Ritz Cracker Knockoffs (dairy free)

Yes, I’m still trying to find something that a teething 7-month old can gnaw on. This time, instead of revisiting the graham cracker, I decided to explore other options… Ritz Crackers here I come.

The only real problem I have with Ritz Crackers is that when I read the title, I read “Ritz Carlton” and then it makes me really wish I were in San Francisco enjoying an amazing girls weekend with my sisters. Has it really been almost 5 years since our trip?  Man that was fun. If anyone has access to Ritz Carlton, Club Level accommodations (at a steep discount or FREE) let me know, I’ll see if I can take those off your hands for you. J

Ok, RITZ CRACKERS, back to RITZ CRACKERS – ugh! I’m too easily distracted.

I went with a recipe that was posted by Steph at The Cupcake Project because, according to her post, she has already done the work to find the homemade version of the recipe that tastes most like a Ritz. Since I would be making make adjustments for allergies I figured starting with something that was already close to the real thing would probably be a good idea.

These crackers don’t take forever to make and can be pulsed in a food processor to move the process along. They are flakey and crisp and have just the right amount of salt to compliment the flavor. Best part, my teething 7-month old ate them without choking. YAY. 

The downside…he may have still been allergic to something in the dough - Palm Shortening? Coconut oil? Baking powder? It’s hard to tell because we haven’t ever seen him completely relived of all symptoms. It appeared that maybe his eczema got a little worse after he ate the cracker. If anyone else is dealing with food allergies I’d gladly accept any insight as to why the ingredients may have caused a reaction.

Vegan Ritz Cracker Knockoffs

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Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp sugar

½  tsp salt

6 tbsp butter flavored palm shortening, chilled (or unsalted butter)

2 tbsp vegetable oil (I used coconut oil)

2/3 cup warm water

Topping (optional)

½ tsp salt

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Put the flour, baking powder, sugar, and 1/2 tsp of salt in the food processor.
3. Pulse to combine.
4. Add shortening and pulse to combine until dough looks like coarse sand.
5. Mix water with coconut oil, turn processor on low and add to dough. Process the dough until it begins to form a ball.
6. For a crispy cracker, roll dough out as thin as you can, 1/8-inch or thinner. 
7. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough out.  You can make them Ritz-shaped or any shape that you like. With a toothpick poke holes in the cracker so that they don’t puff when you bake them.
8. Bake the crackers on a parchment- or Silpat-lined baking sheet for ten minutes or until the crackers just begin to brown.
9. TOPPING: While the crackers are baking, melt the remaining butter and mix in the remaining salt
10. As soon as you remove the crackers from the oven, brush them with the salty butter.
11. Let them cool on a wire rack then eat.

Source: Adapted from The Cupcake Project

Gwenevere

Graham Crackers I

I’ve been looking for a cracker recipe that my teething 7-month old can safely eat. Safely being that it does not contain the known ingredients he’s allergic to (soy, milk, eggs) and he can put it in his mouth without choking. Finding a recipe for puffed rice stars and cheerios isn’t going so well so I’ve started looking for other soluble, allergy free solutions.

Enter Baby Food Experiment  #1 – Graham Cracker I

I chose this graham cracker recipe because it came from a trusted source (thank you Andrea for referring me to Two Peas and Their Pod) and this recipe contained more whole grain flour than any other recipe I looked at.

These crackers were easy to make and really delicious. I made three different versions, one with butter (for my other kids – which I cannot vouch for because I couldn’t eat it), one with coconut oil and one with butter-flavored palm shortening. The difference between the coconut oil version and the butter flavored palm shortening were negligible so next time I’ll use whichever is least expensive. 

All eaters of these crackers loved them including the little man they were made for. He gummed and gummed on one for about 15 minutes and was perfectly content and happy while doing so. YAY success!! Uninterrupted time to get started on dinner! Woopsie, spoke too soon…. After he gummed at his cracker long enough to “bite” off a chunk, he started to gag. The piece was still too big and too hard for him to get it safely into his tummy. Bummer.

Although meeting 2 out of the 3 criteria isn’t bad for the first experiment I'm determined I can find exactly what I'm looking for. Until then, just in case someone is looking for an alternative to store bought graham crackers (and doesn't have to worry about tiny ones choking)  then I’m posting this recipe for you.

