Gluten-Free Seedy Oat Crackers

These gluten free crackers are easy to make and have a great texture. They are tasty and crunchy on their own, and sturdy enough to stand up to hummus and other creamy dips.

Around holiday time, the quest for a vehicle to deliver dip into our mouths becomes a bit challenging in our house, as my husband doesn’t eat the gluten. Therefore, I am constantly searching for something interesting that isn’t a corn chip. Nothing against corn chips, it’s just that they’re always in the cupboard, and for special occasions, I like to mix it up a little. So stumbling upon these beauties in my Bon Appetit mag was very exciting. I don’t believe I had ever thought about making a cracker myself. (Well, yes I have – those cheesy ones on Martha Stewart’s website – but they still have gluten, so they remain just a thought.)

I bought all of the ingredients without really reading through the recipe. And the recipe had some…issues, let’s say. And to be honest, I was kinda mad about it.

There I was, ingredients already combined, reading the next step and then…huh?

First, it said to roll this out onto one sheet pan at 1/8 inch thick. I don’t know how big a sheet pan they were using to get this all onto one. Granted, I need new sheet pans and only have a rectangular one right now, but at 1/8 inch thick, it was also too much dough for a single pizza pan, so I ended up splitting the dough between the pizza pan and the sheet pan and leaving it a  little thicker.

Then, there were some very confusing instructions about how to flip the cracker over mid-way through to get it crisp on both sides. After baking on a parchment-lined baking sheet, the recipe instructs you to, “Remove from oven and carefully turn out, parchment side up. Place a fresh sheet of parchment on baking sheet. Remove parchment from cracker, carefully turn cracker over and return to baking sheet.” Does this make sense to you? There are so many things wrong with these instructions! Am I turning it over twice? Everything is backwards and there is a phantom piece of parchment in there somewhere. There is no parchment on top of this cracker when it’s baking. And if you are turning it out parchment side up, isn’t it already turned over?

And even if you did have a giant sheet pan and got this all onto one, unless you have a pizza peel, I don’t know how you could turn this thing over all in one swoop. Not at 1/8 inch thick. Maybe at 1/4 inch thick.

They even made one of those speedy little social media videos for this recipe, but left out the crucial cracker-flipping, parchment-swapping scenes. I sense a conspiracy.

Although I figured out how to make this work, I was fuming about how it was written. I was mad at the chef for not modifying it for a home cook’s tools, and I was mad at Bon Appetit for not proofreading the instructions.

But then I did a little digging and found the chef’s original recipe on her own website. Funnily enough, it instructs you to divide between two sheet pans and flatten it to 1/2 cm (she’s English) which is closer to 1/4 inch. So what I ended up doing was what she had written in the first place.

In the end, I learned a few things.

First – and this is a rule that I knew already but I don’t always do it. Read the recipe through at least a couple of times before you start it! Make sure you understand all of the instructions, and that you have all of the ingredients ready.

Second, everyone makes mistakes including magazine editors and cookbook writers. (I’ve certainly made errors when writing out recipes for this blog. I’ve proofread this very post several times, but something might still be amiss.) This isn’t the first recipe I’ve encountered that was off by some degree. If something doesn’t sound right to you, look up a similar recipe in other sources to compare the instructions, cooking times, etc.

And finally, trust yourself and your kitchen instincts, and make the recipe work for you. As Jacques Pepin says, “Cooking is the art of adjustment.”

Related recipes: These go great with Creamy Romesco Dip.

Seedy Oat Crackers

(Adapted from Bon Appetit)

1 cup rolled oats

¾ cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

⅓ cup raw sunflower seeds

⅓ cup sesame seeds

3 tbsp chia seeds

3 tbsp poppy seeds

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tbsp plus 1 tsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp pure maple syrup (or agave)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Combine all dry ingredients into a medium-sized bowl.

In a small bowl, combine liquid ingredients.

Pour liquid over dry ingredients and stir to ensure liquid is evenly distributed throughout.

Let stand 10 minutes to allow mixture to thicken.

Prepare two parchment-lined baking sheets.

Divide the mixture between each baking sheet, and form into a ball. Place an additional piece of parchment over each ball of dough and, using a rolling pin or heavy-bottomed pan, flatten to about 1/4 inch thick. It can be any shape and jagged edges mean crispy deliciousness.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the edges begin to brown. (If you are using agave, this browning seems to happen much faster so keep an eye on it.)

Remove from oven and slide the crackers off the baking sheet. Tear a new sheet of parchment and lay it on top of each cracker. Lift the bottom piece of parchment and gently flip the crackers over, so the new sheet of parchment is on the bottom.

The cracker is hot and this is not the most graceful of moves. You can use your hands, a spatula, or do what I did, and kinda grab two ends of the parchment and lift and flip and hope for the best.

Note: the cracker might break when you do this. That is okay. That just means more crispy edges.

Remove the old piece of parchment and return the cracker to the baking sheet.

Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes until edges turn golden brown.

Allow to cool slightly and then break up into pieces.

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Gluten-Free Seedy Oat Crackers

These gluten free crackers are easy to make and have a great texture. They are tasty and crunchy on their own, and sturdy enough to stand up to hummus and other creamy dips. 

Course Appetizers, Party foods, vegan, vegetarian

Cuisine Gluten free, Paleo, vegan

About These gluten free crackers are prepared in one bowl and are easy to roll out and bake.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 18 crackers, once broken apart

Ingredients

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 3/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 1/3 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1/3 cup sesame seeds
• 3 tbsp chia seeds
• 3 tbsp poppy seeds
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp pure maple syrup or agave syrup

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine all dry ingredients into a medium-sized bowl.
3. In a small bowl, combine liquid ingredients.
4. Pour liquid over dry ingredients and stir to ensure liquid is evenly distributed throughout. Let stand 10 minutes to allow mixture to thicken.
5. Prepare two parchment-lined baking sheets.
6. Divide the mixture between each baking sheet, and form into a ball. Place an additional piece of parchment over each ball of dough and, using a rolling pin or heavy-bottomed pan, flatten to about 1/4 inch thick. It can be any shape and jagged edges mean crispy deliciousness.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the edges begin to brown. (If you are using agave, this browning seems to happen much faster so keep an eye on it.)
8. Remove from oven and slide the crackers off the baking sheet. Tear a new sheet of parchment and lay it on top of each cracker. Lift the bottom piece of parchment and gently flip the crackers over, so the new sheet of parchment is on the bottom. The cracker is hot and this is not the most graceful of moves. You can use your hands, a spatula, or do what I did, and kinda grab two ends of the parchment and lift and flip and hope for the best. Note: the cracker might break when you do this. That is okay. That just means more crispy edges. Remove the old piece of parchment and return the cracker to the baking sheet.
9. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes until edges turn golden brown. Allow to cool slightly and then break up into pieces.