Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?
Because it’s there.
- George Mallory to a New York Times reporter, 1923
Why did I want recreate a former teenage favorite – Austin Cheese Crackers with Peanut Butter? Because my dehydrator was there. I once had a raging one-pack-a-day addiction. My mother enabled my habit by including the pocket-sized packets in care boxes she mailed to my college dorm. When those supplies ran out, I’d scrounge for quarters for the vending machine or save up so I could buy bulk packages to satisfy my ceaseless craving for the salty, nutty, eerily bright orange snack cracker filled with something that resembled peanut butter.
My object of my addiction.
I kicked the habit long before I gave up cheese and animal products. Went cold turkey. There was just something about that orange color that nagged at me. But I never forgot the thrill I got tearing open a package and devouring all six, perfectly square peanut butter sandwiches (probably washed down with an icy, cold Coke – another habit I kicked long ago).
The dehydrator was there. I was there. So I made raw cheez crackers with almond butter.
One year ago today: Orange Poppyseed Waffles with Blueberry Sauce
(Raw) Cheez Crackers with Peanut Butter
Makes ~60 individual crackers or ~30 sandwiches
1 cup flaxseed meal
1/4 cup raw coconut flour
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
2 medium-sized carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
1 apple, cored and cut into chunks
1 1/2 cups almonds, soaked for 8-10 hours, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup water
1 tsp. white miso
1 tbsp. maple syrup
In a large bowl, combine the flaxseed meal, coconut flour and the nutritional yeast. Set aside.
In a food processor, grind the almonds into a crumbly meal – don’t over process, otherwise you’ll have almond butter. Not a bad thing, but not what you’re looking for here. Empty the almond meal into the bowl w/ the flaxseed mixture. Process the carrots and apple until you have a nice mash. Scrape the mixture into the big bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients and stir until thoroughly mixed. The mixture should be moist but hold together when pressed.
Divide the mixture in two and spread one half on a dehydrator tray that has been covered with a non-stick drying sheet. You’ll just about be able to cover the full sheet. To get an even surface, I cover the dough with another non-stick sheet and gently roll with a rolling pin. Carefully lift off the non-stick sheet. Once the dough has been rolled out, gently score the surface into squares.
Place the trays in the middle of the dehydrator and set the temperature to 145F. Dehydrate for 30 minutes, then reduce the heat to 115F and dehydrate for an additional 6-8 hours or until the cracker are very crispy all the way through. About halfway through the process, I carefully transfer the dough to a dehydrator screen.
I have not tried this recipe using an oven – but give it a go, if you are adventuresome. Spread the dough on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Set the oven to its lowest temperature, leave the door open a bit and bake until crispy.
Oh my goodness! These look too good – and those original snacks…the type of food I could only dream my mother would give me. Truthfully never had a cheese cracker with peanut butter but it’s safe to say I’m craving one now! Yummy! I’m tempted to try these in my oven since my dehydrators are long gone
I want at least ONE back!
It seems like a weird combo, right? But it worked! Probably today I’d find them unpalatable, but boy, did I love those things!
Very interesting recipe. Maybe a little tumeric would make it more yellow (though the crackers look wonderfully colorful as is)!
Good idea, Patty – didn’t think about that!
I’ve never seen the commercial ones but yours look much better. Do you have anything other than peanut butter on them? They look as if they might be nice crumbled onto a bowl of thick pureed soup.
Oooh, that’s a great idea, Lorna! Nope, just have almond butter on there – though later I added a thin slice of apple and that worked pretty well, too.
Oh yum! We were going to make flaxseed crackers this weekend but I’m going to try your recipe instead. Thanks.
Hey Ally – Patty (in a comment above) suggested adding a bit of turmeric to boost the color. Let me know if you try them!
Thanks. I thought Patty’s suggestion was a good one. I’ll do that. I’m going to make them on Sunday. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Those commercial crackers look… well… scary!
But your home-made snacks look delish. Shame that nutritional yeast just kills me.I might have to have a play around and see what I can come up with as a substitute.
Great recipe!
xx
Hehe, yeah, I agree. These days I wouldn’t touch those crackers with a ten foot pole! I’ll bet you could leave out the nutritional yeast. Maybe just add an additional carrot or apple. You’ll just get a sweeter cracker which ain’t a bad thing at all!
I would never believe this was raw my friend, it looks too good
Cheers
CCU
I know – raw means soft and cool to me somehow – but these are very crisp and dry (and warm if you eat them right out of the dehydrator).
Looks like a perfect snack. So miss those little cracker packs. When I lived in NC all the locals called them “nabs”. Nabs and a Pepsi was all you needed in the summer heat.
It took me a minute – but “nabs: must mean Nabisco??
Guess so. It always sounded much more clever with the strong southern accent. ‘git me some Nabs’
Yeah, doesn’t sound so great with my nasal Cleveland accent…
I am VERY excited to give these a go. I am a cracker lover and I have a “proof” setting on the oven. I think that means I’m good to go! Thanks so much for sharing!
I love crackers (and chips, darn it!), too – but avoid buying them. I’ve been making raw tortilla chips and they’re fantastic and I don’t feel guilty about eating them.
I used to be addicted to these too! I love your rendition! Would you believe there’s a cheese cracker in my line up soon? My kids have missed goldfish crackers incredibly! xx
Oooh, I can’t wait! That’s another cracker I could not get enough of – Goldfish. I could eat one of those cute little bags in a sitting.
I’m still trying to perfect them. They’re good, but not as flaky as I hoped, probably because I made them without oil….
Yeah…that’s tough to do. Haven’t figured that one out myself.
Ah well. Not sure if I’ll keep tackling it, it’s supposed to go up tomorrow (how’s that for single white female) chow down…crackers…. haha!
Loving these..Your my hero.
Hehe, thanks!
Those Austin crackers? Gack…we went through tons of them in my teens as well. An unnatural shade or orange
A color unknown in the natural world…
I love it when one of my food heroes gets some piece of kitchen equipment that I underutilise because suddenly the possibilities are endless! I have used my dehydrator for dehydrating fruit, for drying out dog treats (my usual use) and for making lurid and strange fruit leathers for my children out of yoghurt and fruit purees. They look fantastic and you can use non dairy yoghurt with streaks of fruit puree through it but my children are in their 20′s and don’t eat much fruit leather these days so the dogs get the greatest use of my excalibur HOWEVER now that Annie is on the case, I might just get some good use out of it! Cheers Annie, as usual you make raw food fun
(Picturing myself in a flowing cape, hands on hips – ready to conquer the world) I haven’t tried the fruit leathers yet. Stuck on crackers at the moment. And tortilla chips. Cannot get past the tortilla chips.
I need a recipe for the tortilla chips! Please please PLEASE Annie (superhero in cape at the ready)
Cheers Annie, looking forward to it
Have a great time “on the road” 
Here you go, Fran!! This is slightly modified from Matthew Kenney’s book, Everyday Raw.
1 3/4 cup flaxseed meal
2 cups frozen corn, thawed
2 medium-sized yellow squash (if you don’t have yellow squash use 4 cups total frozen corn)
1 1/3 cups water
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. cumin
3/4 small red or white onion
1 clove garlic
pinch salt
1 tbsp. lime juice
2 tsp. chili powder
Place flaxseed meal, cumin and chili powder in a large bowl. Blend all remaining ingredients in a food processor and process until nice and smooth. Pour mixture into flaxseed mixture and stir, stir, stir until blended. Spread mixture over an entire dehydrator sheet to about 1/8″ thickness (mine all fit on one tray – but divide if necessary), lightly score into desired shapes and place in dehydrator. Dehydrate at 115F for a few hours, then carefully flip tray and remove sheet. Return tray to dehydrator and dry for 12-24 hours.
Cheers for that Annie
. I am going to mess about with some of my home grown corn from our recent harvest. We didn’t get much but it should taste good in these. I might also change out that chilli powder because you guys use something different to what we do for “chilli powder”. I tried one of Somers soups and almost killed myself because we use 100% cayenne pepper powder for “chilli powder” and she said that your chilli powder is sort of a combination for making chilli’s and is a whole lot milder. I might also add some nutritiona yeast to make them a bit cheezy and some pureed capsicum to give that added bite to the cheeziness 
. Can’t wait to see how these babies turn out 
Oh for sure – chili powder is a much different beast than cayenne! And I forgot to mention that apparently frozen (thawed) corn works better than fresh in this recipe. And nutritional yeast is a great addition! Let me know how it turns out!