Graham Crackers I

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Makes a dozen 3 x 3-inch crackers

Ingredients:

¼ cup all purpose flour


1 cups whole-wheat flour


2 tablespoons sugar


¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder


½ teaspoon cinnamon


¼  cup butter flavored palm shortening*, cut into small pieces and chilled

1 tablespoon honey


1 ½ teaspoons molasses


2 – 4 tablespoons water

Directions:

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Cut in the shortening/oil until the texture is dry and crumbly.
2. In a small bowl, mix the honey, molasses, and water. Mix with the dry ingredients until blended in the food processor. Pulse the dough until it forms a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
4. On a floured surface, roll the dough out thin (1/8” thickness or thinner) and cut with cookie cutters. Or you can do the traditional graham cracker shape. If you do this cut them into rectangles and poke each cracker with a fork. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat. If desired sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon
5. If desired, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and bake for 15 minutes or until they are golden brown and crisp. Once crackers are completely cooled, store them in an air tight container.

Notes:

*Equal measure of coconut oil or unsalted butter can be substituted for the butter flavored palm shortening. If using butter, your dough will be moister than the dough with palm shortening or oil and will therefore need less water. I used a full ¼ cup of water in the batches that contained coconut oil and palm shortening.

This recipe is for a small batch and can easily be doubled. I choose to make small batches to be sure that it all gets eaten before it goes bad.

Source: Two Peas and Their Pod via My Life and Good Times

Gwenevere

Roasted Candied Pecans

Who wants to candy pecans and cranberries in the middle of summer? If you whip up a batch your house is going to smell like Christmas and in case you didn’t know, it’s June so any visitors might think you are loony if they catch a whiff of the spicy aroma. (but if you keep reading this post you are going to think I’m loony so…it’s all good…)

So why post about candied nuts now? Well because there is this salad I love and instead of croutons, it calls for roasted candied pecans to aid in the crunch. It also has strawberries in it – which are a clear indication of summer. So… candied nuts (winter) and strawberries (summer), two polar opposites as far as cooking for the seasons is concerned.  It makes for a hard salad to categorize…winter or summer. The popular Midwest chain restaurant that first introduced this salad to me calls it The California Chicken Salad. They must have done this because of the strawberries. Strawberries = summer and since California is in a perpetual state of summer…they opted for that name. But in my opinion, because of the roasted candied pecans, they could just as easily have called this salad the Alaska Chicken Salad (since Alaska is to winter as California is to summer) but…they didn’t, they chose to focus on the strawberries v. the pecans. (It could also have something to do with the fact that California grows a lot of strawberries)

Hey, I could rename the salad. Why not call it the Australia Chicken Salad (because Australia’s seasons are opposite from where most of my readers are from and the use of the word Australia would leave the meaning of this salad up to artistic interpretation. Yes, I think I’ll call this the Australian Chicken Salad – but then I don’t know if any of these ingredients in this salad  have anything to do with Australia, so it might confuse people thinking they are going to get something of the vegemite or  barbie variety.

Maybe California Chicken Salad is the right name…Welcome to my stream of consciousness – it’s a nice place to visit. 

Roasted Candied Pecans & a Salad

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Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups raw pecans

2 large egg whites, lightly beaten

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ginger

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1 to 1 1/2 cup craisins (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven 300 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, stir the pecans & craisins (if using) with the beaten egg white.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg & salt. Sprinkle the spices mix over the nuts and stir until evenly coated.
3. Spread in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
4. Slide parchment paper (with nuts still on it) off the baking sheet and onto a wire rack (or the counter) to cool.
5. Break nuts up into a bowl to serve or store at room temperature in an airtight container

Notes:

You can substitute ½ teaspoon of allspice for the ¼ teaspoon of ginger and nutmeg if desired. These nuts can be eaten plain or served over a salad that is made with the following:

     

Spring Mix Greens

      1 pint sliced strawberries

      1 can mandarin oranges, drained

      1 green bell pepper, chopped

      2 chicken breasts, grilled & chopped

      2 cups roasted candied pecans

      1 bottle balsamic vinaigrette dressing

Toss it all together and serve.

Source: This salad was inspired by O’Charley’s California Chicken Salad.

Gwenevere