Spicy Cheese Thins

This recipe is a variation of an Almond Thins cracker recipe posted on Low Carb Friends forums.  It was originally posted there by a member known as Miredkitty, but am not sure if it is in fact Miredkitty’s own recipe.   It has been tweaked by so many good cooks they have come up with a ton of wonderful savory and sweet variations.

I took the basic almond flour thins recipe, doubled it, omitted the Splenda and then added cheese and one of my favorite seasoning combinations to come up with a spicy little snack cracker reminiscent of Cheez-its or Pepperidge Farm Goldfish.  These are very thin and VERY crispy if you allow them to brown a bit!  They are good alone or they are delicious with soup! You can eat five of these crackers for under 2 net carbs!!   My kind of cracker!  These are not suitable until you get to the nuts and seeds rung of the Atkins OWL ladder.

VARIATION:  For an even cheesier taste, you can add 2 T. Nutritional Yeast to the dry ingredients when mixing the dough. 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. almond flour

2 egg whites from large eggs

¼ tsp. onion powder

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional, use more if you like things hot)

1/8 tsp. chili powder

1 c. grated Cheddar cheese (½ more if you want them cheesier)

¼ tsp. salt (optional)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 325º. Cut parchment paper to fit exactly the bottom of an 11″ x 16½” sheet pan.  Just set the paper on your kitchen counter for now.  Mix almond flour and seasonings in a bowl.  Add egg whites and stir with a fork.  Add cheese and continue stirring until it forms a moist dough.  Spoon (or crumble with your hands) the dough evenly onto parchment working from the center out. Cover the dough blobs with a sprayed/oiled sheet of waxed paper the same size.  Using a rolling pin, roll dough into a single, smooth rectangular sheet of dough the size of the parchment.  Be careful to not let the dough exceed the piece of parchment paper. If it does, put those bits back into the sheet and roll smooth again.  You definitely want this dough to go all the way to the edges of the parchment paper so the crackers will be thin enough to be crisp.

Slowly and carefully lift off the waxed paper.  Use the tip of a pointed knife to lift up two corners and with your hands, applying tension to keep the sheet stiff, carefully lift parchment, dough and all onto the baking sheet.  If you cut it the right size, it should sit right down on the bottom nicely.  Using your sharp knife, carefully (and gently since the dough is fragile) score the dough into cracker shapes (8 x 10, making 80 crackers total).  Pop into your preheated 325º oven and bake for about 10-11 minutes or until lightly browned.  The outer rows brown faster, so you will likely need to remove outer rows as soon as they are browned so those don’t get over-browned while  the center ones finish cooking.  Cool a few minutes and separate into separate crackers along your score lines.  Store in an airtight container or ziploc bag.  NOTE:  If these lose their crispness on day 2 or 3 (due to high oil content of cheddar cheese) re-crisp on a baking sheet in a 325º in the oven for about 10 minutes.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 80 crackers, each cracker contains: (using 1 c. cheese only)

23.5 cals, 1.98g fat, 0.64g carbs, 0.3g fiber, 0.34g NET CARBS, 1.12g protein, 20 mg sodium

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Almond-Arrowroot Crackers

Some time ago I came across a Crispy & Flaky Gluten-Free Thin (Pizza) Crust recipe by Brittany Angell on RealSustenance.com that looked intriguing.  I decided to adapt it to create what has become the BEST cracker recipe for me to date.  Making a batch today, so thought I’d re-post for new blog visitors.  This cracker is so good, I’ve now made this recipe dozens of times.  Good by themselves or with toppings and dips!  Even my non-low-carb husband likes these!  I think the magic here is the arrowroot and oat fiber, so I don’t recommend omitting or substituting for those two ingredients lest you end up with a totally different result.

Let me say up front, my method for making the crackers does not read at all like the original recipe, but it sure produces a crisp cracker that STAYS crisp for days and days!   I changed amounts of come ingredients, added a couple things and definitely spiced them up a bit!  Those changes and additions are noted below in blue, including the oven temperature.  I also added a bit of oat fiber for a flour-y flavor, crunch and fiber.

This recipe is not suitable for Induction due to the oat fiber and arrowroot flour.  It isn’t suitable for Primal-Paleo unless you omit the oat fiber and cheese.  This is a really BIG recipe that makes two full sheet pans of 48 crackers each.  Half the recipe if you do not want that many (tasting them will change your mind next time 🙂 ).  That said, they do keep well and stay crisp in a loose-lidded ceramic canister on my counter for 2 weeks or so.  That’s much better than any of my other cracker recipes keep for me.

You can also make round crackers that are slightly thicker but just as crisp (a bit more trouble though).  Using 1 level tsp. dough per round cracker, I only got 66 round crackers.  I show numbers below for the round version also.

Round version made in silicone muffin molds/liners

VARIATION:   Omit the black pepper and add 1-2 T. of my 8-Seed Spice blend instead.

INGREDIENTS:

3 c. lightly packed almond flour (weighed out it was 11 oz. (311.8 grams)

4 T. arrowroot flour/powder

2/3 c. flax meal (I use a 50:50 mix of dark & golden)

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. sea salt

1 T. onion powder

1-2 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper (I use 2 tsp.)

2 T. oat fiber  (omit for gluten-free version)

¼ c. grated Parmesan Cheese

3/4 c. warm tap water

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS:  Line two large sheet pans (mine are 11½ x 17) with parchment.  I use plastic gloves to press crackers into my pans, or sometimes I cut a third piece or parchment, lay it on top and roll out the dough that way, using my gloved fingers to finish off the edges evenly.  The key is to get the cracker dough thin and even in the pan.  Thicker areas  don’t cook well; thinner areas will burn quickly.

Preheat oven to 350º.  Stir the warm water and olive oil together in a small glass to mix well.  Measure out all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.   Stir well with a fork.  Add the water-oil mixture to the dry ingredients and blend with the fork to form a solid ball of dough.  I form the dough right in the bowl into in a log shape and cut in half to divide it equally.  Crumble half the mixture onto each parchment-lined pan.  Roll the dough or, wearing plastic gloves, press the dough in the first pan evenly and all the way to the edges.  It will be very thin, and I always think it isn’t going to make it, but half the dough WILL reach the edge of the pan.  I like to roll the surface with a straight-sided glass I own.  If rolling with a rolling pin or straight glass, cover crumbles with parchment and roll as evenly as possible all the way to the edges of the pan.  You’ll likely have to finish the edges with your fingers (use a piece of plastic wrap if need be).  With a large chef’s knife, score the rolled dough into rows of crackers 6 x 8 (48 crackers).  Repeat this process with the second pan of crackers.

To make round crackers, use silicone muffin pans or silicone cupcake liners.  You can also use paper liners in a metal muffin pan.  Measure 1 level teaspoon of dough into each mold and press down evenly with a your fingers (I use plastic glove to do this to avoid dough sticking to me). Set silicone muffin pans and/or molds onto metal sheet pans for support. Pop the pans into the preheated 350º oven and bake for for about 20-22 minutes.  Ovens vary, so start watching them at 18 minutes.  Do not over brown!  I recommend removing those around the edges as soon as they begin to brown and those on the outside are inclined to burn. When all have browned, remove, cool 1-2 minutes, re-score with the chef’s knife and then let them cool completely before eating.  These are not tasty hot in my opinion.  The flavor develops when they have cooled.

