Crackers are a great snack! Crisp, crunchy, and wonderful paired with dip or cheese, they’re also easy to take with you when you’re on a hike or at work. If you’re avoiding grain, however, crackers are a little hard to find. These tasty little carrot and seed crackers are a great alternative to wheat or rice crackers, and they’re so healthy! The great thing about this snack is, it’s a perfect way put the whole carrot to good use when you juice. Carrot pulp from your juicer works perfectly in this recipe!
To make the crackers, you’ll need a cup of carrot pulp. If you have a juicer, just run four or five carrots through and use what’s left over from that. If not, you can run some carrots through a food processor and then squeeze the extra juice out of the pulp. Just mix the carrot pulp together with ground flax seed, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. Add sea salt, fresh garlic, cracked black pepper, and a bit of parsley and stir it up to make a dough. You might need to add a tablespoon or two of carrot juice or water to soften it up a bit.
Press or roll the dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet, and then cut the crackers…I used a pizza wheel, which cut right through the seeds and left nice clean lines. Bake the crackers (or, if you’d like to make yours raw, dehydrate them instead). When they’re crisp, snap them apart along the scored lines. Easy! These crackers have a nice, crunchy texture and and a light but savory flavor that goes well with many things. And, they’re full of healthy vitamins, fiber, and Omega 3. You can feel good about snacking on them, and they are surprisingly filling. A few of these crackers with a little raw milk cheese or cashew butter will keep you going until dinner!
- 1 cup firmly packed carrot pulp
- 1/2 cup ground flax seed
- 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
- 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
- 1-2 tablespoons carrot juice
- 1 clove crushed garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- cracked pepper, to taste
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- If you have a juicer, run 4 or 5 carrots through it and pack the carrot pulp into a measuring cup to make one cup of pulp. If not, pulse 3-4 large carrots in a food processor until you have very fine bits. Squeeze out the juice, reserving several tablespoons.
- In a bowl, combine the pulp, flax seed, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, crushed garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. Stir well.
- If the dough is too dry, add carrot juice a tablespoon at a time to make it firm but not crumbly.
- Line a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper. Press or roll the dough onto the paper, to about 1/8 inch thick.
- Using a pizza wheel or knife, score the crackers into 2 inch squares.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 200 degrees, and continue to bake until the crackers are crisp. Baking time will vary, depending on how much moisture is in the carrots.
- If you'd like your crackers raw, dehydrate them according to your food dehydrator's directions instead of baking them (generally, expect 8-10 hours of drying time at 115 degrees).