GF: Cheesy Quinoa Crackers


I’m trying to catch up. No, not with work (amazing, huh?) but with my blogging buddies! Tonight I have a tasty cheesy cracker recipe for you that isn’t a long haul – really – you can make these quick! But before I get to that, I’m behind with my blogging’ buddies.

I was tagged by The Gluti-Girls 9 days ago (ACK!) but life kicked in to over drive and I got sick. Now I see my sweet bloggin’ buddy Gluti-One is ill – as is the whole family – and having emerged from that kind of week myself, I thought the least I could do was get on that Tag of hers already! So, here it goes. 🙂

Here are the rules
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random or weird things about yourself.
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here’s the hard part: 7 Random things about me?

Good lord – am I not random enough as is? This list is actually much harder to put together than I thought it would be. So I decided… what about 7 random things about my love and I combined? Probably cheating… but it might just merge in here out of desperation. Here’s goes nothing… I mean something!….

  1. My favorite coasters are the cute ones my mom made for me with 4 little diamonds of differing colors stitched together with a navy blue background. Really, my desciption does not do them justice. And most importantly, it isn’t about the coasters. It’s the fact that every night when I use them I think of her, picking out the fabric together, watching her make them, and falling in love with my mom even more. Moms are good. Dads are good too but mine doesn’t sew….at least I don’t think mine sews.
  2. My love and I once painted a picture together. I find it interesting to see our color choices – completely distinct from the other – and how well they blend together to make our painting.
  3. We were married in the Baha’i Temple in Wilmette, IL. There could not have been a more perfect place to unite our diverse families and ideas. What I loved the most was this: our parents (both sets) had to write letters to the leaders to give us permission to marry (even though we were both 29) AND they also required our parents to be our witnesses. I LOVED that.
  4. I have a talking Edna doll (from the film, The Incredibles). Dang, I love that feisty woman. She cracks me up… and scares me just a little. Well, not the cartoon Edna… but dang, if I worked with an Edna… I don’t think I’d find her nearly as humorous as I do now! LOL
  5. Amazingly, even though I am a National Board Certified Spanish teacher, I actually dropped out of Spanish in high school. I hated every minute of it…. much thanks to a disgust for my teacher’s need to be “popular” among the “in” crowd at school. Guess my teacher-education program began earlier than college. LOL
  6. I would LOVE to go on the Amazing Race… if it weren’t for the cameras and the VERY large possibility that I would make a complete arse of myself doing something ditzy or clumsy. LOL  Okay… that…and I’m fairly certain that teacher’s dont’ get vacation days and this would NOT qualify for a leave of absence.  Darn it all.
  7. I have recently decided that teaching teenagers is like allowing 160 people to throw ping-pong balls at your head for 6 hours a day. You definitely should NOT be allowed to drive or manage heavy machinery for at least 30 minutes afterward. Really. It’s just not a good idea. LOL

Now who do I tag?  Oh boy… it looks like my delay means that everyone has been tagged!  Please – HELP!  Tag yourself!  Ellen?  Have you been tagged?  Jeanne?  Okay… tags are coming, kids…but by all means – feel free to TAG YOURSELF!

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Ok…. And now for the food. 🙂

Tonight I made some cheesy crackers. I think I should have baked them a bit longer to get them crispier – just a note for those of you who will recreate this. I *,made* 150 crackers (I used 1 to 1 1/2 inch cookie cutters) for work tomorrow.

I offered one to my love for a non-Gluten Free taste bud taste-test and suddenly I’m down to 75 crackers. That turkey! That will teach me NOT to leave the kitchen for a few minutes while a batch is cooling.

Good grief.

I caved. I sat down to watch a little American Idol with him while munching on the crackers too. I still have a few for my lunch box, but I’m pretty sure there aren’t going to be any after tomorrow. There’s goes the chance to see how long they would last on the counter. LOL

These crackers are yummy! I used quinoa flour which has a bit of a strong taste – and if you aren’t a quinoa flour fan – no worries! You can use sorghum, sorghum + millet, amaranth + sorghum or rice, etc for the quinoa flour. It’s an easy recipe and flexible.

My love insists that the strong flavor comes from the sharp cheddar cheese I used tonight instead of the usual mild cheddar. I’m not sure I agree, but I am more sensitive to flour flavors than he sometimes.

Either way – it’s a basic cheesy cracker recipe. Adapt away and enjoy!

Gluten Free Cheesy Crackers
Makes 150 small 1″ crackers
Ingredients:
2 T. butter
3 T. cottage cheese
2 T. mascarpone cheese (or cream cheese if you can’t find it)
1 egg
3/4 cup quinoa flour OR 1/2 cup sorghum + 1/4 teff OR 3/4 cup sorghum OR 1/2 cup sorghum + 1/4 amaranth, etc
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
8 ounces sharp (or mild) cheddar cheese, finely shredded (or 2 cups shredded cheddar)
a pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika (I used sweet paprika, but smoked is nice here also)Directions:

  1.  Cream together butter, cottage cheese and mascarpone (or cream cheese).
  2. Add egg and beat together until well incorporated.
  3. Dump in remaining ingredients and beat together for 3-6 minutes or until well combined and cheese is evenly distributed.  The dough will come together but NOT be sticky.  If it is, add 1 Tablespoon of sweet rice flour or flour of your choice (not a starch) until the dough stays together but is not sticky.
  4. Preheat oven to 400F.
  5. Divide the dough into two balls.
  6. Roll one ball out between two sheets of parchment paper to 1/4″ thickness. The dough should be either shaped to fit your cookie or baking sheet. (12″ by 17″) or the shape doesn’t matter (if you will be using cookie cutters to make your crackers).   At this point, either
    1. use small cookie cutters (like my animal cookie cutters) to cut your crackers (I could fit 50 on a jelly roll pan that is 17″ long.)
    2. OR
    3. use your pizza cutter to cut the rolled dough into 5 strips that are 1″ wide along the long side.  So 1″ wide strip that is 17″ long.   Then divide each long strip into 10 small pieces by cutting again but along the short side with the pizza wheel into 1″ strips.  Tap and puncture the cracker top with a fork if so desired.
  7. At this point, if you would like to, sprinkle seasoning on your crackers (extra salt, crushed red pepper flakes, more paprika, freshly ground black pepper, etc).
  8. Bake crackers for 7 – 9 minutes or until the tops begin to turn goldern (the bottoms will be browning faster!).
  9. Serve warm with your favorite cracker dipping sauce or store in an airtight container for 3 days or freeze.  (I think these will last longer than 3 days…but they never have around our house….LOL)

Happy GF Eating, All!
-Kate 

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