Cheezy Kale Crackers
If I don’t have a batch of raw crackers or flat bread around, I am at extreme risk of snack attacks. You know what I am talking about. The attacks that an apple or an orange can’t curb. The attacks that find me riffling through the cabinets for something crunchy and satisfying. The attacks that can lead me to less than desirable food. My cracker recipes are an important part of my raw food recipes collection.
Raw crackers are tasty and nutritious. Best of all, just a few quickly satisfy that craving and are so filling I never over-eat them. I also know that I am getting great nutrients, not just empty calories when I eat them.
For this recipe, I wanted to use incorporate kale as I am a huge kale fan. I have also been a little obsessed with making a raw cheese cracker so out came the nutritional yeast (great for a cheesy flavor).
To top it off, I decided to do an experiment. I pulled a bit of dough out and baked it in the oven. Why? Because I am often asked how to make raw recipes (that require dehydration) in the oven and I can’t answer the question. Since this is raw blog, my recipes are developed to be eaten raw. I do not test them for baking times but I decided to experiment with this one just to see what would happen. The rules for dehydration and baking are different (see the FAQ page).
The baked version.
Please know that baking raw recipes destroys a lot of nutrients. Since these recipes are made with healthy, whole, pure ingredients instead of traditional unhealthy ingredients, I realize people want to try them whether they have a dehydrator or not. Plus they are gluten free.
What happened when I baked a tray? They did bake. (Please note, some things that are intended to be dehydrated won’t bake correctly.) I baked them 25 minutes at 200 degrees on the convection setting, flipping once. The result? The taste, when compared to the dehydrated raw crackers was seriously lacking the lovely fresh, intense flavor of the dehydrated crackers.
I had friends try both versions, and the consensus was always the same. The baked crackers lost some flavor (not to mention nutrients). And the kale, instead of tasting like vibrant, fresh kale, tasted, well … baked.
It is interesting to note that I photograph food in many top restaurants. Increasingly I have been seeing dehydrators in quite a few of the kitchens. As chefs search for ways to coax the best flavors out of food, they are increasingly turning to methods like dehydrating.
It makes sense that the dehydrated crackers have more flavor. But, if you don’t have a dehydrator, and it is not important to you that the crackers are raw, you can experiment with the recipe. Just put your oven on the lowest temp (using convection helps) and keep an eye on it until it looks crisp and done. You will probably need to flip it once for proper drying. If you didn’t have the dehydrated crackers to compare them to, they are definitely passable.
For this recipe, I decided to include a little photo tutorial that covers the process of making these crackers. You will see one of my methods rolling and cutting the crackers.
“Cheezy” Kale Crackers (recipe follows pictures)
To prepare the kale, strip the leaves from the stems.
A salad spinner
Chop the almonds until fine in food processor.
Add nutritional yeast, coconut flour and spices. Stir to combine.
Finely chop kale and add to almond mixture and stir well.
Mix in the flax/water mixture. I often do this by hand. SO much easier.
Form 1/3 of the “dough” into a rectangle on a non-stick dehydrator sheet. You can also use parchment paper.
Place another non-stick sheet over the “dough” and roll out 1/4-inch thick.
Peel off the top non-stick sheet.
Cut into strips. This is my favorite cutter. You can find it here: Pastry Cutter
Trim off the excess and set aside to roll out with the next sheet.
Cheezy Almond Kale Crackers
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup ground golden flax
- 2 cups almonds, soaked over night, drained and rinsed
- 1 bunch kale
- 1 cup Raw Coconut Flour
- 3/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp chipotle
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- Himalayan salt and pepper to taste
- Mix together ground flax and water. Set aside.
- Place almonds in food processor and process until finely chopped. Remove to large bowl.
- Finely chop kale. I do this in the food processor, also.
- Add nutritional yeast, coconut flour, smoked paprika and chipotle to the chopped almonds. Mix well.
- Stir in kale.
- Add flax/water mixture. Blend well. I use my hands at this point.
- Spread 1/4-inch thick on non-stick sheet (see above for my method). Score into cracker sized pieces and dehydrate at 145 for 30 minutes. Decrease heat to 118 and continue to dehydrate until done (approximately 8 hours*) turning once or moving to screens halfway through dehydration. You want these very dry.
