Holiday Rosemary Raisin Date Crackers (Vegan Obvs)

Hi-hi Dolphins!

It's the most wonderful time of the year. I demand you read this blog with THIS song in the background.

Lots of holiday cooking going around on FB and my brother who is visiting from the U.S brought me a pack of Trader Joes Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies which are to die for. It reminded me of some of the sweet-savory crackers that are a staple on holiday cracker-cheese plates this time of the year. In my pre-vegan days living in the U.S, I used to LOVE variations of raisin/rosemary/herb crackers that would go with blue cheese. I saw some imported crackers like these in Nature's Basket in Bangalore but they cost half my rent. So of course I decided to make my own.

These crackers are delicious because they have a savoury herb taste with bursts of date and raisin sweetness. Combine it with hummus or cashew cheese and you might spontaneously combust. For real. My version uses whole wheat flour, regular flour, and almond flour (just almonds ground up fine in the blender). So let's make these crackers!


What You Need

1/2 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup whole almonds blended into flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 and half teaspoons salt
6-8 deseeded dates
1/2 cup raisins (you can add more too if you want)
1/2 cup soya mylk or water (depending on getting the right rollable dough)
2.5 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons dried rosemary

Almond flour, dates, rosemary, raisins. Yum yum.

How to Make

Grind up your almonds into a flour in the blender

In a bowl add your flour, whole wheat flour, and almond flour.  Now add the baking powder, salt, and rosemary and blend the dry mix with your hands.

Chop up your dates into bits. Add the chopped dates and raisins to the mix as well. Now add your oil. Get ready to get your hands dirty. Pour water/soyamylk into the batter and start to knead. Keep adding water/mylk until you have a nice dough that can be rolled. The dough will be thick and uneven because of the dates/raisins- that's fine. Chill.

That's the dough we're talking about, lovers. 

Now roll out parts of your dough as thin as you can. It won't get too thin because it's got so many goodies in it. Use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes  or simply cut into cracker- like squares. Repeat will all the remaining dough. This should get you about 30-35 small crackers depending on your thickness.

All ready to be popped into that oven

Add your crackers in batches depending on the size of your oven.  Bake for 20-23 minutes  at 185c.

Take out and let cool. Enjoy with a quick cashew cheese which involves blending 1/4th cup cashews with one tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional), salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Or dip them in hummus, or have them with jam. Or just alone with some black tea.

I spy the giant gingerbread man

Let the holidays start! Keep it kind.