet over the “dough” and roll out 1/4-inch thick.

Peel off the top non-stick sheet.

Cut into strips. This is my favorite cutter. You can find it here: Pastry Cutter

Trim off the excess and set aside to roll out with the next sheet.

 

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199 Comments

  1. Michal wrote on November 28, 2012

    I love the colors of all of your photographs – beautiful! I also really like how you included the feedback for the raaw vs. cooked method. When I did a lot of work cooking and teaching demo’s with raw food classes, I would get the same question a lot and I never really had an answer which satisfied myself or the questioner.

    Reply
  2. Deb Kohlwey wrote on November 28, 2012

    A friend just sent me your recipe and info as I am sitting here snacking on raw onion bread and nutri-yummy dip, I was just craving something crunchy. (All the organic celery disappeared over Thanksgiving, and I need something to crunch!) Thank you for the recipe, I am starting it as soon as I’m done here! Sounds right up my alley, as I already have everything on hand! Cheers!

    Reply
  3. Carol wrote on November 27, 2012

    Mmmmmmmm…… 🙂

    Reply
  4. Tisha Bryant wrote on November 27, 2012

    I am still on the fence a bit re: nutritional yeast. I am wondering what your thoughts are regarding using Engevita Yeast? I haven’t used either but am curious as to the difference and whether you have tried.
    Many thanks.

    Reply
    • Susan wrote on November 27, 2012

      Engevita Yeast is nutritional yeast.

      Reply
  5. Lou wrote on November 27, 2012

    They look so good. As always, love to try your recipes. Thank you.

    Reply
  6. Debs wrote on November 27, 2012

    Mmm these look delicious – can’t wait to try them! Question though – how big is a ‘bunch’ of kale? I can only get kale ready-chopped in plastic sealed bags at the supermarket, with each bag weighing about 200g. How many of these bags would I need? Thanks! x

    Reply
  7. Sandy wrote on November 27, 2012

    Is Brewer’s Yeast a nutritional yeast ? Excuse my ignorance. Thanks. Sandy

    Reply
  8. Carol wrote on November 27, 2012

    Susan,
    I currently live in Florida and wholeheartedly agree with you about climate—give me crisp temperatures and snow in winter!
    These crackers sound so yummy, but I am one of your readers who does not have a dehydrator—yet, so I’ll try the oven method. I love kale, and like you need to have something healthy when I get a craving or I’ll eat “ugly” stuff!!
    Thanks for sharing 🙂

    Reply

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