Break apart and enjoy plain, with butter, cheese spreads (I’m addicted to them with chive & onion cream cheese) or your favorite hard cheeses and meats!  Store remainders in a plastic zip bag or any canister of your choosing.  I just use a ceramic cookie jar on my counter.  These stay crisp for around 2 weeks.  Mine get eaten within 2 weeks, so I honestly don’t know if they would keep longer or not.  🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 96 square crackers, each cracker contains:

28.4 calories, 2.38 g  fat, 1.32 g  carbs, 0.68 g  fiber, 0.64 g  NET CARBS, 0.97 g  protein, 37 mg sodium

NOTE:  If you make round crackers pressed into silicone muffin molds/cups you will only get 66 crackers, using 1 level tsp. dough per cracker.  Each round crackers will contain 41.3 calories, 3.46 g  fat, 1.91 g  carbs, 0.98 g  fiber, 0.93 g  net carbs, 1.41 g protein and 54 mg sodium

Air Fryer Croutons (low-carb)

I just discovered I can make low-carb croutons in my air fryer (Power XL 7 qt 1700 watt basket style).  Using my familiar Einkorn English Muffin as the base, it was a piece or cake, or perhaps I should say a piece of “toast”. 🙂  This time I coated them with my spice mixture, but next time I’m going to put it right into the batter when making the muffin just for ease.  Doubt it will make a bit of difference in the end result.  We both thought these a tasty substitute for high-carb commercial croutons.  To lower carbs, you could use some other low-carb bread or merely eat less of them on your salad.

INGREDIENTS: 

1 recipe my Einkorn English Muffin

1 T. extra virgin olive oil

¼ tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

¼ tsp. each onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper

Dash sea salt

VARIATION:  Use other seasoning blends to change things up a bit

DIRECTIONS:  Make the English muffin by that recipe’s instructions (linked above).  DO NOT slice the muffin laterally but rather into 1/2 cubes.  The croutons will toast better if not larger than ½” size.  Let cubes rest on cutting board for 1 hour to totally dry out.  Turn them over once to try to get them dry to the touch on all surfaces.

When about ready to get meal together, toss them into a medium bowl with 1 T. olive oil.  If adding spices to surface, mix it into the olive oil in the bowl and then toss in your cubes.  Stir well to coat.  Place them in the basket of your air fryer (or in a pan if you have the shelf type.  I place a small round cake cooling wire rack on mine to be sure they didn’t fly around during cooking.  Cook at 375º for about 6 minutes, checking often and shaking to get all sides brown and toasty.  Add more time if needed to get them to a firm and toasty state without them burning.  All fryers are different and the time is variable with each brand/model.  Cool completely before serving.  If you don’t have an air fryer, you can toast these in a 375º conventional oven on a sheet pan.  Will take about 13-15 minutes on the middle shelf, turning and tossing with a spatula a couple times during cooking to achieve even browning.  Remove and cool, serving fairly quickly while they are still crisp.

Low carb breads do not keep their crunchy quality for long, but if you have some leftover (I did) put remainders in a ziplock bag and reheat in the air fryer at 375º for 2-3 minutes to toast them right up again.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes enough to garnish 4 salads.  Each of the 4 servings will contain:

114 cals, 10.4g fat, 4.6g carbs, 2.25g fiber, 2.35g NET CARBS, 3.33g protein, 94 mg sodium

Einkorn Melba Toast

I made some delicious “Melba Toast®” today from a loaf of Maria Emerich’s Amazing Bread (slightly modified).  Given the moisture level of the interior of this bread, I wasn’t sure it would work………………… BUT IT DID!   I used these crisp cracker-like toasts to serve the leftover Smoked Steelhead Trout Spread I whipped up yesterday for lunch.  They were a delicious vehicle for the spread!  My husband was out of town yesterday and didn’t get to taste my delicious spread.  My husband loves Melba Toast® and said these were almost as crisp and tastier than the original!  And the spread was a hit, too!  Can’t wait to try these melba toasts with marmalade in the morning!  This recipe is not suitable (with my modifications) until you are nearing goal weight at the final grains rung of the carb-ladder of Phase 2.

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INGREDIENTS:  (my 2 minor changes to Maria’s recipe in blue)

1 tsp. dry yeast + ½ tsp. real sugar dissolved in:

¼ c. warm water

3 c. almond flour

½ c. Einkorn flour

10 T. psyllium husk powder

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

5 T. apple cider vinegar

6 egg whites, beaten in a bowl with a whisk until frothy

1½ c. boiling water

DIRECTIONS:   Preheat oven to 350º.  You’ll need to first bake the loaf of bread these are made from (unless you already have a loaf baked and ready).  Lightly oil the ends of an 8×4″ loaf pan.  Lay a sheet of parchment (cut to fit) into the bottom that rolls up the long sides of the pan.

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the ¼ c. warm water with the sugar.  Let it sit on your counter while you measure out your other ingredients.

In a medium mixing bowl, measure out all listed dry ingredients.  Stir well to make sure they are uniformly mixed.  Into the yeast/water mixture, add the beaten egg whites and cider vinegar.  Stir well to blend.  Now add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients bowl and stir a few times.  All at once,  pour the boiling water over the mixture and stir quickly and briskly with a fork to pull it together into a contiguous ball of dough.  Switching to a rubber spatula, scrap the sides of the bowl down to get all of the dough.  Spoon the dough into your oiled/papered pan.  Pop into 350º oven for about 1 hour.  Check often after 50 minutes as ovens vary.  When toothpick stuck into center comes out dry and clean, it’s done.  Remove and chill in the refrigerator for at least a couple hours overnight before proceeding.

Preheat oven to 350º.  When the loaf of bread is completely chilled, remove from refrigerator and slice into 40 very thin slices ½cm or 3/16″ thick.  Lay them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Pop pan into oven and bake on first side for about 15-20 minutes (again, ovens vary, so keep an eye out on these so as not to over brown).  Remove from oven, turn each toast over and pop back into oven for about another 10 minutes only.  When you are satisfied they have dried out and are lightly browned, remove them and cool.  Serve as is with your favorite jams, jellies.  They will likely lose their crunchiness when stored, but just reheat on low oven setting (300º) awhile, or make fewer of them for immediate consumption.

NOTE:  *For party spreads and cheese balls, you might prefer a smaller, cracker shape.  Just cut the “toasts” in half before baking.  

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 40 “Melba Toasts”, each contains:

57 cals, 3.86g fat, 4.77g carbs, 2.62g fiber, 2.15g NET CARBS, 2.4g protein, 118mg sodium

• If cut in halves, recipe makes 80 square crackers with 1.07 net carbs per cracker.

 

BBQ “Potato” Chips

UPDATE:  I have concluded I must have sliced these just perfectly the first time, as on subsezuent fryings, many did not stay crisp after cooling.  If you don’t get them VERY brown (just short of burned), slice them incredibly thin up front and also  eat them right out of the grease, they are inclined to soften up in the centers.  Only those sliced so thin you can almost read a book through the jicama slices will get/stay crisp.  Since that kind of thin uniformity is nigh on to impossible with anything short of a professional slicer or quality mandolin (neither of which do I own, as can both can be very dangerous to use) you may want to wait until you can get a mandolin.

These crispy little chips came out extremely close to the flavor of commercial BBQ potato chips!   We LOVED them!  So crisp, too.  The natural sweet edge in this vegetable lends itself to BBQ flavoring, as the commercial chips actually have unhealthy sugar added to their spice seasoning.  And best of all, these little snack chips are an Atkins Induction friendly recipe.  The dehydrated tomato powder I use is Goya brand in the Mexican section of your grocery store.  They make it in tiny cubes and blocks.  Of course, you can omit the spice blend for plain “Potato” Chips.  I also have a Nacho Cheese “Corn” Chip recipe you might like.

I have often wondered if you could deep fry jicama.  Honestly I just didn’t believe you could hide the sweet quality jicama has, which is actually a plus for BBQ seasoning here.  I also didn’t think I could ever slice it thin enough to work for something like this.  Well, I recently bought a little folding Rival slicer and it slices jicama VERY thin, but I do believe a mandolin would slice them even thinner.   These are delicious with burgers or by themselves!

These can also be made plain and those taste like real potato chips to me!   At 8 net carbs for this entire batch not bad all in all.  The plain ones even hold up to sour cream and yogurt dips.

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INGREDIENTS:

6 oz. jicama, peeled

Oil of your choice 1″ deep or more for frying (1T. is calculated into nutritional info below as absorbed, but I suspect less than that is actually absorbed)

Dash sea salt

¼ tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

1/8 tsp. dehydrated tomato powder (optional)

DIRECTIONS:  Mix seasoning (and the crumbled tomato powder if using) into a paper plate (I poured mine into an empty salt shaker I keep for such purposes).  Set some paper towels on old newspaper by your cook top for draining purposes.  Peel and slice the jicama VERY thin, 1/16″ or less or they will not get crisp when cooked.

