Hazelnut Crackers (LC)
We have words like crispy to describe a certain texture. To really hone in on it, you can play with it and say something like crispity crunch! That denotes a slightly more positive textural experience. Unfortunately, Im unaware of a word that describes the sheer delight I experienced when I bit down on my first hazelnut-parmesan cracker. It was possibly the most pleasing toothy nibble that Id experienced on a low-carb diet. If a word like beautiful could be used to describe a texture I would describe these crackers as beautiful. I tried using almond flour. Then, I tried a combination with half almond and half hazelnut. They all tasted great and all had a pleasing texture, but the almond flavor stayed evident and the crisp was never quite as beautiful. In the end, I decided that pure hazelnut flour is the way to go. Being as excited with these gluten free crackers as I was, I shared them with many in my world, delivering little bundles of crackers and dip to friends and family. Theyre so lovely and dip so nicely. No cracking or breaking apart in the dip. Dip with confidence! Friends and family loved them and wanted to know how easy they were. Herein lays the problem. Theyre not tough to make a small batch. However, a full baking tray yields something like 48 small crackers. Theyre thin and go down quickly and effortlessly. They take some time in the oven, which is where the problem comes in. You could put 2 trays in the oven, and get roughly 100 little crackers, but theyll lock up your oven for upwards of 45 minutes, before you could produce a second batch. Theyre easy to make and for a single batch, you can set a timer, but for a large amount for a large gathering, they run the risk of being time consuming. All this said I secretly feel theyre worth it!
We have words like crispy to describe a certain texture. To really hone in on it, you can play with it and say something like crispity crunch! That denotes a slightly more positive textural experience. Unfortunately, Im unaware of a word that describes the sheer delight I experienced when I bit down on my first hazelnut-parmesan cracker. It was possibly the most pleasing toothy nibble that Id experienced on a low-carb diet. If a word like beautiful could be used to describe a texture I would describe these crackers as beautiful. I tried using almond flour. Then, I tried a combination with half almond and half hazelnut. They all tasted great and all had a pleasing texture, but the almond flavor stayed evident and the crisp was never quite as beautiful. In the end, I decided that pure hazelnut flour is the way to go. Being as excited with these gluten free crackers as I was, I shared them with many in my world, delivering little bundles of crackers and dip to friends and family. Theyre so lovely and dip so nicely. No cracking or breaking apart in the dip. Dip with confidence! Friends and family loved them and wanted to know how easy they were. Herein lays the problem. Theyre not tough to make a small batch. However, a full baking tray yields something like 48 small crackers. Theyre thin and go down quickly and effortlessly. They take some time in the oven, which is where the problem comes in. You could put 2 trays in the oven, and get roughly 100 little crackers, but theyll lock up your oven for upwards of 45 minutes, before you could produce a second batch. Theyre easy to make and for a single batch, you can set a timer, but for a large amount for a large gathering, they run the risk of being time consuming. All this said I secretly feel theyre worth it!
- Carbohydrate 0 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0 g
- Fiber 0 g
- Protein 0 g
- Saturated Fat 0 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (0g)
- Sodium 0 mg
- Sugar 0 g
- Trans Fat 0 g
- Calories 0 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 275 F.
- Combine ingredients in a bowl, and mix until a ball of dough has formed.
- Crumbled the dough evenly around a greased sheet of parchment paper or foil. Place another sheet above it, and roll out the dough so that the crumbles form a single thin sheet of dough. Remove the top sheet and play with the dough. It's pretty malleable, so if there are any cracks, you can just push the cracks together. I also pushed the edges in and together and broke off "dangleys" and pushed them into the main body of the dough. In the end, I had a nice rectangular sheet of dough.
- Using a cutting/dividing device (pizza cutter, bench scraper, butter knife, etc.) cut through the dough to form 48 little rectangles. This isn't an exact science and you can adjust the shapes and sizes in any way you see fit. However, if you want precision, you can always measure the rectangle and do a little math. You can also use a ruler or some other straight guide, place it on the dough and run your cutting device along the guide. With math and a good guide, you can create a perfect batch of squares. I'm more rustic myself ... and wing it.
- Place the parchment or foil on a cookie/thin baking tray.
- Bake for roughly 45 minutes, but start checking at 30 minutes. It will crisp on the edges first. You are essentially looking to melt the cheese within the cracker, then remove the moisture. The cracker will darken and firm up. When the sheet is the same even slightly darker color, across the enter sheet (the edges and the center are all the same color), remove the sheet from the oven.
- Let the sheet cool, then pick up the crackers and snap where the perforations were cut.
- Crackers!
Traditional wheat crackers rely on gluten networks to maintain structural integrity during rolling, whereas nut-flour crackers depend on dairy proteins and fat binding to hold their shape without grains. Pure hazelnut flour yields a crisper texture than almond flour because the fat content within the ground nuts reacts differently during low-temperature dehydration. Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano acts as the primary structural adhesive, melting and then solidifying as moisture evacuates the baking sheet.
Achieving Uniform Crispness
Rolling dough between two sheets of parchment paper prevents sticking and eliminates the need for extra dusting flour. Set the oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit to dehydrate the hazelnut and cheese mixture gently rather than browning the exterior too quickly. Cut the rolled sheet into forty-eight distinct rectangles using a bench scraper before baking, which allows the edges to shrink evenly without fracturing the center. Monitor the batch closely starting at the 30-minute mark; the entire sheet must reach a uniform deep amber color before removal to ensure complete moisture extraction.
- Edges burn before the center hardens: Lower the oven temperature by 15 degrees and extend the bake time by 10 minutes to allow even heat penetration.
- Dough crumbles excessively during rolling: Add a fraction of a beaten egg white, starting with a half teaspoon, to increase hydration without making the dough sticky.
- Crackers lose crispness after storage: Store cooled crackers in an airtight glass container with a food-grade silica gel packet to absorb residual ambient humidity.
