Gluten-free Grain-Free Almond Flour Blueberry Muffin Crisps

I tried a blueberry muffin crisp...and then I ate them by the case for a few months. Now when I see them I want them, but I know that they are higher in sugar than what I want and that I really need to be better. So, when given the chance to make them healthier, I went for it. Here is a great alternative to the multi-grain breakfast muffin-crackers that taste amazing and will give you all the protein and fiber you need to keep you going throughout the day. I love them!  The secret is making them grain-free using almond flour. The fine grind variety is what I prefer, and I'm pretty partial to the almond flour from Honeyville. Even now that I am not their corporate chef, it is my pet favorite for perfect texture. I've tried others and I'll always come back to theirs. 

Have you ever tried Coconut Sugar to the recipe have solved that! Plus, there is naturally occurring caramel flavor that comes with coconut sugar that I adore!

 Palm Coconut Sugar  is supposed to be great for helping regulate blood sugar.  It is low on the glycemic index and this really affects how quickly you extract the energy from the food. It is measured and used the same as sugar in baking, but I seriously use about half. Honestly, in most baking, you can almost count on the fact that you can reduce the sugar by almost half and it will still bake pretty similarly. 

Palm Coconut Sugar was explained by Dr. Oz. He showed the benefits of using it in This Video. There are still a few people who say it isn't as healthy a choice but I'm in the group that says hey, " It still has more vitamins and minerals than regular sugar and yes, it contains natural fructose. It isn't calorie free, but it is all natural." That being said, it is also very easy to harvest and is sustainable. 

Gluten-Free Grain Free 

Almond Flour Blueberry Muffin Crisps
1 3/4 cup Almond flour
2 eggs
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp LorAnn Princess Emulsion
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup freeze-dried blueberries, crushed to 2T
12-15 drops stevia
2T olive oil

Directions:  Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients until a thick dough is made. Place dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a baker's mat. 

Cover the dough with non-stick parchment paper.

Roll thin between the sheets using a small rolling pin or pressing with your hands. I have a rolling pin that I love and it works great for crackers. 

Remove the parchment. Lightly cut crackers into 1 inch squares. If you use a baker's mat you can use a simple pastry roller that won't cut the mat.  Roll to 1/16th of an inch thin. 

Bake 350 degrees 12-15 minutes (depending on the thickness of the crackers).

Store in an airtight container...if they survive that long. I'm not using them as ninja-stars. They're making snack-fest status for sure!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Coconut Flour Onion Dill Cheese Crackers, Low Carbohydrate, High Fiber and Crazy Delicious!

Something froze over. Seriously.  It isn't every day that I can look out and see snow on the sand-stone. In fact, I can count on 2 fingers the times it has ever snowed here in my Sonoran Desert since I moved her 17 years ago...and yesterday was one of those days. I had, a few weeks ago picked up some more amazing organic coconut flour and it seemed like a perfect day to play with this stuff...seeing all the other white flakes just flicked all over the valley. Yes, this is officially how my giant brain works.  The last time I shared a coconut flour recipe it was for Gluten-Free Red Velvet Cupcakes with white chocolate peppermint mousse.  Here are some things you should know about coconut flour:

Coconut flour can be difficult to work with if you are unfamiliar with it.  

•  You cannot use 100% coconut flour in recipes that are designed for wheat flour.
•  Coconut flour lacks gluten, and thus won't hold air or make a texture like that found in gluten breads. 
• Adding egg or Xanthan gum has been a great way to replace the wheat protein in my gluten-free baking and still give the texture I want in my crackers, muffins and cookies. 
•  As a general rule, if you are adding say, 1/4 cup of coconut flour to a recipe, you'll need to increase the liquid by the same amount. 
•  It absorbs it's volume in water.
•  I use a minimal amount of liquid in my coconut flour baking  because adding too much liquid will also cause the final product to be very moist, sometimes overly moist and mushy.  
• The extra fiber will keep you full longer and help promote a healthy colon and weight loss.
• Because it is low in carbohydrate, it is an excellent replacement for regular flour in recipes. I personally suggest reading Cooking With Coconut Flour by Bruce Fife. It is a great read and has helped me immensely with my baking skills using this remarkable flour. That being said, I've also found some of my own favorite tricks for using the flour.
•  Coconut flour, unlike most other flours, is very high in fiber. It does in fact have 4 grams of fiber in 2 Tablespoons of the flour. It has a light coconut flavor, and that can be either played with and used for a coconut undertone to your dishes or just covered with herbs and spices.

