Grain Free Nut Free Rosemary Chia Flax Crackers with Cranberry

Topped with a cheese called
"5 Brothers" from an awesome
 little cheese shop in Paris ON, called
 The 3 Blind Mice Cheese Company

I have yet to find a grain free gluten free cracker in a package that I love. They either contain ingredients that I am not willing to eat, or they are just not very tasty. Up until now, these almond crackers have been my favourite to bake. They are very tasty, but I find they don't stay crisp for storage. A few versions of this flax style cracker have been floating around for a while, so I decided to give my own version a try. I am really glad I did! I thought the onion would be overpowering, but it gives a nice background flavour to the cracker. Perfect for accompanying soup, or topping with a slice of cheese or nut butter for a snack.

My Inspiration recipe can be found here; my recipe goes something like this: 

Grain Free Nut Free Rosemary Chia Flax Crackers with Cranberry

1 medium organic onion, cut in chunks (mine was just a white cooking onion, a Vidalia would give you a milder onion flavour)

2 cloves organic garlic

A sprig of fresh organic rosemary, tough stem removed (alternatively use one tsp dried, or other herbs of choice)
1/3 cup  organic pumpkin seeds

¼ cup melted coconut oil

½ tsp Herbamare or other sea salt of choice

1 cup milled Flax seeds 

½ cup milled Chia seeds

¼ cup unsweetened or fruit juice sweetened dried organic cranberries, chopped into small-ish pieces

Semi Coarse salt to top crackers before baking

Preheat your oven to 300F

Puree onion, garlic, and rosemary in a food processor or blender. You want it to be a pretty smooth puree, no real chunks left. Scrape down the sides if needed. 

Add pumpkin seeds and pulse until they are just coarsely chopped in the onion mixture. (alternatively, you can puree them until they are smooth too, but I like the texture the coarse chop gives)

Dump this mixture into a mixing bowl and add the coconut oil, salt, flax, Chia and the chopped cranberries, mix with a wooden spoon or your hands until all ingredients are evenly mixed and it forms a ball of soft dough. Let stand for approx 10 minutes, to let the Chia absorb some of the moisture.

Between 2 large pieces of parchment, roll your dough evenly into a thin rectangle, approx 17’ by 12’. You want them quite thin.

Cut into 2’ squares (or other shape of choice) being careful not to cut right thru the parchment paper.(I wouldn't recommend trying to roll these without the parchment, the dough is pretty sticky!)

Using a salt grinder or your fingers, sprinkle the tops of the crackers with about ¼ tsp of extra semi coarse salt. Cover dough once more with the parchment, and press lightly to adhere the extra salt to the crackers. Peel parchment from dough again, and set aside for another use.

Leaving the dough on the bottom sheet of parchment, transfer to a large cookie sheet, and bake at 300F in the lower 1/3 of your oven for approx 1 hr, or until your crackers are crisp, with no moisture left in them at all. Check frequently during the last 15 minutes to ensure they don’t burn. If they aren't  quite crisp, bake longer but check every 5 minutes until they are crisp.
Let cool, and serve with toppings of choice! They are pretty amazing with a full flavoured cheese, like the one pictured above!