Grain free, Refined sugar free, Dairy free
Well, 'tis the season for giving, so please accept with my love and gratitude, for all of you and all you do for me, this free recipe based on the Almond Crackers recipe from my ebook Nourishing Party Food.
This recipe is my new best friend, and we are going through almonds at a rate of knots, which is a sign that we PROBABLY need to engage in the theory of moderation a bit more...never mind! Christmas will soon be over!
MASSIVE TIP: I use the base of this recipe to make the following:
crackers, nachos, biscuits, pizza base, pie crust (including for mince pies!), and quiche crust. The trick is to make the Base recipe, and then add the ingredients that you need depending on what you intend to make.
So for example, if you are making nachos, take the Base mixture (see below), and just add a few pinches of salt and half a cup of grated parmesan to this recipe. Mix the dough, then roll the dough out (about 2 mm thin at the most!) between 2 sheets of baking paper. Then cut the thinned out dough into squares, and then triangles, and bake in the oven for 12 minutes on 150C or 300F, or until nice and brown! For normal crackers, just add salt and maybe some chopped up or dried herbs.
For pie crusts, add salt if its a savoury dish, or a Tablespoon of honey if it's a sweet pie.
For pies, always bake the crust (that you have pressed into the pie dish) for 10 minutes before adding the filling, and then bake the filling if required.
Here is the Base Recipe:
Ingredients:
2 x organic pastured eggs
2 1/2 cups of organic Almond meal (if you have a machine that can grind almonds, then use activated dried whole almonds, cos you may as well...)
2 Tablespoons olive oil/ coconut oil/ grassfed butter/ ghee
Additional ingredients for Christmas Cookies:
1 teaspoon dried ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon dried nutmeg
3 Tablespoons raw honey
Add all the ingredients into a mixer bowl, and mix well on medium to high until it forms into a nice smooth dough on (Thermomix speed 4, 20 seconds).
If the dough is too wet to roll into a ball (it shouldn't be too sticky in your hands), then add more almond meal (1/2 a cup) and keep beating until you get to a desired consistency.
Tip the dough out onto the baking paper and knead out and cracks or bubbles.
If you want to cut the dough into Christmas shapes, then roll the dough out between 2 sheets of baking paper, to 3mm thick, and cut your shapes. If you have some silicon cookie stamps of a Christmas Persuasion, then follow these instructions below:
Roll the dough out into a sausage shape, about 6 to 7 inches long.
Cut this in half, and set one half aside.
Cut the other half in half again, and one more time, until you are left with a piece of dough that you can roll into a ball in your hands.
Place this ball onto the baking paper on an oven tray, and repeat until you have rolled all the dough into balls.
Now gently press each ball into a flat circular shape using the palm of your hand, and your fingers to keep the edges neat.
Press the stamp gently onto each cookie, too much pressure and the cookie dough will stick. You may need to gently peel the dough back each time.
Place the tray into the oven and back at 150C or 300F for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
Once cooked, remove from oven and let them sit on a wire rack until cooled, then store in an airtight container.
They are just DELICIOUS dipped in a cup of peppermint tea, and perfect for that Christmas holiday at the beach cottage.
Sigh.
