Raincoast Crisps
Many years ago a local caterer discovered that one of her signature recipes, these little ‘crackers’ were always a hit. The story goes that she then expanded here business line by mass producing these gourmet crackers for purchase in grocery stores…for a hefty price. And then I found myself at a sporting tournament with my children and somehow these crackers and their price came up in conversation, which resulted in the budding of a subsequent lifelong friendship with a fellow home cook foodie…and her sharing this recipe with me. That was in 2006.
Recently, I couldn’t find my hard copy recipe, so I did an internet search and found some a ‘vaguely similar’ recipe which claimed to be the ‘real thing’. Well, I made them and man-oh-man, was I disappointed!
The recipe below is the genuine article and while they take a little advance planning, one recipe makes a lot of these tasty gourmet crackers and I guarantee they are worth the effort!
Raincoast Crisps
Special Note: The effort involved in this recipe is the minimum 2 days to make because they are twice baked. The little loaves are baked the first day, cooled and then wrapped and refrigerated. The next day the loaves are thinly sliced and slow baked (really more dried out than baked) in a low temperature oven. And then Voila - little crispy crunchy nutritious gourmet crackers great on their own, with nut butters, with cheese, etc…
Ingredients:
2c whole wheat flour
1tsp salt
21/2tsp baking soda
1/4c firmly packed brown sugar
2tbsp flax seeds
2tbsp sesame seeds
2tbsp millet (or poppy seeds)
1c pumpkin seeds (or coarsely chopped walnuts, cashews or pecans…or a combination adding to 1c)
1/2c raw sunflower seeds
1/3c craisins
2c buttermilk
1/4c molasses
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 4 small loaf pans loaf pans.
Mix flour, salt, brown sugar,baking soda, nuts, seeds and craisins in a medium size bowl
Stir the buttermilk and molasses together.
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients. Stir to combine.
Evenly distribute the batter between the 4 buttered loaf pans and smooth the tops.
Bake for 45 - 55 minutes - until tops feel firm when touched and bamboo skewer inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool slightly, remove from pans and cool on rack.
Wrap cooled loaves in waxed paper or tin foil and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, preheat oven to 250 degrees f.
Unwrap one loaf at a time. Slice the loaves as thinly as possible with a serrated edge bread knife.
Lay slices on a cookie sheet and bake/dry until crisp…about 1 hour.
You want to dry them at this stage not so much as bake them so that the seeds stay bright. The colour of the cracker is already rich enough.
