I have a recipe to share with you today. It is delicious. No, don't argue with me. It is delicious. My husband doesn't like anything with dried fruit in it and he loves this. Not only is is tasty, but it's fast. Less than half an hour fast, even if you grind your own almonds.
Which I do. So you'll need about 2 cups of almond flour (I have some cashews in mine too, I just really like cashews. You can just do almond). About a half pound gives you two cups. I blend this until it's pretty powdery, but it's nice to leave a few chunks in there. You get good texture that way.
About a cup of fruit is all you really need, but I flub this a little and add more. I like fruit. I'm using dried cherries and apricots here, but I also like blueberries and strawberries, cranberries and orange zest; the possibilities are endless.
Ground almonds and about a 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon of fleur de sel (if you don't know what fleur de sel is, it's "flower of salt". It's a little moist, light, crunchy. It's very delicious as a finishing salt. It's basically the very top of a crystallized mound of salt and it's a little expensive. Go easy on it.)
Add the fruit. Mix well. Don't worry if the fruit bits stick together.
Add 1 tablespoon of whatever oil you're using. I'm using olive here, but almond is really good here. Then add 1 teaspoon of some sort of acid. Lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, etc. I used sherry vinegar. I love sherry vin. Add a tablespoon or so of water, just till it comes together.
Mix until the whole thing comes together. It'll look crumbly, but that's fine. It's a cracker, and a crispy one.
Place on your sheet tray. You can use parchment paper, but I find a silpat (or other silicone baking mat) works the best for this. They are awesome, totally worth how expensive they are. But again, parchment works just fine. Or even oiling your pan, that works too.
Pat it out with your hands a bit and...
Cover with plastic wrap. Grab a rolling pin and start to gently roll the dough to the edges of your pan. Whatever thickness you like is fine. I want crispy, so I'm going to about a 1/4" or less.
My rolling pin won't fit on the tray, so I'm using a bottle to roll the dough out.
If your dough starts to crack at the edges, just pull the plastic back and smoosh it back into place.
This is the exact thickness I like the crackers to be. These will be crunchy and crisp. If you go thicker, you'll have a little bit more chew to them. It's all about what you like best here.
Pop it into the oven at 350 F for about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on your thickness. Watch the edges, when they start to brown you'll want to pull them. The crackers will keep cooking afterwards. You should be able to smell the nuts toasting too. Use all your senses in a kitchen, they'll help you more than you'd ever believe.
Golden and delicious.
Now you can take the whole thing and crackle it into bits. You can also take a cookie cutter and make pretty shapes when you're rolling these, but in my house they go so fast there's not point in prettying them.
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