I could always freeze my corn first
I certainly will let you know. Might even put some carrot pulp in to give a bit of that cheezy goodness colour 
I used to LOVE those Austin crackers. All of them really, especially the double cheesey ones. I am impressed with these dehydrator crackers!! They look amazing, and man would I have a hard time stopping after 6!
I hear ya. I always wished there were at least 6 more crackers in that pack.
They were Lance crackers where I grew up, but I ate them before every after school play rehearsal in junior high. I’ll try this in the oven for you. But what is coconut flour? Can I just grind some unsweetened coconut in my food processor?
Ahhh, Lance! I remember that brand name as well. Let me know how it goes in the oven and I’ll update the post (fingers crossed…). Oh – let’s see – coconut flour. I snagged this from another blog: “It is made from the fiber leftover from making coconut milk, which is then ground to a powder. At this point, it doesn’t have much oil left, so can’t provide the health benefits that you would get from coconut oil.” I buy from Bob’s Red Mill, FYI.
Inspired! Although I wasn’t missing the original, I’m sure I’d love these.
You didn’t miss out on anything, trust me!
Oh ho! A fellow alien-orange-cracker-p.b.-sandwich-former-addict. Yes, those and diet Dr. Pepper (agh!) got me through some late nights with textbooks. I’ll let Little Sis try in her oven and then will have to have a go myself….. although I’d LOVE a dehydrator. Thanks for tackling this one!
Glad to know there are kindred spirits out there!
YUM! Those look fantastical. I have been wanting to find an alternative to boxed crackers. Do you think you could do these in the oven at a low temp for a shorter time, if you weren’t trying to keep it raw?
I think that would work and it looks as if a couple of people are going to try that method. I’ll update my blog once I hear back from them.
I must be weird because I have always thought the peanut butter filled cheese crackers sound gross. Even as a kid. Cheese and peanut butter? Together? Hmmm. It must be good, though, because everyone else seems to love it! I am glad you were able to recreate a healthier version of it
Courtney
You had much better taste than I
– you’re right, though. The idea of cheese and peanut butter together. Ugh! One would never add a slice of cheddar cheese to a PB sandwich. Somehow it worked w/ these crackers. Maybe it’s because there wasn’t a huge cheese flavor.
Innovative and delicious as always! Pass me a few, will you? (And that package took me RIGHT back to my university days!)
Hehe – so a bunch of us were guilty
!
Er, um…..yeah maybe!
Ahhhh… I used to eat those too. I’m pretty sure my mom considered those among the “healthy” snack options for us kids
I know, right? My mom probably thought the same thing.
So gorgeous Annie!! You just convinced me – I just have to own a dehydrator! This looks too good
Happy weekend!
thats a lot of dehydrator porn.. those crackers look amazing..
and thank god i never got hooked on to coke.. hubbs however is still working on kicking that habit.. if i can just find a coke is cruel to animals video somewhere.
You just came up w/ the name of my next Pinterest board!
I hope you can get your husband off of the Coke – it really is awful stuff.
Recently saw coconut flour in a local shop so I will get some and try these.
Bridget x.
Hi Bridget! Let me know if you do!
Fun post! It’s such good fodder to use old junk food cravings as the jumping off point for newer, healthier re-imaginings! My college equivalent was Pepsi and Twinkies. I called that breakfast!
We’ve come a long way, huh
?
Definitely!
Wow, those crackers look amazing! I’ve never thought of making anything but baked crackers but your dehydrated ones actually look so crispy. I’ll definitely give them a go, especially since I’ve recently invested in a huge jar of coconut oil! Thanks for your recipe!
There is something so weird and yet so wonderful about that flavour combination! I love the look of these, I’m definitely going to try them!
I want these, right now. I’m sure Misty would dig these too – he’s a cracker fan from waaaaay back
I need Misty to be my product taster
!