I use a Rival slicer set on the thinnest setting, but a mandoline set thin would also work.  It will take a very adept slicer to get thin enough slices with a knife, cutting by hand.  My food processor doesn’t slice this thin with either of the 2 slicing blades I have, but maybe you have a thinner blade than I and will try that method.

Heat oil in a deep skillet or deep fryer over high heat.  Drop one slice of jicama in the oil for a test fry.  If it browns too fast or burns, turn the fire down a wee bit to lower oil temp.   Drop about 6-8 slices in the oil next so as not to crowd and cool off the oil.  The bottoms brown first, so keep flipping them during frying for the most even browning.  If any areas in the center are white, those areas will NOT be crispy! White areas will be tough/chewy and nothing like a potato chip.  If browned throughout, they will stay crisp even after they cool off, an impressive fact for such a moist vegetable.  As soon as they are brown, lift them out of oil with a slotted spoon onto awaiting paper towels. While still hot and oily, sprinkle with salt and the spice blend on both sides.  Fry in batches until finished.  These are delicious!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes about 20-25 chips.  The entire batch contains:

190 calories, 13.7 g  fat, 16.7 g carbs, 8.4 g  fiber, 8.3 NET CARBS  (for the entire batch), 1.3 g  protein, 196 mg sodium

 

Black Pepper Almond Crackers

This recipe is loosely based on a pizza crust recipe Crispy & Flaky Gluten-Free Thin (Pizza) Crust by Brittany Angell who used to operate RealSustenance.com. She described how crispy her pizza crust was, so I decided to adapt it and create what has become the BEST low-carb cracker recipe I’ve created to date!  Her recipe has no egg, and that’s what originally caught my eye.  I’m just not fond of eggs in crackers and thought it would end up more like hard tack or water crackers.  My tinkering around paid off!  The final result was so good, I’ve now made this recipe dozens of times.  These tasty, peppery crisp crackers blow all my other cracker recipes right out of the water!  Even my non-low-carb husband likes these things!  I think the magic here is the arrowroot and oat fiber, so I don’t recommend omitting or substituting for those two ingredients lest you end up with a totally different result.

Let me say up front, my method for making the crackers does not read at all like the original recipe, but it sure produces a crisp cracker that STAYS crisp for days and days!   I changed amounts of some ingredients, added a couple things and definitely spiced them up a bit!  Those changes and additions are noted below in blue, including the oven temperature.  I also added a bit of oat fiber for a flour-y flavor, crunch and fiber.

This recipe is not suitable for Induction due to the oat fiber and arrowroot flour.  It isn’t suitable for Primal-Paleo unless you omit the oat fiber and cheese.  This is a really BIG recipe that makes two full sheet pans of 48 crackers each.  Half the recipe if you do not want that many (tasting them will change your mind next time 🙂 ).  That said, they do keep well and stay crisp in a loose-lidded ceramic canister on my counter for 2 weeks or so.  That’s much better than any of my other cracker recipes keep for me.   I look forward to trying the inspiration pizza crust recipe as a pizza crust, with no changes one day, just to see how it is as a pizza crust.

You can also make round crackers (more time consuming to make) that are slightly thicker but just as crisp.  Using 1 level tsp. dough per round cracker, I only got 66 round crackers.  I show numbers below for the round version also.

Round version made in silicone muffin molds/liners

VARIATION:   Omit the black pepper for a plain cracker.  Or you can sub in 1-2 T. of my 8-Seed Spice blend or My Homemade Montreal Steak seasoning instead of the black pepper.  I don’t recommend the commercial Montreal blend because the one time I used it out of desperation, the crackers came out too salty!

INGREDIENTS:

3 c. lightly packed almond flour (weighed out it was 11 oz. (311.8 grams)

4 T. arrowroot flour/powder

2/3 c. flax meal (I use a 50:50 mix of dark & golden)

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. sea salt

1 T. onion powder

1-2 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper (I use 2 tsp.)

2 T. oat fiber  (omit for gluten-free version)

¼ c. grated Parmesan Cheese

3/4 c. warm tap water

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS:  Line two large sheet pans (mine are 11½ x 17) with parchment.  I use plastic gloves to press crackers into my pans, or sometimes I cut a third piece or parchment, lay it on top and roll out the dough that way, using my gloved fingers to finish off the edges evenly.  The key is to get the cracker dough thin and even in the pan.  Thicker areas  don’t cook well; thinner areas will burn quickly.

Preheat oven to 350º.  Stir the warm water and olive oil together in a small glass to mix well.  Measure out all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.   Stir well with a fork.  Add the water-oil mixture to the dry ingredients and blend with the fork to form a solid ball of dough.  I form the dough right in the bowl into in a log shape and cut in half to divide it equally.  Crumble half the mixture onto each parchment-lined pan.  Roll the dough or, wearing plastic gloves, press the dough in the first pan evenly and all the way to the edges.  It will be very thin, and I always think it isn’t going to make it, but half the dough WILL reach the edge of the pan.  I like to roll the surface with a straight-sided glass I own.  If rolling with a rolling pin or straight glass, cover crumbles with parchment and roll as evenly as possible all the way to the edges of the pan.  You’ll likely have to finish the edges with your fingers (use a piece of plastic wrap if need be).  With a large chef’s knife, score the rolled dough into rows of crackers 6 x 8 (48 crackers).  Repeat this process with the second pan of crackers. 

To make round crackers, use silicone muffin pans or silicone cupcake liners.  You can also use paper liners in a metal muffin pan.  Measure 1 level teaspoon of dough into each mold and press down evenly with a your fingers (I use plastic glove to do this to avoid dough sticking to me). Set silicone muffin pans and/or molds onto metal sheet pans for support. Pop the pans into the preheated 350º oven and bake for for about 20-25 minutes.  Ovens vary, so start watching them at 18 minutes.  Do not over brown!  I recommend removing those around the edges as soon as they begin to brown and those on the outside are inclined to burn. When all have browned, remove, cool 1-2 minutes, re-score with the chef’s knife and then let them cool completely before eating.  These are not tasty hot in my opinion.  The flavor develops when they have cooled.

Break apart and enjoy plain, with butter, cheese spreads (I’m addicted to them with chive & onion cream cheese) or your favorite hard cheeses and smoked meats!  Store remainders in a plastic zip bag or any canister of your choosing.  I just use a ceramic cookie jar on my counter.  These stay crisp for around 2 weeks.  Mine get eaten within 2 weeks, so I honestly don’t know if they would keep longer or not.  🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 96 square crackers, each cracker contains:

28.4 calories, 2.38 g  fat, 1.32 g  carbs, 0.68 g  fiber, 0.64 g  NET CARBS, 0.97 g  protein, 37 mg sodium

NOTE:  If you make round crackers pressed into silicone muffin molds/cups you will only get 66 crackers, using 1 level tsp. dough per cracker.  Each round crackers will contain 41.3 calories, 3.46 g  fat, 1.91 g  carbs, 0.98 g  fiber, 0.93 g  net carbs, 1.41 g protein and 54 mg sodium

Pepper Jack Cheese Crisps

 

These are the cheese crackers I like to make when I’m out of fresh jalapenos as well as those pickled in a jar.  They get nice and crispy if browned properly.  I ALWAYS have Monterey Jack cheese in the house, so here’s my short-cut method of making my Jack Snacks of Facebook fame with millions of shares.  The pepper taste isn’t too strong in these, so they are great by themselves or use for dipping dips.  These are suitable for all phases of Atkins, Ketogenic diets and Primal followers if you do the occasional dairy.  These are clearly not suited for a Paleo diet.

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INGREDIENTS:

5 slices Monterrey Jack Pepper cheese (5 oz.)

Parchment paper (DO NOT use waxed paper!)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Using a large knife, cut the four slices of cheese into for smaller squares.  Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Again, DO NOT USE WAXED PAPER or you will ruin these.  The wax and cheese melt together and bond.  Pop into 350º oven for about 12-15 minutes (check often, as ovens vary).

