Salad season is in full swing (along with ice cream and sorbet season). I have some great salad ideas lined up, and a few of them would not be complete without croutons.
This crouton recipe was formulated for a Caesar salad, but would compliment any salad, really (or soup for that matter). It is closely related to my Parmesan cracker recipe, except that I score it differently and add garlic powder.
Careful with these. They’re easy to munch on. My advice is to keep them concealed until ready to serve or eat.
Tip Throw these in a bag as a snack.
Note Some other flours will work, such as buckwheat, and grain-based flours. But not coconut, as we found out in the comments.
Parmesan Croutons & Crackers
Ingredients (makes about 2 sheets of crackers)
- 1 1/2 cups of grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 1/2 cups of almond flour
- 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
- the leaves from a few fresh sprigs of thyme (or 1/4 teaspoon of dried thyme)
- about 3 tablespoons of cold water to hold the dough together
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Pulse all the ingredients (except for the water) together in a food processor or blender.
- Add the cold water to the dough, a bit at a time, until the mixture is holding together well enough to work into a ball or two.
- Separate into two balls of dough, and place each ball on a Silpat, parchment paper, or other non-stick surface (which you will transfer to a baking sheet). You can roll it all on one sheet, but I find it easy to do it on two sheets. And two sheets bake more evenly.
- Roll each dough ball out until flat and about 1/8 to 1/4 inch in thickness.
- Using a pizza cutter or knife, score the dough into squares, so you have squares that are the size of croutons (the size you like, that is).
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until croutons are browned. The darker, the crunchier.
- Cool and serve with a delicious salad or soup.
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these look beautiful!!
No salad is complete without croutons! At least it’s that way for me! These would look great in a
Caesar Salad! Thanks for sharing!
~Sophia
Ah, these look wonderful! Can’t wait to try them out.
I tried these tonight with coconut flour (because I don’t have any almond flour on-hand) and I’m sad to say, they are a total flop. It took nearly 2 1/2 CUPS of water to make a dough (because of the coconut flour) and I couldn’t get them to roll out – so I pressed them onto a non-stick cookie sheet and scored them with my pizza cutter. I bake them, and they are SO dry. It’s the coconut flour, I’m sure. I’m going to order some almond flour and try them again because they look SO yummy!
Thanks for the great recipes, I’m really enjoying your blog!
Cheers,
Dana
Yikes. Sorry Dana. I haven’t tried them with coconut flour, but you’re right. It’s a different ingredient altogether.
This recipe is safe with most grain-based flours (like wheat) and I know buckwheat will work, but not coconut flour. Thanks for letting us know.
I thought for anyone reading this, they might like to know before they try coconut flour… it’s not a suitable swap.
I’m looking forward to trying these again when my blanched almond flour arrives. Thanks again for so many great recipes, Erica! I’m enjoying trying them out.
It looks absolutely yummy, I am going to make tonight!!!!
These are totally fabulous. My 9 year old said they taste just like the popular name brand of cheese crackers. Thank you so much!
Yay! These look great! Question for you – do you have any idea how long they will safely store at room temp in an airtight container? At least 3 days, perhaps?
(I suspect room temp is better than refrigeration for crackers) I might just make 1/2 the batch as it is just me and I don’t want to feel compelled to eat too many!
Thanks! <3
A few days is what I’ve experienced. Although you have me thinking that they probably should be refrigerated since the cheese is perishable.
I LOVED these! I finally got around to making them.
I have been GF for months now and anything crunchy is treat; however, I would actually go so far as to say that these are the best crackers I’ve ever eaten in my life. I omitted salt (due to the parmesan salt content) added some rosemary, onion powder, and garlic powder.
Just an FYI on freshness: I made half a batch and placed some into individual ziploc baggies and they kept for 3 days in my snack draw without me becoming concerned as to their freshness. I think they could’ve lasted longer, however they were way too delicious to keep around that long! I am going to make a full batch tonight and see if I can make them last up to five days. I think the salt in the parmesan must preserve them, providing they remained sealed in airtight bags.
For those interested, I also did some calculations and (6) of the 1×1 inch crackers roughly equal out to about 200 calories a serving and only around 7 carbs per serving, based upon the nutritional info I found for parmesan and almond flour. I can’t remember the protein, but they are very filling!
These instructions might work with a food processor, but they didn’t work with my blender at ALL. There was no way to pulse because of the density of the almond flour, so the cheese didn’t get mixed in. I dumped it all into a bowl and mixed it by hand, which was really easy, so I’d just skip the blender if that’s all you have available. These crackers are delicious- my whole family loves them!
Yes, you can easily mix the ingredients by hand.
Yes, you can easily mix the ingredients by hand. I guess you’d need a high-speed blender.
These also made into the list of my top 8 favorite healthy snack recipes. You have a gift! I start to salivate even thinking about these
http://expectgreatthings.hubpages.com/hub/Sugar-Free-Grain-Free-Snacks-Even-Your-Children-Will-Eat-Homemade