Friday, July 5, 2013

Gluten-free Vegan Almond Flour Graham Crackers



I love graham crackers. I've made homemade graham crackers for many years instead of buying the boxed versions and I can honestly say that it has saved us a lot of money! However, as of late I've been trying to eat carbohydrates that are much lower on the glycemic index.  I have been using Blanched Almond Flour a lot more and have noticed some outstanding results.  Graham crackers were a challenge because of the light color of the flour, but the addition of balsamic vinegar and Coconut Sugar to the recipe have solved that! Plus, there is a 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. 

Here's my recipe for these amazing graham crackers!

Gluten-Free Vegan Almond Flour Graham Crackers

1 3/4 cup Almond flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Xanthan gum
1/2 cup Coconut Sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2T balsamic vinegar ( I love Wild Groves blueberry balsamic vinegar)
1/4 cup water

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a full sized cookie sheet or pizza baking stone.  A baking stone will help pull moisture from your crackers and give you a crispier finished product.

 In a quart-sized bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda and xanthan gum.
  In a separate bowl, combine coconut sugar, vanilla,blueberry balsamic vinegar and water.


 Stir the wet ingredients until the the coconut sugar dissolves completely.  It shouldn't have any crystals still in the bottom of the bowl.
 Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir well until a nice thick dough is made.

Generally I will flatten the dough out a little by hand on a lightly greased pizza stone and then cover the dough with unbleached parchment paper. This keeps the crackers from sticking and you won't need to add any flour to roll them out. 
 Roll it to 1/8th inch thickness.
 Gingerly remove the parchment paper on top, being careful not to pull it away to quickly. 
  Lightly score the dough with a knife into 2 inch squares.
 Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown and crisp.  If there are thinner spots in your dough they will need to watched closely.  Remove the baking stone from oven and allow to cool on the stone.   I serve mine with a low fat version of the Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cheeseball...


There you go! Some freakishly awesome crackers that taste amazing! 

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess















No comments: