Grain-Free Cauliflower Crackers with Parmesan and Rosemary

February 2, 2015  •  Snacks, Vegetables

cauliflower crackers 2-1Were you pulled into reading this blog post just by that title alone? Are you confounded to figure out how to make a cracker from a vegetable? Do you love cauliflower? Then read on! If you don’t like cauliflower, you can probably stop reading right now, as the crackers do taste very much like cauliflower. And warning: the plate of crackers can be quite addicting, but if you eat the whole plate, you’ve just eaten a whole head of cauliflower and your digestive tract is going to rebel!cauliflower snow-1I started down this path because a friend posted a pizza on Facebook made with a cauliflower crust. That seemed intriguing so I started researching and found a bunch of recipes for this grain-free alternative to pizza. I decided to take this a step further and see if I could actually make crackers. You start by pulsing the cauliflower and rosemary in the food processor until it’s nice and finely chopped – you’ll see these referred to as cauliflower “snow”.cauliflower snow 1-1The “snow” gets microwaved for 5 minutes and then dumped onto a clean kitchen towel to cool enough to handle, before tightening up that towel around it and wringing out all the water you can. I got about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of moisture out, and the more you get out, the faster your crackers will crisp up.cauliflower crackers ingredients-1Next you mix the wrung-out “snow” with some almond meal, Parmesan, eggs, and salt…cauliflower crackers-1…before pressing that out into a rectangle on a piece of parchment paper that you’ve sprayed with cooking spray. These crackers do best on a rectangular pizza stone, and you want your piece of parchment paper to be the size of the stone.cauliflower crackers rolled out-1cauliflower crackers rolled out 1-1Lay another piece of parchment paper on top and gently roll the dough to the edges. Remember, you want it tight and even – no holes, no lumps – and then slide a pizza peel underneath to transfer it to the hot stone in the oven.cauliflower crackers partially baked-1Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes until it’s slightly firmed up and just turning brown and then remove it from the oven (on the pizza stone to make transfer easier).cauliflower crackers partially baked and cut-1Use a pizza cutter to cut it into whatever size crackers you’d like, and return the entire stone to the oven to bake for 10 more minutes.cauliflower crackers 1-1Then you’re going to turn the oven off and after 30 minutes, flip the crackers, close the oven, and let them continue to dry overnight. It helps if you can leave the light on in the oven to keep just a bit of heat going. By morning, your crackers will be nicely browned and crisp. Enjoy on their own, with dips, or as part of a veggie platter.

Grain-Free Cauliflower Crackers with Parmesan and Rosemary
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 40 small crackers
Ingredients
  • 1 head cauliflower florets, about 1¼ pounds
  • 2 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
  • ¼ cup almond meal
  • ½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
  1. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit a rectangular pizza stone. Place the stone in the oven and heat to 400 degrees.
  2. Pulse the cauliflower and rosemary leaves in the food processor until very fine like snow. Transfer to a microwave safe bowl and cook on high for 5 minutes. Dump the cooked cauliflower "snow" onto a clean kitchen towel, and when cool, squeeze out all of the moisture.
  3. Combine the dried out cauliflower with the almond meal, Parmesan, eggs, and salt and use a fork to stir until well mixed. Spray the parchment paper with cooking spray and pat the dough into a flat layer on the paper. Spray another piece of parchment paper, lay it on top, and gently roll the dough out to the edges in an tight, even layer so that the dough perfectly fits the pizza stone.
  4. Use a pizza peel to transfer the dough to the hot pizza stone and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and use a pizza cutter to cut into crackers, then bake for 10 more minutes. Turn off the oven and after 30 minutes flip the crackers over. Close oven again and leave crackers in the oven until morning to become fully crisp. Store in an airtight container.

 

Comments

9 Comments  •  Comments Feed

  1. Dawn says:

    OMG! These are the best! I used a frozen cauliflower, thawed, instead of a fresh one, no cooking beforehand required. Just yummy and addictive!

  2. Dawn says:

    so this past weekend I used this recipe to make some cauliflower crackers with asparagus! Tonight, it’s spinach! I can’t wait to try these!! The asparagus are pretty good, but the spinach ones are tempting me!!

  3. Debb says:

    Sprayed parchment paper with EVOO instead of cooking spray. Hoping for classic OO and Rosemary flavored crackers similar to store bought.

  4. Denise says:

    Does anyone know the nutrient facts on these crackers?

    • Michele says:

      Denise, you can plug in the ingredients to online nutrition tools if you need specifics. I’m considering a nutrition plug in for this site but apologize I haven’t gotten to that yet.

  5. Artemis says:

    Instead of microwaving (killing the nutrients), you can simply steam the cauliflower and then pulse it to snow afterwards.

    • Michele says:

      All cooking – because of the heat – can leach out nutrients in some form, but numerous online sources confirm that microwaving food does NOT kill the nutrients and if done properly retains nutrients better than most other forms of cooking!

  6. Yvonne says:

    Can you please tell me how much cheese to add? Seem my version of the recipe has no unit after 1/2 on the Parmesan ingredient line…

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