Almost like Lesley Stowe Crackers

Just before we get into today's recipe and oh boy, it's a good one - let's just take a minute to have an award ceremony.



Our kindred spirit That Girl at Paved With Good Intentions" has so generously offered up this "I Love You This Much Award". We're so grateful and coming from That Girl makes it even so much more special. Thank you (bowing) - let's have a group hug now. In keeping with the sharing of these awards, Psychgrad and I always have this ..ahem...conversation about who we should be sharing it with. A lot of energy goes into making blogs interesting so that people will want to come back and visit (kind of like making friends), entertaining enough without being offensive and filled with recipes that whet the appetite (literally).

This time round our picks are:

1. Grace at A Southern Grace" who always makes me smile. She has this honesty about her and writes in a way that just makes you want to keep on reading.

2. Vicarious Foodie " a self proclaimed mayonnaise lover is my go to person any time I want to find a celebrity chef type recipe. And the photography..oh my - if only my best pictures looked like her worst.

3. Fellow Torontonian Big Black Dog". First of all, anybody who names their food blog Big Black Dog really deserves a hug. More importantly, when your dogs are so important, it tells me that you're heart is in the right place and when you couple a love of food with a love of animals, how can you possibly not deserve this award (not to mention of course the recipes are great too)

4. Claudia at Cook, Eat, Fret who just seems to always pull it together and has learned to adapt and thrive no matter what.

5. Culinary Bazaar" who sees food as an art and so successfully captures what she sets out to see. I would gladly take any of her pictures and put them up on the wall of my kitchen. Gorgeous!!!

Now - on to the recipe of the day. How many of you have ever made crackers? It seems like the most unlikely thing to do in the kitchen. But, when your favourites are about $6.00/box and the box is pretty small, it's worth giving it a shot - no? After much research I found this recipe and decided to give it a try.



Ingredients:

Combine in a bowl:



1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup flax or wheat germ (I used wheat germ)
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup poppy seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, chopped
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp brown sugar



Set aside.

In a saucepan, over low heat, for less than one minute, combine:

1/4 cup buttermilk (for vegans add a little vinegar to soy milk)
2 tbsp blackstrap molasses

Gradually add wet ingredients to dry until dough just starts to hold together. (I didn't use all the liquid for this to happen)



Roll as thinly as possible between two sheets of parchment paper and bake with both sheets of parchment paper still in tact in a slow oven (250 degrees) for one hour.



After 30 minutes, take off top sheet of parchment paper

When one hour is up, turn off oven with crisps still inside. Go watch t.v., read a book, do some work - just forget about them.



Come back a few hours later when they're completely dried and break into bite-sized pieces.

Store in moisture resistent container (glass works)

Verdict: As much as I'm crazy about Lesley Stowe crackers - these are a fraction of the cost and really crunchy and flavourful.

For those who don't know what Lesley Stowe crackers are - I would call them the designer cracker that comes in a variety of flavours and fabulous with a variety of nice cheeses. My favourite so far is the combination of cracker and goat cheese or feta cheese with cranberry.

There's no question that I would make these again. Next time I'll add dried mango, dried cranberry and maybe something peppery. (one ingredient per batch)
I would package these in a rustic package combined with a nice cheese and a bow as a house warming gift.