Allow them to cool completely on the pan before attempting to remove with the tip of your knife.  Serve alone or with your favorite dips and ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 20 cheese crisps, each one contains:

27.5 calories, 2.25 g fat, 0.19 g carbs, 0.0 g fiber, 0.19 g NET CARBS, 50 mg sodium

Einkorn Crackers

I wanted to see what a little Einkorn flour would do for my best cracker recipe and it definitely makes them crispier.  I also slightly reduced the flax meal and omitted the arrowroot powder totally.   They are still as delicious as ever but a bit crisper in my opinion and my husband’s opinion.  The jockeying around of ingredients from the inspiration cracker (.64 g net carbs) has maintained a .66 g net carb count per cracker.   NOT BAD!  So the “expense” of adding a little Einkorn to this recipe was not detrimental to the stats at all really.  These are clearly not suitable until the grains level of the Atkins Phase 2 OWL carb reintroduction ladder.  FYI:  I order my Einkorn flour from Jovial Foods.

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INGREDIENTS:

2 c. almond four, lightly packed

1 c. Einkorn flour

½ c. flax meal

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. onion powder

2 tsp. coarse black pepper

2 T. oat fiber

¼ c. grated Parmesan cheese

3/4 c. tap water

2 T. olive oil

DIRECTIONS:  Line two 11×17 sheet pans with parchment, cut to fit.  I use plastic food-service gloves to press dough into pans.  You can use a third sheet of parchment if you don’t have any or a plastic sandwich bag on your hands.  Preheat oven to 350º.

Stir warm water and olive oil together in a small bowl.  In a large bowl, measure out all the dry ingredients and stir with a fork.  Add the water and oil mixture and stir well with fork to moisten the dough.  It will be clumpy and crumbly.   Divide the dough roughly into two portions and using hands crumble half the dough over each pan.  Press or roll the dough all the way to the edges.  It will seem like it won’t be enough to get it all the way to the edges, but until you do, they aren’t thin enough. Trust me, the dough WILL go to the edges of the pans with effort. With a long-bladed knife, score pressed dough gently into rows of 6 x 8 crackers, or 48 in a pan).  Lift the knife blade slowly to avoid messing up the crackers.  Pop into 350º oven for about 18-20 minutes. Ovens vary.  You don’t want to brown them too much.  I even take out individual crackers early if they are getting too brown.  The ones around the edges brown much faster.  Remove the pans and cool.  Separate into crackers with the same knife you scored them with.   These crisp crackers are better when they are 100% cool, even better on day two.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:     Makes 96 crackers, each contains:

20.1 calories

16.8 g  fat

1.19 g  carbs, .53 g  fiber, .66 g  NET CARBS

.75 g  protein

24.6 mg sodium

Almond-Arrowroot Crackers

Some time ago I came across a Crispy & Flaky Gluten-Free Thin (Pizza) Crust recipe by Brittany Angell on RealSustenance.com that looked intriguing.  I already have a pizza crust I’m very happy with.  But when she described how crispy it was, I decided to adapt it and create what has become the BEST cracker recipe for me to date  Her recipe has no egg, and that’s what originally caught my eye.  I’m just not fond of eggs in crackers.  So I began to tinker around with her recipe and just see what I ended up with!   I couldn’t be happier!  The final result was so good, I’ve now made this recipe dozens of times and these tasty, crisp crackers blow all my other cracker recipes right out of the water!  Even my non-low-carb husband likes these things!  I think the magic here is the arrowroot and oat fiber, so I don’t recommend omitting or substituting for those two ingredients lest you end up with a totally different result.

Let me say up front, my method for making the crackers does not read at all like the original recipe, but it sure produces a crisp cracker that STAYS crisp for days and days!   I changed amounts of come ingredients, added a couple things and definitely spiced them up a bit!  Those changes and additions are noted below in blue, including the oven temperature.  I also added a bit of oat fiber for a flour-y flavor, crunch and fiber.

This recipe is not suitable for Induction due to the oat fiber and arrowroot flour.  It isn’t suitable for Primal-Paleo unless you omit the oat fiber and cheese.  This is a really BIG recipe that makes two full sheet pans of 48 crackers each.  Half the recipe if you do not want that many (tasting them will change your mind next time 🙂 ).  That said, they do keep well and stay crisp in a loose-lidded ceramic canister on my counter for 2 weeks or so.  That’s much better than any of my other cracker recipes keep for me.

I look forward to trying the inspiration pizza crust recipe as a pizza crust, with no changes one day, just to see how it is as a pizza crust.  I’m thinking this recipe has some very exciting dessert potential as well.  🙂

You can also make round crackers that are slightly thicker but just as crisp.  Using 1 level tsp. dough per round cracker, I only got 66 round crackers.  I show numbers below for the round version also.

Round version made in silicone muffin molds/liners

VARIATION:   Omit the black pepper and add 1-2 T. of my 8-Seed Spice blend instead.

INGREDIENTS:

3 c. lightly packed almond flour (weighed out it was 11 oz. (311.8 grams)

4 T. arrowroot flour/powder

2/3 c. flax meal (I use a 50:50 mix of dark & golden)

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. sea salt

1 T. onion powder

1-2 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper (I use 2 tsp.)

2 T. oat fiber  (omit for gluten-free version)

¼ c. grated Parmesan Cheese

3/4 c. warm tap water

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS:  Line two large sheet pans (mine are 11½ x 17) with parchment.  I use plastic gloves to press crackers into my pans, or sometimes I cut a third piece or parchment, lay it on top and roll out the dough that way, using my gloved fingers to finish off the edges evenly.  The key is to get the cracker dough thin and even in the pan.  Thicker areas  don’t cook well; thinner areas will burn quickly.

Preheat oven to 350º.  Stir the warm water and olive oil together in a small glass to mix well.  Measure out all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.   Stir well with a fork.  Add the water-oil mixture to the dry ingredients and blend with the fork to form a solid ball of dough.  I form the dough right in the bowl into in a log shape and cut in half to divide it equally.  Crumble half the mixture onto each parchment-lined pan.  Roll the dough or, wearing plastic gloves, press the dough in the first pan evenly and all the way to the edges.  It will be very thin, and I always think it isn’t going to make it, but half the dough WILL reach the edge of the pan.  I like to roll the surface with a straight-sided glass I own.  If rolling with a rolling pin or straight glass, cover crumbles with parchment and roll as evenly as possible all the way to the edges of the pan.  You’ll likely have to finish the edges with your fingers (use a piece of plastic wrap if need be).  With a large chef’s knife, score the rolled dough into rows of crackers 6 x 8 (48 crackers).  Repeat this process with the second pan of crackers.

To make round crackers, use silicone muffin pans or silicone cupcake liners.  You can also use paper liners in a metal muffin pan.  Measure 1 level teaspoon of dough into each mold and press down evenly with a your fingers (I use plastic glove to do this to avoid dough sticking to me). Set silicone muffin pans and/or molds onto metal sheet pans for support. Pop the pans into the preheated 350º oven and bake for for about 20-22 minutes.  Ovens vary, so start watching them at 18 minutes.  Do not over brown!  I recommend removing those around the edges as soon as they begin to brown and those on the outside are inclined to burn. When all have browned, remove, cool 1-2 minutes, re-score with the chef’s knife and then let them cool completely before eating.  These are not tasty hot in my opinion.  The flavor develops when they have cooled.

