Nutty Crackers, and other gluten-free things for hors d’oeuvres and snacking

Seasonal Recipe of the Week
Lately I have been asked to come up with decent-tasting crunchy things to have with cheese and dips. Commercially available gluten-free crackers are not very tasty—and require an excellent set of molars to break them down. I was looking for something a bit more delicate. Enter Ottolengi's chickpea flour crackers. They're an excellent jumping-off point, but too high in carbs for my client, so I started experimenting.

First, I will post the original recipe then share you three variations. Plus, a great seed and nut biscotti! It's a little sweet, and great with some Pernod cream cheese! And finally, a great super easy recipe for gluten free buckwheat Blini. Dont let the name fool you, Buckwheat is not actually wheat.

 

Ottolenghi’s chickpea cracker

Ingredients
100 g chickpea flour
50 g corn starch
150 ml water
50 ml olive oil
Flaky sea salt and black pepper
50 g grated parmesan, divided into 30 g and 20 g
1 1/4 teaspoon anise seeds and crushed fennel seeds

Procedure
Heat the oven to 300F. Put the chickpea flour, corn starch and oil in a medium bowl, add 150ml water and three-quarters of a teaspoon of flaked salt. Mix to a smooth slurry, then grate in 30g parmesan and mix until smooth. Spoon on to a sheet pan lined with a silat or parchment that’s big enough to cover the whole baking tray, and use an offset spatula to spread it out as thinly as you can. The paper may acquire a wet look and wrinkle, but don’t worry about that.

Sprinkle with the anise seeds and generously grind some black pepper on top, then scatter over the remaining 20g parmesan and a half-teaspoon of salt and bake for 55 minutes, until lightly golden and crisp. Remove and leave to cool, then store in an airtight container.

So that's the original recipe, and then these happened ...

Variation 1

Substitute chickpea flour with hazelnut flour, which is just toasted and skinned hazelnuts ground fine in the food processor with the cornstarch.

Variation 2

Substitute chickpea flour with pecan flour, which is just pecans ground fine in the food processor with the cornstarch. Add 1 tablespoon rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, salt and pepper, and 1 teaspoon smoked paprika. Batter comes out very thin so pour onto a Silpat-lined sheet pan. Make sure pan is flat!

Variation 3

Substitute chickpea flour with pistachio flour, which is just shelled pistachios ground fine in the food processor with an extra 20 g cornstarch. Add 2 tablespoons flax seed, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 tablespoon black sesame seeds, and 3 tablespoons shredded Italian mixed cheese. This batter is even thinner.

Gluten-Free Biscotti

Ingredients
1 cup Bob's Red Mill Paleo flour
2 cups well-chopped nut and seed mixture (I used sesame seeds, poppy seeds, caraway seeds, pecans, walnuts, almonds, and pistachios)
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 teaspoon Fleur de Sel
3 eggs
2/3 cup brown sugar
extra virgin olive oil for brushing

Procedure
Preheat oven to 300. Combine nut and seed mix with flours. In separate bowl, combine eggs and sugar. Mix together and pat into a parchment-lined loaf pan which has also been oiled. Bake until firm, about 55 minutes. Let cool and then slice as thin as possible. Turn oven up to 425. Lay biscotti slices on a parchment-lined sheet pan and brush with olive oil. Bake 5 minutes, or until brown and toasty. Turn over, brush with oil and toast the other side. Careful — it likes to burn, so watch them closely!

Buckwheat Blini

Ingredients
2 1/2 ounces (1/2 cup) buckwheat flour
2 1/2 ounces (1/2 cup) gluten-free all-purpose flour (I like Bob's Red Mill paleo flour)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 cup buttermilk, or 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar mixed with 1 cup whole milk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

Procedure
Place dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk to thoroughly blend. Crack an egg into a bowl and whisk. Add buttermilk and melted butter and whisk. Add dry ingredients and whisk just until smooth. Let sit for 5 minutes to allow liquids to absorb into dry ingredients.

Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly oil pan with oil or butter and make small pancakes. These are great cold with caviar if you are bougie, smoked salmon if you are slightly less bougie, or with peanut butter of you have the munchies!