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!

This Year's Sweets Tray

This year, I gave all my friends these trays of mixed cookies and candies for Christmas. They were so much fun to put together! From left to right: Passionfruit-Raspberry Gelées; Wheatena-Coconut Cookies with Royal Icing; Lapsang Souchong Truffles (top); Pomegranate-Pistachio Truffles (center); Chocolate Turtles with Bourbon-Soaked Pecans (bottom); Salted Maple Honeycomb Candy; more Wheatena Cookies; and Tangerine Gelées. Yum!

Apricot Galette with Pecan Frangipane

The Altitude Adjustment Section
Apricot Galette with Pecan Frangipane is a beautiful fancy schmancy recipe Jen suggested for today’s high altitude recipe of the week. The combination of Apricots and nuts pastry and brandy: how can that be bad? This is Jen's take on Julia Child's Pâte Brisée and it makes 2-9” shells (1 for the Galette and 1 for the freezer).

Ingredients for crust
2 cups all-purpose flour, preferably unbleached (scooped and leveled)
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick (4 ounces) chilled unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup (4 ounces) chilled vegetable shortening
1/2 cup ice water, plus droplets more, if needed

Procedure
Have all the ingredients measured out and ready to use. In a food processor with steel blade, add the flour, salt, and diced butter and process by pulsing with on-off burst — about 5 or 6 times to break up the butter roughly. Add the shortening, turn on the machine, and immediately pour in the 1/2 cup of ice water, then pulse 2 or 3 times with quick bursts. Remove the cover and feel the dough — it should look like a bunch of small lumps, and will just hold together in a mass when you press a handful together. Be careful not to over-mix. The dough should be a mass and see flecks of butter. However, if its too dry, pulse in droplets more water. Working quickly, turn-out the dough out onto your lightly floured work surface; press it into a rough mass. Form into a disk shape, tightly wrap in plastic, and let rest in the refrigerator for approximately 30 minutes (or longer as Julia recommends, 2 hours or more). At this point, you can freeze for future use.

Ingredients for filling
1/2 cup ground pecan meal
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
16 Apricots (slightly firm – not too soft)
2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted
Apricot jam (optional)
Brandy (optional)

Procedure to assemble
To make the Frangipane filling, put the pecan meal, sugar, 1 egg, butter,and vanilla, in food processor and process till a smooth paste forms.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Take the disk of dough from the refrigerator. Let it soften slightly so that it will roll out fairly easily but is still cold. Unwrap the dough and press the edges of the disk so that there are no cracks. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the disk into a 12- to 14-inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer the dough to a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate at least 1/2 hour before using.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator, spoon on the frangipane from the center out. Be sure to leave approximately a 2 inch border. Then slice the apricots in half and remove the pits. Arrange the apricots with the cut side up (again, leaving a 2 inch border). Sprinkle 1/4 sugar evenly over apricots. Fold edges of dough over the fruit, overlapping dough over itself, making sure that there are no tears or gaps that might allow juices to escape during cooking. Brush melted butter on the crust with a pastry brush and sprinkle with 1-2 tablespoons of sugar.

Place the Galette on lower section of oven and bake for 45-50 minutes. The crust should be golden brown and the filling should be bubbling in the center. It you find the Galette is browning too quickly, lightly tent aluminum foil on top. Remove the Galette from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. To add some extra glamour to the Galette, heat Apricot jam with a splash of Brandy in a small saucepan. Brush the melted jam on the apricot filling. Serve warm or at room temperature.

French Nut Icebox Cake

The Altitude Adjustment Section
This is an amazing cake recipe from Sarah Leah Chase’s classic Nantucket Open House Cookbook. Personally, would use the search here and find the recipe for super easy coconut macaroons to use inside the cake. There is no baking in this recipe otherwise.

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), room temp
1 1/4 cups confectioner’s sugar
3 large eggs
3 large eggs, separated
8 ounces pecans, finely ground
2 packages (3 ounces each) lady fingers
12 almond coconut macaroons - about 2 inches in diameter each
Whipped cream to garnish

Procedure
Cream the butter and the sugar in the bowl of your electric mixer until very smooth. Now add the 3 whole eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. In a separate bowl take your 3 separated egg yolks and beat till light lemon colored, now add them to butter mixture. Stir in the pecans. Beat the egg whites in yet another bowl ‘til stiff but not dry and gently fold them into the batter.

Line a 9 1/2 inch spring8form pan with waxed paper. Folding the overhanging paper around the rim of the pan. Line with ladyfingers on the bottom and standing straight up around the sides. Pour half the batter into the pan. Place 6 macaroons gently on top. Pour in remaining batter and then top with remaining macaroons. Cover the top of the cake with wax paper and place a plate on top to lightly weigh the whole thing down. Refrigerate the cake 24 hours before serving. To serve, unmold the cake and cut into thin wedges, top with whipped cream.

