This Girl Made Crackers

You know how there are some things that you just think are beyond you. In the culinary world these are the things that you give up on making yourself before you've even tried. 

People, I have broken down (some of) these barriers- I HAVE MADE CRACKERS. 

Yeah- you read that right. This girl makes crackers now. 

Blueberry coconut socca crackers to be exact. 

For those who don't know (and because I just had to google it myself) socca, or farinata, is a thin crepe made of chickpea flour- originating in Genoa- that is mixed with water and olive oil, and baked in an open oven before being sliced into triangles or fingers and eaten. 

I didn't make socca (although I am now wondering what the difference between socca and my chickpea omelettes is)- I made socca crackers. 

Are you impressed? I am. 

I made crackers. 

Before going in the oven

To back up that these crackers are brilliant - my Mom has just come in and said that the Aldi crackers have gone soft. 

After the first bake

No Mom, I just was too scared of burning my HOMEMADE CRACKERS and so didn't leave them in the oven quite long enough. 

But not only are these crackers awesome- they were made by me. AND I've even done all the washing up. 

Toasted coconut!

I didn't set off to make crackers. I actually started the day thinking "what can I do with the blueberries". You know when you get carried away and you buy something without checking it out fully first- yeah. I did that with dried blueberries. I saw dried blueberries and thought- oh- great!!! I so want some. Who wouldn't want dried blueberries? Think of all the things you could do with dried blueberries!!! 

But then I got them home... and tried them... and was sadly disappointed. There was just something - something- not right. 

It was the fact that they were heavily sweetened. Like- 40% sugar. That is almost half sugar. And I'm sure a lot of people would find them great- because I'm sure totally unsweetened blueberries might be a bit tart for some people. But for me? It meant that the blueberries were just meh. They didn't taste crystallised or super sugary- but the sugar seemed to neutralise the blueberry flavor totally. I could barely tell they were blueberries. 

I was not impressed.

But what do you do with disappointing blueberries? 

I didn't want to snack on them as is, because, meh. 

I didn't want to make something like fruit and nut bars where the recipe relies heavily on the dried fruit- because it's hard to make a feature of meh. 

I didn't want to plan a whole meal around them - like a salad featuring dried blueberries- because I have other things I want to eat far more than dried blueberries. 

And no, I couldn't just throw them away. 

So I decided to make a snack or baked good. Something that uses up a load of dried fruit at once- but isn't to 'saturated' with them. Also- something that I could snack on as opposed to a main meal. 

And then I saw the packet of Aldi crackers (those were cranberry flavored wholewheat mini 'crisp bread' crackers). And remembered a recipe I had found ages ago but discounted because it looked to hard and what on earth was buckwheat and garbanzo? 

But I have come on from there. 

I have both chickpea (garbanzo) flour and buckwheat (I used it for the first time today) now. 

And I decided that I was ready to make crackers. 

I used this recipe from Edible Perspective. It is an amazing recipe. It was so quick and easy!!!! And simple. The hardest bit was getting them in and out of the oven. These are easier than cookies!!! They are so simple and just amazing. 

I did change up a few things. Apparently, Ashley from Edible Perspective has never accidentally bought over sweetened dried blueberries, because she doesn't have a recipe for dried blueberry crackers. So I used her Cinnamon Sugar Socca Crackers, and swapped the cinnamon and vanilla in the batter for 1 T of desiccated coconut (mine was practically coconut power though- very fine!), 1/4 cup of dried blueberries and 1t of coconut extract (although you could keep the vanilla if you don't have any coconut extract). I then replaced the cinnamon topping with 2 T of desiccated coconut. And so cinnamon sugar crackers have become blueberry and coconut. 

And they are so good, they get mistaken for ones from the super market. 

I did manage to forget to add the sugar and salt though. And I was so scared of burning them I took them out a minute to early. And they were still good. 

This recipe is adapted from one from Edible Perspective, which is one of the first blogs I read and still one of my favorite- so you should definitely go check it out!!