Break apart and enjoy plain, with butter, cheese spreads (I’m addicted to them with chive & onion cream cheese) or your favorite hard cheeses and meats!  Store remainders in a plastic zip bag or any canister of your choosing.  I just use a ceramic cookie jar on my counter.  These stay crisp for around 2 weeks.  Mine get eaten within 2 weeks, so I honestly don’t know if they would keep longer or not.  🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 96 square crackers, each cracker contains:

28.4 calories, 2.38 g  fat, 1.32 g  carbs, 0.68 g  fiber, 0.64 g  NET CARBS, 0.97 g  protein, 37 mg sodium

NOTE:  If you make round crackers pressed into silicone muffin molds/cups you will only get 66 crackers, using 1 level tsp. dough per cracker.  Each round crackers will contain 41.3 calories, 3.46 g  fat, 1.91 g  carbs, 0.98 g  fiber, 0.93 g  net carbs, 1.41 g protein and 54 mg sodium

Sour Cream and Onion Crackers

Sour Cream & Onion Crackers

I decided to try my hand at a sour cream and onion cracker today.  I used the Almond Thins recipe on Low Carb Friends forums as my base.  This versatile cracker recipe has been tweaked and cooked so many different ways and seems to consistently cook up well for everyone that tries it. I doubled the amount of almond flour and substituted sour cream for the egg whites. I also added a bit of oat fiber for taste and also a bit of flax meal.  I cooked these at 250º rather than my usual 350º for crackers.  So glad I did, as these aren’t very good if overbrowned. My crackers came out GREAT!  They’re delicious by themselves, but you could eat them with cheese as well.  Definitely a keeper for us, this little cracker.

When baking these crackers, DO NOT over brown or they will lose a lot of the subtle onion flavor and just taste like toasted (or scorched) almonds.  For this reason, do not be tempted to cook them at a higher temperature.   TIP:  The thinner you can roll them out the crisper they will bake up for you.  If you roll your out thinner into a rectangle larger than an 8″x14″ rectangle, reduce the cooking time as I’m sure it will take maybe 10 minutes less for thinner crackers.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented chefs to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Even a few of my recipes are in her cookbooks! Order your 5-volume set TODAY! (available individually) from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

DISCLAIMER: I do not get paid for this book promotion or for the inclusion of my recipes therein.  I do so merely because they are GREAT cookbooks any low-carb cook would be proud to add to their cookbook collection.

INGREDIENTS:  

2 c. almond flour

1 T. oat fiber (not the same thing as oat bran or oat flour)

1 T. golden flax meal (optional but calculated below)

½ tsp. sea salt

2 tsp. onion powder

¼ c. finely minced chives or green onion tops

¼ c. sour cream (add 1-2 tsp. more only if you can’t form a nice dough after few minutes)

DIRECTIONS:  Cut parchment about 10″x16″ and place on cookie sheet.  Set aside until you are ready to form crackers.  Preheat oven to 250º.  No, that isn’t a typo, you want a slow oven for these as you DO NOT want them overbrowned.  Measure all dry ingredients into a medium mixing bowl.  Stir with a fork to blend.  Add sour cream and keep stirring with your fork, blending int he sour cream evenly, stirring until the loose meal begins to form a unified mass of dough.  It won’t clump into a single ball of dough, but all loose particles should adhere in large clumps of dough.

Place all the clumps of dough evenly onto parchment covered pan.  Either using plastic gloves or baggie “gloves (or cover dough with waxed paper or more parchment,  press or roll dough into a rectangle about 8″x 14” (roughly the size of a legal sheet of paper).  TIP: I hold a wide-bladed knife along the edges to press the dough up against and still keep the edges very straight.  Score dough lightly with a sharp thin knife into 45 crackers (9×5).  Pop into preheated 250º oven and bake for 50 minutes.  I have you check here because ovens do vary and you don’t want to over brown these.  They will likely not be brown at all.  Mine weren’t at this point, but appeared to be fully done through.  I baked for 10 minutes more to a  slightly brown stage.   The crackers at the corners of the sheet browned a little more, which is how I discovered you do not want to overcook these.   They just don’t taste as good.  Remove pan from oven and press sharp knife along score lines to separate the crackers.  Fully cool before eating as they get crisper as they cool off.  Store in an air-tight container.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Entire recipe contains 1488 calories, 130 g fat, 62.4 g  carbs, 31.7 g  fiber, 30.7 g  NET CARBS, 52.4 g  protein.  Divide by the number of crackers you get for your per cracker stats.  I get 45 crackers, therefore 1/45th (each cracker) would contain:

33 calories

2.9 g  fat

1.39 g  carbs, .7 g  fiber, .69 g  NET CARBS

1.16 g  protein

28.64 mg sodium

Almond-Flax Crackers

I came across a cracker recipe on Food Lover’s Kitchen website recently that I wanted to try:  http://beta.primal-palate.com/recipe/herb-crackers/.    I baked them first as written and didn’t care for the oregano or the cumin in them.  They were also way, way too salty for us.  Flax itself carries a sodium load and I rarely have to add salt to anything made with flax.  Texture was overall very good for these crackers.  Brittle and crisp, especially the browner crackers that were around the outer edges of the pan. But even those in the center of the pan were pretty crisp.

I decided to bake a second batch, majorly reducing the salt and substituting finely chopped dried rosemary for the oregano and cumin.  VOILA! Those were magical for MY palate.  Not too salty either.  I’m very pleased these will stay crisp all week long just in a ziploc bag on the counter!

Today, I baked them a third time, again leaving out the herbs and spices, just using the onion powder and less garlic powder, allowing the black pepper flavor to really come through.  I REALLY think this will be a more versatile, more neutral low-carb cracker for me, that will not “conflict” with spices in soups and entrees I might be having them with.  I’ve baked so many different cracker recipes that mix almond flour and flax meal, but this ratio on those two key ingredients is JUST RIGHT!  I can see this recipe is going to be one I have again and again (I’ve already baked it 3 times in two weeks!!).   I’m so glad my non-low-carb, non-paleo husband likes these also!  So my sincere thanks to Primal Palate for sharing this basic recipe.  These crackers, excellent with cheese, butter, soup or whatever, are suitable for Paleo, Primal and are suitable for Atkins diners once you reach the OWL (on-going Weight Loss) phase.

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. almond flour

1 c. flax meal (I use a 50:50 mixture of dark and golden)

2 tsp. onion powder

½ tsp. garlic powder

¼ tsp. salt

2 tsp. coarse black pepper (this is the magical ingredient that makes these so good)

2 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 eggs, beaten (or 3 egg whites if you prefer a crisper cracker)

VARIATIONS:  Any herb(s) you like along with onion and garlic powder, any combination of grated cheeses with or without onion/garlic powders, rosemary and onion powder, just onion powder, just garlic powder, onion powder and cayenne, onion powder and smoky chipotle powder and any combination of these things that suits your fancy.  I’m looking forward to trying out all these possibilities over time.   🙂

DIRECTIONS:   Preheat oven to 350º.  Line a sided sheet pan with parchment.  Mine is 11½ x 17″.  Measure all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.  With a fork, beat in the two eggs and olive oil until the mixture is moist throughout.  Crumble the dough evenly over the parchment lined pan.  Then, using plastic gloves or baggies on your hands press the dough evenly into the pan, trying to achieve the same thickness throughout.  If you have a straight sided glass, you can even roll the dough out for a smoother surface, but this isn’t really necessary.  This will take you a few minutes. Score into 48 crackers (8 x 6) with a straight edge knife.  Pop into preheated oven and bake for 15-16 minutes.  They will brown around the edges of the pan faster and you may have to remove outer crackers as they bake.  Don’t over brown as flax products can get a burned taste real fast if over-browned.    Cool and break apart along score lines.  When thoroughly cool, store in ziploc bag at room temperature.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 48 crackers, each cracker contains:

33.2 calories

2.84 g  fat

1.37 g  carbs, .93 g  fiber, .44 g  NET CARBS

1.1 g  protein

15.2 mg sodium

23.3 mg potassium

Spicy Cheese Thins

This recipe is a variation of an Almond Thin cracker recipe posted on Low Carb Friends forums.  It was originally posted there by a member known as Miredkitty, but am not sure if it is in fact Miredkitty’s own recipe.   It has been tweaked by so many good cooks they have come up with a ton of wonderful savory and sweet variations.

I took the basic almond flour thins recipe, doubled it, omitted the Splenda and then added cheese and one of my favorite seasoning combinations to come up with a spicy little snack cracker reminiscent of Cheez-its or Pepperidge Farm Goldfish.  These are very thin and VERY crispy if you allow them to brown a bit!  They are good alone or they are delicious with soup! You can eat five of these crackers for under 2 net carbs!!   My kind of cracker!  These are not suitable until you get to the nuts and seeds rung of the Atkins OWL ladder.