*Dehydration times can vary widely due to different dehydrators and humidity. Read about why we start dehydration at 145 here: FAQ. Yes, it stays raw.
kate wrote on October 20, 2014
With reference to synthetic vitamins in Nutritional Yeast….that’s what is used. They are most certainly not whole food vitamins….there is a brand, it’s in a can….non-fortified….but the taste is VERY different . It wouldn’t work in these recipes, i’m pretty sure. I think that yeast in a can is ‘Kal’….can’t remember for sure. Hope this is helpful.
Susan wrote on April 1, 2015
Hi, Kate, You might want to check out one of our favorite sites concerning nutritional information, NutritionFacts.Org. Dr. Greger has some great articles on nutritional yeast. It is staying on our table! Here is a link to one of them: http://nutritionfacts.org/video/nutritional-yeast-to-prevent-the-common-cold/ Cheers!
Kat wrote on October 1, 2014
Hi! I love the looks of this recipe! My dehydrator can be set at either 115° or 120° but not at 118°. Can I use this recipe at 115°?
Susan wrote on October 19, 2014
Hi, Kat, You can dehydrate it at 115. Many people dehydrate at 105 but I think it encourages fermentation and bacteria build up because of the long dehydration times. If you want to keep it raw, just keep it under 118. Cheers!
Adrian Parks wrote on September 21, 2014
How many servings is this recipe? Looks really good!
shirley wrote on August 21, 2014
This is great. I love nutritional yeast, And these crackers rock!!!! BOOM!!!
Susan wrote on August 21, 2014
Thank you, Shirley!
laurie wrote on August 19, 2014
kate, do you have any references on the addition of synthetic vitamins to NY?
Sue, did you cut the center vein out of your kale leaf before you chopped ? If my kale is overgrown, or theres been a dry spell…I sprinkle some sea salt and ice water on the kale before I chop finely ( I have already cut out the center vein) rinse and discard the water …I know it loses some nutrients, but it has to be edible !
Susan wrote on August 21, 2014
Laurie, some of the nutritional yeast is fortified with synthetic vitamins. But if you do a search, you should be able to find nutritional yeast that isn’t. Another note: I always remove the stems from the kale. Cheers!
Anita wrote on August 9, 2014
So I have given these yummy looking treats a go and they are on their drying journey.
I must say they seem a little on the dry and crumbly side but I’m hoping that they will be very tasty once they come out!
Thanks 🙂
Susan wrote on August 21, 2014
If your dough is a little dry, you can always add a little water. It won’t affect the final product as it will just dehydrate off. Cheers!
Sonia wrote on July 23, 2014
Hi. Love the recipe. Just one question.
What can I use instead of flax seeds. ?
Susan wrote on July 28, 2014
Hi, Sonia, You can try chia seeds but you might have to adjust the liquid. Cheers!
kate wrote on July 9, 2014
I know that a lot of recipes in the ‘raw’ food world call for nutritional yeast. I wonder if folks really know about this stuff, and how undesirable it really is. I’m sure we would be horrified to know how it is really made. it’s not raw, for starters, and i do know that synthetic vitamins are added, and who knows what else. I noticed one comment on here referring to being allergic to it. I’m not surprised. I think we would all do well to skip the NY when at all possible.
Geneva wrote on March 31, 2015
I’m not sure how accurate you are about your statement. I might do some more research and before you start saying things like that especially about adding synthetic ingredients. It’s just not true in this case. Just saying…
Susan wrote on March 31, 2015
Hi, Geneva, I am not exactly sure what you are referring to when you talk about adding synthetic ingredients? There isn’t anything in the post about that. Cheers!
spirit299 wrote on September 3, 2015
As far as her referal to “synthetic ingredients”, the post she was responding to said nutritional yeast contained “synthetic vitamins”.
patty wrote on June 21, 2014
Are the almonds in this recipe raw before you soak them? Or are they already roasted?
Susan wrote on June 21, 2014
Hi, Patty, we use raw almonds as this is a raw food site. Cheers!