There is a reason I included chickpea flour as one of my ‘extra choice’ items for my April clean eating challenge – these crackers are that reason. These crackers, and all of the other awesome stuff you can make from chickpea flour, like socca, chocolate chip cookies, and vegan french toast.

Chickpea flour is underestimated and undervalued but the stuff is kickass. It’s got fibre, protein, minerals, and it’s naturally gluten-free. It’s versatile, delicious, and it’s fun. You’re baking with ground up chickpeas! What’s not to love?

Just don’t taste the batter.

Now, some of you will probably disregard this advice or will perhaps have had traumatic chickpea flour experiences in the past. You will wrinkle your noses in disgust and say, Emily, I went ahead and tasted that chickpea flour batter.  It was touch and go there for awhile – I barely made it out of the experience alive. How could you lead me so astray?

Well, as with all things chickpea (in my experience), that beany bitterness bakes itself right out of the batter while it’s in the oven. Keep the faith. The resulting product will be savoury, delicious, crunchy, and sans-bitterness.

And with this base recipe, you can pretty much add whatever you want – omit the sesame seeds and add sunflower seeds; try with other seasonings (like garlic powder or chili powder!). It’s amazingly flexible.

And you are making your own crackers! You’re part of the solution! No more boxes or plastic packages to throw away. No more spending your entire paycheck on one box of gluten-free crackers (because let’s be honest, that’s how much they cost). Just simple, savoury, chickpea flour.

Crunchy Chickpea Flour Crackers with Onion and Sesame Seeds

• Author: recipe inspired by this basic version at Heather G Nutrition
• Recipe Notes: egg-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chickpea flour (cold)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil plus 1 teaspoon for brushing on top
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 2 teaspoons organic onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon himayalan pink salt (reduce if you aren’t interested in a nice salty cracker)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 tablespoons water (or so)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together chickpea flour, sesame seeds, onion powder, pink salt, and baking powder.
3. Stir in olive oil.
4. After the olive oil is kind of ‘smooshed’ in, stir in water. The dough should kind of be a bit sticky but not too sticky. It should feel like cookie dough.
5. On a well-floured surface, roll out the dough until thin (as thin or thick as you like your crackers). Keep flouring everything so the dough doesn’t stick.
6. Using a bench scraper/dough scraper or some other device to cut the dough into strips and transfer to your baking sheet, then cut into squares.
7. Brush lightly with a bit of olive oil.
8. Bake for 12-15 minutes until light golden.
9. Store in an airtight container.

Crunch and enjoy!

© Eat Well, Live Vibrantly