VARIATION:  For an even cheesier taste, you can add 2 T. Nutritional Yeast to the dry ingredients when mixing the dough. 🙂

You can have many more delicious cracker and snack recipes to serve your guests with your very own copy of LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, a collection of recipes by International author Jennifer Eloff and some other VERY talented low-carb  cooks, including George Stella, well-known to the low-carb community. Open the link to see a lovely sampling of what awaits you in these cookbooks.  You can order the 5-volume set or individual volumes at Amazon or here.

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. almond flour

2 egg whites from large eggs

¼ tsp. onion powder

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional, use more if you like things hot)

1/8 tsp. chili powder

1 c. grated Cheddar cheese (½ more if you want them cheesier)

¼ tsp. salt (optional)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 325º. Cut parchment paper to fit exactly the bottom of an 11″ x 16½” sheet pan.  Just set the paper on your kitchen counter for now.  Mix almond flour and seasonings in a bowl.  Add egg whites and stir with a fork.  Add cheese and continue stirring until it forms a moist dough.  Spoon (or crumble with your hands) the dough evenly onto parchment working from the center out. Cover the dough blobs with a sprayed/oiled sheet of waxed paper the same size.  Using a rolling pin, roll dough into a single, smooth rectangular sheet of dough the size of the parchment.  Be careful to not let the dough exceed the piece of parchment paper. If it does, put those bits back into the sheet and roll smooth again.  You definitely want this dough to go all the way to the edges of the parchment paper so the crackers will be thin enough to be crisp.

Slowly and carefully lift off the waxed paper.  Use the tip of a pointed knife to lift up two corners and with your hands, applying tension to keep the sheet stiff, carefully lift parchment, dough and all onto the baking sheet.  If you cut it the right size, it should sit right down on the bottom nicely.  Using your sharp knife, carefully (and gently since the dough is fragile) score the dough into cracker shapes (8 x 10, making 80 crackers total).  Pop into your preheated 325º oven and bake for about 10-11 minutes or until lightly browned.  The outer rows brown faster, so you will likely need to remove outer rows as soon as they are browned so those don’t get over-browned while  the center ones finish cooking.  Cool a few minutes and separate into separate crackers along your score lines.  Store in an airtight container or ziploc bag.  NOTE:  If these lose their crispness on day 2 or 3 (due to high oil content of cheddar cheese) re-crisp on a baking sheet in a 325º in the oven for about 10 minutes.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 80 crackers, each cracker contains: (using 1 c. cheese only)

23.5 cals, 1.98g fat, 0.64g carbs, 0.3g fiber, 0.34g NET CARBS, 1.12g protein, 20 mg sodium

Rosemary Onion Almond Thins

Click to enlarge

These little crisp crackers have fewer ingredients than my Rosemary Onion Wafers and are therefore simpler to put together. This recipe is a variation of an Almond Thin recipe posted on Low Carb Friends forums.  http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/recipe-forum-sticky-threads/238499-almond-thins.html.  I believe it was originally posted there by Miredkitty, but am not sure if it is Miredkitty’s original recipe or not.   It has been tweaked by many to come up with variations worthy of applause.

I took the basic almond flour recipe, doubled it, omitted the Splenda and then added one of my favorite seasoning combinations to come up with a spunky little cracker for serving with cheese, just eating plain or buttered!  These are also delicious with soup!  These are not suitable until you get to the nuts and seeds rung of the Atkins OWL ladder.

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. almond flour

2 egg whites

½ tsp. dried rosemary (or 1 T. fresh, chopped very fine)

Dash each salt, onion powder and cayenne powder

2 T. Parmesan cheese, grated

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 325º. Cut a piece of parchment paper the exact size of a large cookie sheet pan.  Just set paper on your kitchen counter for now.  Mix almond flour and seasonings in a bowl.  Add egg whites and stir until it forms a moist dough.  Spoon or crumble with your hands the dough evenly onto parchment working from the center out. Cover the dough blobs with a sprayed/oiled sheet of waxed paper the same size.  Using a rolling pin, roll dough into a single, smooth rectangular sheet of dough.  Be careful to not let the dough exceed the piece of parchment paper.  You want this as thin as possible, but my dough didn’t quite reach all the way to the edges of my cookie sheet.  Slowly and carefully remove waxed paper.  Applying tension to keep the sheet stiff, carefully lift parchment (dough on top) and place on the baking sheet.  Score into the size crackers you  want.  Pop into your 325º oven and bake for about 10-11 minutes or until lightly browned.  The outer areas brown faster, so I removed those rows of crackers as needed until the center ones have browned nicely.  Cool a few minutes and separate into separate crackers along your score lines.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  As it is difficult to know how thin you may roll your dough, what size you cut your crackers or how many you will ultimately get from this recipe, I am going to provide the total recipe stats below.  Just divide those numbers by the number of crackers you get each time you make these.  If you do get the 100 crackers this double recipe is supposed to make, each cracker would have .258 net carbs.  I didn’t get that many crackers (only 80 if I remember right) as I didn’t roll the dough as thin as I probably could have.  Next time I will try to roll the dough all the way to the edges of the cut-to-fit parchment paper.  What I’m certain of is that you will get enough crackers out of this recipe for them to have under 1 net carb per cracker, which is goodness in my book!

ENTIRE RECIPE CONTAINS:

1362 calories

115 g  fat

50.1 g  carbs, 24.3 g  fiber, 25.8 g NET CARBS  (if you get 100 crackers, each has 13.6 calories and .258 g net carbs; if you get 80 crackers each cracker has 17 calories and .32 net carbs)

59.2 g  protein

343 mg sodium

135 mg potassium

Nacho Cheese “Corn Chips”

Nacho Cheese “Corn Chips”

I am leaving this recipe on my blog so as not to break links on any forums I have shared it on.  But I have come to the conclusion that these just won’t stay crisp long enough after frying to call them “chips”.  As they cool, the centers soften up.  Not what I’m looking for in “chips”.  But they were crisp, if browned properly, when eaten hot.  I

Man, I have often wondered if you could deep fry jicama, but I honestly just didn’t believe you could hide the sweet quality of jicama enough to bother to try it.  I also didn’t think I could ever slice it thin enough to work for something like this.  So I bought a little folding Rival slicer and tried jicama on it today  to have with my bunless burgers.  The nacho cheese corn chip version shown above was sprinkled with a mixture of nacho cheese popcorn seasoning, corn bran and sea salt.  This is the closest to a true tortilla chip as I’ve come to in my my attempts to come up with one.  Though crispy fried jicama usually tastes more like potato chips, this combination of seasoning gives it more of a corn chip flavor.  These are suitable once you get to the grains rung of OWL due to the tiny bit of corn bran.

The corn bran, virtually pure fiber and no carbs, I have only found at Honeyvillegrains.com.  But sadly, they only sell it in a huge bag, so it’s probably not worth your trouble to buy just for this recipe (though it was cheap, as I recall).  I keep mine in my freezer and have been using the same bag for a couple years now with no ill effects during storage.  It is used in very tiny amounts to add a slight corn flavor to recipes.

I used Kernel Seasons brand of cheese popcorn seasoning I get at Walmart where the popcorn is shelved. Yeah, yeah, I know it’s not the greatest product in the world, for anybody, but this tiny amount shouldn’t kill your daily carb count and brings sooooo much cheesiness to these nacho chips.  If you can get pure powdered cheese, that would be a healthier choice.

If you omit the corn bran, you can enjoy these during Atkins Induction.  These are great with burgers, just as a snack, or would compliment your next Mexican food dinner quite nicely!  ENJOY!

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented cooks to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Even a few of my recipes are in each of the 5 volumes! Order your set TODAY! (also available individually) from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

DISCLAIMER: I am not paid for this book promotion nor for the inclusion of my recipes therein.  I do so merely because they are GREAT cookbooks any low-carb cook would be proud to add to their cookbook collection.

