Ol-luv (You) Crackers

My son absolutely loves olives, especially black olives.  Sort of an unconventional food for a 2 year old to like, but then again, it’s neat to see him developing interest in different flavours.

He loves these Olive Crackers from Leslie Stowe’s Rainforest Crisps.  I used to buy them, until it dawned on me that maybe I could make them at home.

I went looking for a recipe for them.  I thought if I found one that was easy to make I’d give it a try.

There are many variations on the Rainforest Crisp recipe.  I found a “cleaned up” version here, and modified it a bit more for my liking (omitted the sugar, adjusted the baking time, threw in some versatility factor).  Although it still contains wheat and dairy after making it I’m certain almond milk would work just fine as a substitute for the dairy, which is what I’ll use next time.

This is a versatile recipe, too, because different ingredient(s) can be used to make a different cracker.  If olives are not your thing, something else can be used instead.  I noted the options for a switch-a-roo below.

Here’s how it went down…

WHATEVER YOU WANT (Olive for us) CRACKERS

Here we go!  Whipping these up literally took 10 minutes…because I’m quick and dirty baker, I thew everything into the mixer at once, making prep time fast and the recipe worked out just fine!  🙂

I combined:

2 cups Whole Wheat flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 cups Buttermilk (After making the recipe I know Almond Milk would work here)

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (or sunflower seeds can be used here)

1/4 cup sesame seeds (or hemp seeds can be used here)

1/4 cup ground flax (or chia seeds can be used here)

[**The recipe calls for dried fruit here… I didn’t add it, but dried figs go with the olive cracker recipe, there is also a variation with dates – yummy! – but any dried fruit could work… I’m thinking cranberries or raisins, too.]

1/2 cup pitted black olives, whole or sliced

[**Instead of the olives, sun dried tomato can be used, hazel nuts, herbs or spices can be added like cinnamon, rosemary or garlic… these can really be customized depending on your mood.]

Add it all together…  Mix it up… (i used my mixer, but this could have been whisked with a fork)

I poured it into a 9 x 4 inch baking pan that was greased with coconut oil.  And put it the oven, which was pre-heated to 350 F.

I baked it for longer than suggested in the original website recipe.  In my oven, the batter took 1 hour to bake until the toothpick test told me it was done.

Once the loaf was completely cool, I flipped it out of the pan.

NEXT… place the loaf in the freezer.  Freezing it will help make it firm so thin slices can be cut to make the cracker.

(NOTE:  The loaf can be pulled out for the cracker making phase at a later time or date if not enough time to do it all at once!)

With a sharp knife, cut slices as thinly as possible.  I used one with a serrated edge and did a saw-like cutting motion for the thin slices.

NOTE:  Next time I’ll line the pan with parchment paper.  After baking them, I realized these have the potential to stick and I didn’t want to grease the pan because the crackers may not have turned out crispy.

Bake the thin slices at 300 F for 10 minutes on one side, then flip and bake the other side for 5 minutes.  Be sure to keep an eye on these so they don’t burn.

Let cool completely.

Ta-daaa!  These tasted so good!  They were crispy and crunchy like the original cracker!  ….and the recipe made a whole lot of them.  Most importantly, they were a hit with my little guy.  Ol-luv u2 X!