Chive Vegan Cheese Spread and Veggie Crackers
Last winter, I completed my Professional Plant Based Cooking Certification Course through Rouxbe.com. It was a wonderful journey of intense learning that I would highly recommend to anyone that wishes to take their plant-based cooking to a higher level.
One of our assignments was a plant based “shindig” where we put together a menu and threw a party. You can read all about mine and see the pictures here: Rouxbe Shindig. I want to share with you a delightful raw vegan cheese recipe that came out of that assignment.
One of my favorite raw, vegan recipes that I developed for the party was a watermelon sushi topped with a chive “cream cheese”. The chive “cream cheese” was delicious and fresh. It fast became one of my favorite cheese spreads. Now that we are well into June, and my chives are growing like mad, it seems like a great time to share the recipe!
And since you are going to need something to spread it on, I threw together a wonderful little recipe for raw veggie crackers. They are gluten free and full of veggies. I have included directions for baking them in the oven but honestly, if you have a dehydrator, that is the best way to do it. Dehydration keeps them raw, light, crispy and flavorful. You would be amazed at the difference.
And one more great thing? You can freeze the Chive “Cream Cheese” Spread. But at this house, that doesn’t happen. We eat it too quickly!
How did we get that cracker texture?
If you are wondering how I got the texture in the crackers, I used a knobbed rolling pin. You can find one here: Square Cut Rolling Pin
Chive "Cream Cheese" Spread with Veggie Crackers
makes 4-5 dozen crackers and 1 1/2 cups spread
Chive “Cream Cheese” Spread
- 2 cups cashews, soaked overnight, rinsed and drained
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup water
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 small clove garlic
- 1 teaspoon raw apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan Salt
- 5 tablespoons chopped chives*
- Place all ingredients except chives in high-speed blender and blend until smooth.
*Hint: I love a lot of chives in this. You can add even more. Letting it sit overnight will really meld the flavors but you can eat it right away.
Veggie Crackers
- 2 cups almonds, soaked overnight, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup roughly chopped broccoli
- 3 carrots, roughly chopped
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup ground light flax seed
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos, light tamari or soy sauce of choice
- 1/2 teaspoon himalayan salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- Pulse almonds, broccoli and carrots in food processor until you get a rough meal texture. You still want to see bits of the almonds, carrots and broccoli.
- Remove to bowl, stir in onion and ground flax seed.
- In a separate bowl, stir together water, coconut aminos. Stir into the veggie mixture and let rest 10 minutes before rolling out.
- Roll out to 1/8-inch thick and score into crackers. Dehydrate at 145 for 1 hour. Reduce heat to 115 and dehydrate for 8-12 more hours, flipping once during dehydration.
- Store in air-tight containers for 2-3 weeks.
*Alternatively you can bake these at 200 for 45 minutes. Flip the crackers and bake until dry. These will not be raw if prepared this way.
Anna wrote on June 21, 2015
looks super delicious!! can’t wait to try it at home 🙂
Nancy wrote on June 20, 2015
I didn’t see any link for the new rolling pin? :))
Susan wrote on June 20, 2015
Hi, Nancy, it is at the end of the post just before the recipe. Just click on the link. Cheers!
Tess wrote on June 20, 2015
Aren’t our daily allowance of nuts suppose to be only 2 oz how do you eat so many things with nuts as their base ingredient and still stay within those guidelines? – if you are watching your acid/alkaline balance consuming so many nuts (which are acidic) is knocking that balance off.
Susan wrote on June 20, 2015
Hi, Tess, Moderation is key. I don’t sit down and eat an entire batch of crackers or an entire batch of cheese. I eat it in moderation as an addition to the other whole plant foods I eat. You also have to look at the whole recipe. Two ounces of almonds is approximately 46 almonds. These crackers have only 3 almonds per cracker. I use veggies as filler so they aren’t all nuts and you get a bigger variety of nutrients. 🙂
Aging Ophelia wrote on June 19, 2015
Wow, I am so into this recipe– and after tomorrow, I will have all the ingredients. I’ll let you know how I do with it!
Susan wrote on June 19, 2015
I would love to hear! Cheers!
Barbara wrote on June 19, 2015
Looks like Amazon.com is out of nobbed rolling pins and don’t know if they will ever be getting any more in (darn!) – But they do have a so-called “deep-knotched” one. Do you think that would work as well? I love the look of those crackers!
Susan wrote on June 19, 2015
Hi, Barbara, I have included a new link for a rolling pin that should work. Thanks for letting me know! 🙂
Barbara wrote on June 19, 2015
Hi Susan,
Thanks for the link to the alternative rolling pin! I so love your inspirational
recipes, food photography and presentation.
Best,
Barbara
Crystal wrote on June 19, 2015
Thank you for what you do for others to provide such amazing ideas for healthful nutrition.
I wanted to get your input on a concern I have about Cashews I bought at WinnCo’s. I bought a 25lb box since I love cashews. They are checked as raw pieces, however, the box, also, has a checked box that says: x ray detected, another checked box that says metal detected and another says laser colored. They come from Vietnam. Since, I am continuing to survive breast cancer, I am anxious about things I put in my body. I changed my diet, drastically, when I got my diagnosis, so through research I stopped using sugar, gluten, dairy, meat, processed foods, no canned foods and the best water I can come up with is, Brita filtered. So, I would like to know if anyone knows about these issues on the box of Cashews? I tried the web but couldn’t find out what I want to know. One never knows what they are buying when there is bulk food in bins and purchase of bulk foods. Thanks for some expertise. Crystal
Susan wrote on June 19, 2015
Hi, Crystal, I think if you have concerns, you should speak to the store that you bought them from. There are a lot of reputable nut sellers online if you need them. Cheers!
Paul Le May wrote on June 19, 2015
this looks like a keeper recipe for sure. OK, so how did you get the “Dented” pattern on the top of the crackers.
Thank you and take care, Paul Le May,+
Susan wrote on June 19, 2015
Hi, Paul, There is a link in the post for the rolling pin that I used. Cheers!
tamara wrote on June 19, 2015
Oh these look so good. Can’t wait to try them. Thank you! 🙂
Susan wrote on June 19, 2015
Thanks, Tamara!
Lou wrote on June 19, 2015
I am going to try the crackers with cashews and chestnuts as I have a high allergy to almonds. They look so good, thank you.
Susan wrote on June 20, 2015
That should be interesting! Let me know how they turned out. 🙂