INGREDIENTS:

6 oz. peeled jicama, (that’s about 1/4-1/3 of a 6½” jicama)

Oil of your choice 1″ deep or more (I use palm shortening)

1/8 tsp. corn bran (optional, I order at Honeyvillegrains.com)

1/4 tsp. nacho cheese popcorn seasoning (or pure powdered cheese if you can get it)

Dash sea salt

DIRECTIONS:  Mix seasoning and salt in a paper plate.  I poured mine into an empty salt shaker I keep for such purposes.  Set some paper towels on newspaper  by your stove-top for draining purposes.  Next, peel and slice jicama VERY thin.  I used a Rival fold-up slicer set on the thinnest setting, but a mandoline set on the thinnest setting would also work.  You’ll just never get them thin enough with an ordinary knife.  My food processor doesn’t slice this thin with either of the blades I have, but maybe you have a thinner blade than I.  You’re aiming for 1/16″ thick cut on the jicama.

Heat oil in a deep skillet or deep fryer.  Drop about half the slices in so as not to crowd or cool off the oil to much.  The bottoms will begin to brown first, so I flipped mine over several times to get the most even browning.  You want these quite brown, but of course, not burned.  Any white areas in the center will NOT be crispy, but rather chewy.  But if these are browned well, they will be crisp even after they cool off!  I was most impressed with that fact.  When brown, lift out of oil with slotted spoon onto awaiting paper towels. While still hot and oily, sprinkle with the seasoning mixture on both sides.  Fry the second half of the chips and season as well.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 1 serving of about 20-25 chips (depends on size).  Entire batch contains:

186 calories

13.7 g  fat

15.4 g  carbs, 8.5 g fiber, 6.9 g NET CARBS

1.2 g  protein

161 mg sodium

Onion Crackers

Click to enlarge

I continue experimenting with cracker recipes.  These came out VERY crisp indeed.  They were flavorful enough on their own merit to eat as chips, with dips, cheese or just butter!  These are not suitable until the nuts and seeds rung of the OWL ladder.  I actually put 1 tsp crushed dried rosemary in these but hubby and I think we would prefer them without the rosemary next time. 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

2/3 c. flax meal

1/3 c. almond meal

1/4 c. oat fiber

2 tsp. onion powder

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

3/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

3/4 c. water

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Mix dry ingredients in a  bowl.  Add water and stir with a fork until all dough appears to be moistened.  Pour crumbled mixture evenly onto a well-oiled or parchment-lined 11″x 17″ sheet pan  .  I use plastic gloves for this next step, or you can use plastic sandwich bags to cover your hands.  Press the crumbly mixture firmly onto the pan until it is evenly and uniformly spread in an extremely thin layer, avoiding any holes/breaks in the dough.  You can put plastic on top and use a rolling pin to smooth it out, but I find I don’t need to do this.   When done, using a long knife, gently score the dough into 48 crackers (8×6 rows).  Pop into 350º oven for about 20-25 minutes.  You do not want to over brown, so I start checking at 15 minutes!   Re-score with knife again as soon as you remove them from the oven.   Cool, separate and put in an air-tight container.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 48 crackers, each contains:

19 calories

1.44 g  fat

1.15 g  carbs, .93 g fiber, .22 NET CARBS

1.04 g  protein

15 mg potassium, 25 mg sodium

Flax-Sesame Crackers

Click to enlarge

I have discovered I am so salt sensitive, I’m having to virtually eliminate the salt and greatly reduce the cheese in my cracker recipe.  These are not acceptable for Induction unless you omit the sesame seeds.  Below is my lighter, blander version that I am going to have to use from now on if I ever want to get to my  goal weight.  I not only drop the salt from the traditional recipe, but I cut the Parmesan 90% to reduce saltiness even further.  My crackers will now be more “neutral” in flavor and impact on my body’s water balance.     Flax tends to burn (particularly around the edges) REAL FAST!!  So do watch these, as ovens vary.  Sometimes I like to crumble a chicken or beef bouillon cube into the dry ingredients of my crackers for a bit of a flavor twist, but I omit any salt in the recipe if I do.  For a milder cracker, sometimes I reduce the flax meal 2-3 tablespoons and substitute in 2-3 T. almond meal.  Both methods are good.  If you omit the sesame seeds, these crackers are suitable for Atkins Induction.

INGREDIENTS:

1½ c. flax meal (I use a mixture of dark and golden)

1 T. grated Parmesan cheese

1½ tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. cayenne or black pepper  (I like cayenne best; my husband likes black best)

¼ c. sesame seeds  (omit if still on Induction)

¼ tsp. salt

½ c. water

DIRECTIONS:    Preheat oven to 350º.  Line the bottom of a 12×17 cookie pan (with sides) with parchment paper and set aside.  In a mixing bowl, mix the dry ingredients well with a wooden spoon.  Add water and stir to blend until all ingredients are moistened with the water.  Break up or crumble the dough onto the parchment paper evenly.  I use plastic gloves, but covering your hands with sandwich baggies will work.  Press the dough evenly over the paper to fill the pan.  I know it will seem like there’s not enough dough to reach the edges and it will seem very thin, this dough.  But trust me, it WILL reach the edges of the pan if you are patient and diligent with your pressing.  Smooth the dough until there are no holes or gaps in it throughout the entire sheet.  Check for places places where it may be thicker and smooth them out.  You  want this as even and thin throughout as possible.  If you want, you can cover the dough with plastic wrap and roll a smooth/straight-sided glass or rolling pin over it for a smoother surface, but I personally don’t bother with that.  Score the dough gently with a knife into 64 crackers (8×8).  This is done best by pressing the knife into the dough and gently lifting it straight up repeatedly.  I you drag the blade too fast through the dough, or back and forth, that will tear the dough up.

Bake at 350º for about 10 minutes.  Check often as flax burns easily.  The outside crackers will brown much faster, so I actually check at about 10 minutes and every 5 minutes thereafter to remove the outer ones to a platter as they brown.  Then I  put the pan back in the oven for the rest to finish browning.  I burned my first batch of flax crackers, so I learned my lesson.  Pop the remaining crackers back in the oven to finish browning.  When all crackers are done, turn the oven off, return all of the crackers to the the pan and set it back in the cooling down oven to “crisp up” to their ultimate crispness.  If you go to this extra step, they stay crisp for days and days in a ziploc bag.  When I don’t go to this trouble, they soften up on me and I have to go back and re-crisp them in the oven 2 or 3 days later.    Just my experience.   Store in a ziploc bag or airtight container.  DO NOT refrigerate or they will lose their crispness.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 64 crackers, each contains:

18.1 calories

1.43 g  fat

.98 g  carbs, .84 g  fiber, .14 g NET CARBS

6.65 g protein

11.5 mg sodium

Flax Parmesan Crackers

Flax Parmesan Crackers

Most of us low-carbers have tried many different versions of the flax-Parmesan crackers that are acceptable during the Induction phase of Atkins.  But I have always found them way to salty, too cheesy, and frankly I don’t like garlic powder in crackers much. So below is a lighter version for me.  Quite a bit less salty, because I not only drop the salt from the traditional recipe, but I cut the Parmesan a bit to reduce saltiness even further, as well as the cheese’s overall flavor dominance.  I think this cracker is now a bit more “neutral”.  🙂  I also cook them slower than the original recipe, because flax tends to burn (particularly around the edges) REAL FAST!!  So do watch these, as ovens vary.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented cooks to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Even a few of my recipes are in each of the 5 volumes! Order your set TODAY! (also available individually) from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

DISCLAIMER: I am not paid for this book promotion nor for the inclusion of my recipes therein.  I do so merely because they are GREAT cookbooks any low-carb cook would be proud to add to their cookbook collection.