Mocha Pecan Pie

The Altitude Adjustment Section
I love different versions of nut pies. They are easy to make, don’t require a lot of special ingredients and take very little time. Here is a version of pecan pie, which is greatly improved by the presence of chocolate and coffee liqueur.

Ingredients for crust
3 cups A.P. flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons butter cold and cut into small pieces
6 tablespoons Crisco
1 room temp egg yolk
2 tablespoons lemon juice
5-6 tablespoons cold water

Procedure for crust
In food processor pulse flour, sugar and salt. Add cold butter and shortening and mix till mixture resembles small pea size crumbs. Add egg yolk, lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of water. Pulse till dough begins to clump together now add more water as needed till dough holds together. Now gather dough into a round flat disc and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight. This recipe makes 2 crusts. Thank you Susan Purdy!

Ingredients for filling
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons coffee liqueur
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons AP flour
3 large eggs
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup Pecans

Procedure for filling and pie
Preheat oven to 400. Place all ingredients except the nuts into the blender and puree till the chocolate chips are completely ground up and everything is smooth. It will be loud! Now pour mixture over nuts in a bowl and toss well so the nuts are covered with mixture.

Pour filling into the unbaked pie shell. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, then lower oven to 350 and bake for another 30 minutes or till filling is set. Cool completely before cutting. Why not serve with ice cream?

Pecan-Crusted Rack of Lamb

Seasonal Recipe of the Week
This is an encore recipe for one of my kind listeners who requested it. It was one of the first recipes I did when I started the show, but before the website, so it's not in the archives. I thought I would just do it again. It’s a winner, trust me! I learned this recipe when I was a chef in London.

Ingredients
1 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
4 cloves crushed garlic
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup Panko
2 teaspoons dried Marjoram
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
3 racks of lamb Frenched (ask your butcher to help) cut into 4 rib portions

Procedure
Combine the Dijon, honey, garlic and molasses in a bowl. Set aside. In the food processor pulse together the pecans, Panko, marjoram, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Pulse just till mixed. Dump this mixture into a bowl. Now pick up the racks by the bones and dip into the Dijon mix, let excess run off and then dip into the pecan mix. Do all racks and place on a sheet pan. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, which helps the coating stick on. Now take a nice, thick-bottomed sauté pan and get it real hot with a little oil in it. Sear off the racks so the nuts get a nice color on them. Once all the pieces are done, finish in a 375-degree oven for about 15 minutes, or till an internal read thermometer reads 125. Let rest for 5 minutes before cutting. Serve with some sweet and Yukon gold potato gratin and top with jalapeño mint jelly.

Jalapeno Mint Jelly

Ingredients
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
2 green peppers, seeded and chopped
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
5 cups sugar
2 cups mint leaves
5 teaspoons (2 envelopes) powdered gelatin, dissolved in 1/2 cup cold water

Procedure
Puree jalapenos, green peppers, and mint in the food processor till finely chopped. Transfer to a saucepan and add the sugar and vinegar. Bring mixture to the boil and then simmer ten minutes. Skim off scum that comes to the top, now add the softened gelatin and pour into a container, stirring occasionally till firm. I sometimes add a drop, literally one drop of green food coloring to improve the color, but it's up to you! This will last in your fridge for a long time. You can give it as a hostess gift, really!

Lowfat Dairy-Free Pear and Pecan Bundt Cake

The Altitude Adjustment Section
Low fat dairy free cake, it must be lousy. Ah grasshopper... think again. This cake is delicious! How can it be? Try it!

Ingredients
4 cups peeled, cored, and chopped pears
2 cups white sugar
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
4 egg whites
2/3 cup canola oil
1 cup chopped pecans

Procedure
Combine the pears and the sugar and let stand for one hour. Preheat oven to 325 degrees, Spray a 10 inch bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray. Slightly beat the egg whites and combine them with the oil, chopped pecans and pear mixture. Stir the flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. Stir in the pear mixture. Pour batter into the prepared bundt pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes (I cooked it 50 minutes in my convection oven at work and it was perfect so check it with a toothpick after 50 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from pan. I served it with a fresh fruit sorbet which was tasty. Whipped cream wouldn’t be bad either.

Pecan or Walnut Bourbon Pie in a Nut Crust

The Altitude Adjustment Section
Pecan or walnut pie is pretty simple and tasty. But at this altitude, they get tricky and often kind of blow up in the oven. So of course, I went to my baking mentor Susan Purdy for the altitude adjustment to make it work perfectly. And Susan kicks it up a notch with a nut crust as well. Yahoo!

