Garlic Red Pepper Chia Crackers

I have an ongoing love affair with crackers… I absolutely love them.  Vegetable crackers, sweet crackers, tamari-flavored rice crackers, even plain stone-ground whole wheat crackers….  they are such an easy, portable snack or addition to a meal.

I think my least favorite crackers are flax crackers, mostly because the flax seeds are usually left whole and they get all stuck in my teeth. And really, what is the point of that, since flax seeds need to be ground for us to get their benefits. Not a fun experience, with little benefit….  (although I did recently see a great-looking recipe for fruity flax crackers that used ground flax, so a version of those will make an appearance soon!)

BUT I recently ran across (again) this recipe for Chocolate Chia Crackers from Kristen’s Raw.  Chia seeds are so good for us, and they don’t need to be ground for us to receive their numerous benefits, so I decided to give them a try.

At the time, I wasn’t in the mood for a sweet cracker, so I decided to go with garlic and red bell peppers. Doesn’t seem possible to go wrong with those flavors in a cracker, and they were definitely a winner. Love these, they are easy to make, and taste great. I made mine very thin, so got about 2 trays of crackers.

And look how thin and crispy they are!

Garlic Red Pepper Crackers

• 1 cup chia seeds, soaked in 1 1/2 cups water for 15 minutes
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 cup water
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt
• 1 teaspoon mesquite powder (optional)

Blend together all ingredients except the chia seeds. Move the chia seeds into a large bowl, and add the blended mixture, breaking up any clumps of seeds. Let sit for 15 more minutes.

Using an offset spatula, spread thin layers of the mixture onto teflex sheets (or parchment paper might work as well). Dehydrate at 135 degrees for 1 hour, then lower to 108 for 6-8 hours. If needed, flip over and dehydrate until they reach the desired crunchiness. When I checked mine after about 8 hours (I left them overnight), they were already crunchy.

If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can still do this in the oven – set the oven at the lowest temperature – if it goes down to 105-115, you’re all set. If not, put it on the lowest setting and crack the door slightly while the crackers are baking.