"Raw" Rosemary Crackers (Quackers)

It's obvious, I love food. Food that's baked, or roasted, or sauteed, or boiled-- food that's COOKED. But I'd be lying if I said there wasn't something seductive about raw food; it's kind of sexy, is it not? Maybe it's because it's pure and unadulterated and a little bit mysterious; it could also be because a lot of people who eat raw food are pretty sexy.  I'm not sure what the exact allure is but I do know that when it's done right, raw food tastes pretty darn good.

My friend and I tried Pure Food and Wine for the first time this weekend and while I did like it, I might actually like their takeaway cafe, One Lucky Duck, better.  Here's why: amazing salads, smoothies, and juices in a casual atmosphere.  Eating a giant salad and drinking a fresh juice (or smoothie) just makes you feel good.  Eating a raw mallowmar probably makes you feel good too, but I still have my $6.  So what do you do when you're beginning to crave $15 salads with expensive raw toppings?  Well, you do your best to replicate them for a fraction of the price.

Laziness caused me to take this photo on my phone, but it's not much worse than it would be on my camera...

The salad I've enjoyed (only twice) from One Lucky Duck is called the S&M salad; sexy, right?  This salad is made up of fresh greens, avocado, hemp seed, dulse, rosemary crackers, and a light dressing.  I already have the majority of these ingredients (minus the dulse, but who really needs that anyway?) in my pantry/ refrigerator, so lets be honest here, what really sets this salad apart is the rosemary crackers.  Those crackers are just SO GOOD.  And they're totally raw.

I did some sleuthing (i.e. read the label on a small bag of the crackers that costs $13.50) to find out exactly what these little pellets of deliciousness were made of, so here goes: almonds, flaxseed, nutritional yeast, rosemary and sea salt.  That's it!  I could totally make these at home.  So what if I don't have a dehydrator... I'm not trying to be 100% RAW I'm just trying to make some yummy crackers, which is exactly what I did.

Rosemary Crackers
Despite the fact that I didn't dehydrate these crackers, the result tasted preeeetttty close to the original.  Mine weren't as thick, so next time I won't spread them out as thinly, but otherwise, they were a great replica.  I may play around with the ratios a bit (more nutritional yeast, perhaps?), so definitely let me know if you do!
Adapted from The Happy Raw Kitchen

Ingredients
1 cup raw almonds, soaked for at least 8 hours, rinsed and drained [I peeled mine after soaking but I think it was unnecessary; next time I probably won't]
heaping 1/4 cup ground flaxseed meal
3/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
~1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 250 F.  Whisk the ground flaxseed and warm water and let sit until an egg-like consistency develops (about 3 minutes).

In food processor fitted with an "S" blade, process almonds until coarsely ground.  Add nutritional yeast, rosemary, and salt, and process until combined. Pour in the flax"egg" mixture and process until combined.  Adjust seasonings as desired.

Pour the mixture onto a lined baking sheet and spread out into a thin layer.  Bake for about 4 hours, or until crackers are firm, flipping about halfway through.  The drying time depends on the thickness of crackers. [It was getting late and I was getting impatient so I baked mine at 250 F for about 2 1/2 hours and then finished them at 300 F for about 30 mins.  The small amount of time at 300 F was fine and they didn't take on a toasted flavor at all]

Let cool and use your hands to break the sheet(s) into free-form crackers.  Store in glass jars for several weeks.  Enjoy on salads and with dips and spreads!