Ingredients for crust
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans
6 tablespoons unsalted chilled butter, cut up
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening
1 room temp egg yolk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3-5 tablespoons ice water

Procedure for crust
Preheat your oven to 425 and position rack in the bottom 1/3 of the oven. In the bowl of food processor, add together flour, sugar, salt, and nuts and process till nuts are finely chopped. Add butter and shortening and pulse 8 or 9 times, till mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add yolk, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons water through the feed tube and pulse a few times till mixture begins to clump together. Add more water if necessary, so dough holds together. The dough is ready when it holds its shape when you squeeze it between your fingers. Now gather dough into a ball and press into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll dough on lightly floured surface and fit into a 9-inch pie pan. Press a piece of buttered tin foil into the crust, fill it with pie weights, and pre-bake pastry shell for 15 minutes. Remove foil and check crusts for cracks which can be filled with a little of the left over dough and water. Now prepare the filling.

Ingredients for filling
3 large room temperature eggs
6 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
2/3 cup dark corn syrup
1 tablespoon molasses
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Bourbon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups pecan or walnut halves

Procedure to assemble
Reduce oven temp to 350. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together brown sugar, eggs. Now mix in all the remaining ingredients except for the nuts. Pour filling into crust and top with nuts. Place on a sheet pan and place in the center of the oven for 35-40 minutes till firm, puffed, and jiggly. Nice with whipped cream.

A Coffee Break Treat

The Altitude Adjustment Section
Here is another one of those great, super-easy desserts. Well, actually more of a breakfast treat, from my newly recovered cookbook from the ladies of the Ravinia Festival in Chicago called Noteworthy. It’s called “A coffee break treat”, but it’s really just a big hunk of love. Who doesn’t love cinnamon, cream cheese, maple sugar and nuts? All you need is a hot beverage!

Ingredients
3 ounces cream cheese
1/4 pound plus 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 cup flour
melted butter, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons sugar

Procedure
Cream the cream cheese and the 1/4 pound of butter well, in an electric mixer. Stir in flour, mixing just till blended. Flatten dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours — overnight does not hurt.

Roll dough into an 8 x 16 x 1/8 inch rectangle. Brush liberally with melted butter. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. In a saucepan, combine 4 tablespoons remaining butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and add nuts and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Boil 3 minutes until thickened. Spread filling on dough leaving a 2-inch border all around. Roll dough widthwise ending with the seam-side down. Brush on more melted butter and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar. Cut into 1 1/2 inch slices. Place on parchment-lined or greased sheet pan. Bake in 350 oven for 18-20 minutes or until browned. Cool on rack but definitely eat warm. Yum! Yum!

Double Chocolate Pecan Biscotti

The Altitude Adjustment Section
Biscotti are traditional hard Italian cookies great to dip into a cup of strong coffee or just to nibble on by themselves. Susan Purdy’s interpretation from “Pie in the Sky” for Double chocolate Pecan Biscotti are not quite as rock hard as the traditional kind. They are low in fat and high in flavor and they stay fresh in a tin for 2 weeks. A nice little gift, if you are so inclined.
Ingredients
1/2 cup Pecan halves
2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sifted A.P. flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cocoa
3 tablespoons room temp. butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3 room temp. eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons almond extract
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
Procedure
Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Toast the pecans on a sheet pan in the oven for 8-10 minutes and let cool. In a medium bowl, combine flour, powder, salt and cocoa with a whisk. Put the nuts into a food processor and combine with 2 tablespoons of flour mixture, Pulse till coarsely chopped. In the large bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment cream the butter and sugar till well blended. Beat in eggs and extracts. Dump in flour mixture and mix on lowest speed till combined. Add chopped nuts and chocolate chips. Gather dough into a ball and turn out onto a lightly floured counter. If dough is very sticky add a little more flour. Divide dough in half and form into 2 logs about 13 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide and 1 inch tall. Place on sheet pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. They should appear dry on top and firm to the touch. Toothpick test should come out almost clean.
Let cool for 5 minutes and then place on cutting board and slice into 1/2 inch thick pieces using a serrated knife. Place sliced flat on sheet pan and bake for 7 minutes then turn them over and bake for 7 minutes more. Let cool and they will harden up, then store in an airtight tin. You can do many variations using different nuts, dried fruit, and flavorings.

Butter Pecan Rum Balls

The Altitude Adjustment Section
And now for a nice, sweet winter recipe that requires no actual baking. You mix stuff up and form it into balls and roll. These would be quite delicious with a cup of hot cocoa.

Ingredients
12 ounce box of vanilla wafers or brown edge cookies - 3 cups crushed fine in the food processor
2 cups finely chopped pecans - use food processor
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon butter pecan extract
1/4 cup dark rum
confectioners sugar for rolling cookies at the end

Procedure
In a large bowl, stir together the cookie crumbs, pecans, and salt. Stir in the butter, condensed milk, vanilla, butter pecan extract, vanilla, and rum. Mix till smooth and evenly moist. Form into balls, using a small scoop. Roll the balls in confectioners sugar. Store in airtight container.