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. flax meal (I use a mixture of dark and golden)

3/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese (which provides all the salt you’ll need in these)

1 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. cayenne or black pepper  (I like cayenne best)

½ c. water

DIRECTIONS:    Preheat oven to 350º.  Line the bottom of a 13×15 baking sheet (with sides) with parchment paper and set aside.  In a mixing bowl, mix the dry ingredients well with a wooden spoon.  Add water and stir to blend until all ingredients are moistened with the water.  Break up or crumble the dough onto the parchment paper evenly.  I use plastic gloves, but covering your hands with sandwich baggies will work.  Press the dough evenly over the paper to fill the pan.  I know it will seem like there’s not enough dough to reach the edges and it will seem very thin, this dough.  But trust me, it WILL reach the edges of the pan if you are patient and diligent with your pressing.  Smooth the dough until there are no holes or gaps in it throughout the entire sheet.  Check for places places where it may be thicker and smooth them out.  You  want this as even and thin throughout as possible.  If you want, you can cover the dough with plastic wrap and roll a smooth/straight-sided glass or rolling pin over it for a smoother surface, but I personally don’t bother with that.  Score the dough gently with a knife into 64 crackers (8×8).  This is done best by pressing the knife into the dough and gently lifting it straight up repeatedly.  I you drag the blade too fast through the dough, or back and forth, that will tear the dough up.

Bake at 350º for about 15 minutes.  Check often.  The outside crackers will brown much faster, so I actually check at about 10 minutes and remove them to a platter just as soon as they are lightly browned.  Over browned flax can taste burnt.  Then I  put the pan back in the oven for the rest to finish browning.  I burned a batch once, so I learned my lesson.  If necessary, remove the new outer row as soon as it’s through browning in a similar manner.  Pop the center crackers back in the oven to finish browning.  When all crackers are done, turn the oven off, return all of the crackers to the the pan and set it back in the cooling down oven to “crisp up” to their ultimate crispness.  If you go to this extra step up front, they stay crisp for days and days in a ziploc bag.  When I don’t go to this trouble, they soften up on me and I have to go back and re-crisp them in the oven 2 or 3 days later.    Just my experience with them.    No need to, in fact please DO NOT refrigerate these or they will lose their crispness.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 64 crackers, each contains:

14.73 calories

1.09 g  fat

.61 g  carbs, .49 g  fiber, .12 g  NET CARBS

.12 g  protein

18.58 mg sodium

Rosemary Onion Wafers

Rosemary Onion Wafers

These tasty little wafers are good for serving with cheese.  But to be quite honest,  I like them just topped with a smear of butter!  They’re pretty easy to make and it makes a huge sheet pan full.  Just reheat them a few minutes if they lose their crispness over time.  They are not suitable until the grains rung of OWL because of the Carbquick.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented cooks to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Even a few of my recipes are in the cookbooks! Order your 5-volume set TODAY! (also available individually) from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

DISCLAIMER: I do not get paid for this book promotion or for the inclusion of my recipes therein.  I do so merely because they are GREAT cookbooks any low-carb cook would be proud to add to their cookbook collection

INGREDIENTS:

3 c. almond flour

¼ c. flax meal

¼ c. Carbquick bake mix (or Jennifer Eloff’s Gluten-Free Bake Mix)

1 T. oat fiber

¾ tsp. onion powder

1/8 tsp. cayenne or coarse black pepper (optional, but very good)

1/3 tsp. salt

3 T. fresh rosemary, chopped very fine

2 T. olive oil

2 eggs, beaten

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Measure all dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.   Add beaten egg and olive oil.  Stir until all is well-moistened.  Line 13×15 sheet pan with parchment paper.  Evenly crumble dough over paper.  Then with either plastic gloves or using plastic baggies for “gloves”,  press dough evenly into entire pan.  Try to maintain an even thickness throughout so as to avoid thin places in the crackers.  Using a thin knife blade, carefully cut into 48 squares (6×8 squares).  Bake in 350º oven for 10-13 minutes.  Do not over brown these!  They should look like and will be somewhat between a crisp cracker and shortbread in texture.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 48 crackers, each contains:

49 calories

4.42 g  fat

2.09 g  carbs, 1.27 g  fiber, .82 g  NET CARBS

1.73 g  protein

30.5 mg sodium

Black Pepper Flax Crackers

 

 I modified a basic Parmesan Flax Meal Cracker recipe of mine and came up with one hubby and I both LOVE!  Nutritional information below reflects the inclusion of the sesame seeds, but bear in mind that sesame seeds are not allowed until the nut/seed rung of OWL.  Omit them if still on Induction.  The cheese is salty enough, so whatever you do, do not add any salt to this recipe.  I did ONE time and ruined the batch!  These are really crispy and marvelous with your favorite snack cheese or just spread with butter!  I even had a few with a bowl of soup the other day!  These can be re-crisped in the oven, if after a few days they lose any crunchiness.  I like to add a bit of crushed rosemary with garlic powder or sometimes a bit of McCormick’s Montreal Steak seasoning (has no sugar) to these for a change of pace once in awhile.

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. flax meal  (I like a 50:50 mixture of golden flax and dark flax)

3/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1 tsp. onion powder

1/8 c. oat fiber

½ – 3/4 tsp. coarse ground black pepper (depending on your taste)

2 T. sesame seeds (omit if still on Induction)

½ c. water

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º.  Grease even a non-stick cookie sheet pan with a thin film of oil. Mix all ingredients and stir into a crumbly mixture.   Pour crumbly mixture evenly onto lightly greased 13×15 sheet pan lined with parchment paper.  Using plastic gloves or little sandwich baggies for gloves, press the mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan.  You’ll think this mixture will never go all the way to the edge of the pan, but it WILL, trust me.  Be patient and keep pressing it outward from the center.  You want these to be evenly thin for best crispness so try to avoid “hills and gullies”.  You can even roll with a greased, smooth sided glass or small rolling pin moistened with oil.  Using a knife, gently score into 48 crackers (8 crackers x 6 crackers).  Bake at 350º for around 25 minutes.  Watch them closely as ovens vary and these will burn if overcooked just a little bit. I know, been there; done that.  Take them out the minute the edges get lightly brown and center feels dry to the touch.   When cool, carefully rescore deeper with a knife along the scored lines.  Then gently break all crackers apart along the score lines.  Store in an air-tight container.

 

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 48   2″x 1.5″ crackers made by recipe as originally written, each contains:

35 calories

2.67 g  fat

2.08 g  carbs, 1.88 g  fiber, .2 NET CARBS

1.55 g  protein

33 mg sodium

 

Sunflower Cheddar Crackers

Click to enlarge

 

Because of the sunflower seeds, this recipe is not acceptable until the seed/nut rung of OWL.

INGREDIENTS:

1½ c. roasted and UNsalted sunflower seeds
1½ c. grated cheddar cheese
¼ c. water

Preheat oven to 325º. You need a 13 x 15 cookie sheet pan and parchment paper for these.

Process sunflower seeds to a fine meal. Add the cheese and process until smooth. Add water and process until it becomes a dough ball.

Cover bottom of sheet pan (cake roll pan 13″x15″) with parchment paper. Put dough in even globs on the parchment. Now the fun begins. Using plastic gloves (I keep them on hand for such things) or a plastic sandwich bag as a glove, press out evenly all the way to the edges of the pan. BE PATIENT! This takes a few minutes, but it WILL spread all the way out and be a very thin dough. If you get “holes” in the dough, press them out. With a knife tip, lightly (& carefully so as not to tear dough) score the sheet of dough into 92 crackers approximately 1″x1½” in size (7 crackers across the short side and 14 down the long side). If desired, sprinkle any of the following on the tops: cayenne pepper, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, rosemary crushed fine, oregano, Indian Garam Masala, black pepper. I did one row of each and one row plain and we liked them ALL!

Bake exactly 30 minutes at 325º. Remove and WHILE STILL HOT, complete the scoring with a knife to separate the crackers. If you wait until they are cool, they’ll be too brittle and will break all to tiny pieces.

I can see using these for not-too-stiff sour cream or yogurt dips, as a soup/cheese compliment or just by themselves!

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:

Makes 92 crackers
Serving size = 3 crackers

Each serving has: 60 calories;
5.2g fat; 1.6g carbs .69g fiber 2.7 protein, 1.0 g NET CARB