Chef Tess Onion Dill Low-Carb Cheese Crackers
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup freeze-dried Colby Cheese
1/2 cup organic coconut flour
1T Chef Tess Big Dill Seasoning (or 1 1/2 tsp dill, 1/2 tsp garlic, 1/2 tsp onion, 1/2 tsp pepper)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup water

Combine all ingredients. Allow dough to sit 10 minutes. The flour will absorb the liquid and the cheese will hydrate slightly. In all honesty, the freeze dried cheese is my secret ingredient. It stays slightly crunchy and gives the crackers the perfect crunch. The xantham gum will help the crackers hold together and lend a very nice texture to the finished crackers. 

 Roll out thin on a lightly oiled baking stone ( I use a 18 inch pizza stone), lightly oiling the top of the dough if needed to keep it from sticking to your rolling pin, until 1/8th inch thick. I roll a little sprinkle of salt on top of the crackers. Cut into 1 inch squares. 

 Bake 400 degrees 20-25 minutes until crisp. Open oven. Turn off heat and let crackers sit in the oven 10 minutes (200 degrees or so until very dry and crunchy).

Yield 4 servings, 137 calories a serving. 8 g fat, 8 g protein, 4 g fiber, 8 carb (4 net).

There you go my darlings, make some great coconut flour crackers!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Vegan Gluten-Free, Low-Carb, Almond Flour Cracker Tutorial

Have you ever met my favorite Almond Flour? On this one I'm brand specific for a reason. This is the finest milled almond flour I can find and it has remarkable texture in baked good. I didn't want almond meal. I wanted a flour that would bake remarkably well. Thank you Honeyville!

In the past I've shared some great recipes on the blog using almond flour including my:

 Tips and Tricks for Baking with Almond Flour that covered

how to make remarkable doughnuts,

 and Savory Bell Pepper Bread. 

We made Almond Flour Banana Bread

...and of course Almond Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies!

In the past I also have shared the tutorial on how to make 

Gourmet Gluten Free Almond Flour Crackers. 

Those recipes have generally used egg as part of the binding and I wanted to share a vegan version today that uses an alternative for the gluten and egg known as xanthan gum. If you've never baked with it, it is a great way to keep gluten-free products together (so they don't crumble apart) and adds some texture to baked goods similar to eggs and gluten.

For the vegan crackers you will need:

1 3/4 cups Almond Flour,

2 T Lucero Extra Virgin Olive Oil 

2 tsp Chef Tess Italian Seasoning(or alternative of your choice)

1 tsp Xanthan Gum

1/4 cup water

 The main thing with using the Xanthan Gum is knowing that it is a natural.
 It is produced by the fermentation of glucose or sucrose, by the Xanthomonas campestris bacterium. After a fermentation period, the polysaccharide is precipitated from a growth medium with isopropyl alcohol, dried, and ground into a fine powder. Later, it is added to a liquid medium to form the gum. It is a natural carbohydrate. Here's how to use it in your flour in place of gluten. 

Combine all the ingredients for the crackers. I also add 2T of sesame seeds to my crackers. I just love the added crunch. Roll out the dough on a large baking stone (pizza stone). 

 The dough shouldn't be sticky, but should you have a problem, sprinkle a little almond flour on top of the crackers or cover with parchment paper to roll. It will need to be 1/8th of an inch thick. 

Cut with a sharp knife into cracker squares. 

 Bake 350 degrees 12-15 minutes (depending on the thickness of the crackers).

The sesame seeds give an really nice flavor to the crackers.

There you go my darlings!
Bake some almond flour crackers!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess