At the start of the year, I planned to cook a lot more from cookbooks, and I have — Woks of Life, Falastin, Zaitoun and Farm Table were visited frequently, but I have to say, some of the recipes I’ve loved the most this year have been from Instagram. Which has been confusing, given my whole rant about instagram recipe reels on The Tea. Anyway, I’ll do a roundup of some of my favourites?
I saw this recipe for fruit and nut crackers on a reel some weeks ago and was mesmerised. I sent it to mum and she had the same reaction. She messaged back within the hour: “I’ll make it and tell you how it is”. If you know mum at all, you’ll know this is completely out of character. Typically, she replies within 5-30 business days. But hours later, and I still couldn’t stop thinking about the recipe. So I dug out some of the dried fruits and nuts left over from last Ramzan, opened up a packet of mixed fruit meant for Christmas cake and got to work. It is essentially a biscotto that is baked into a cracker form. Like a biscotti, it needs to be baked twice. And requires a freezer rest in between bakes. So what I’ve done is completed the first bake, wrapped it up like a little baby (nativity scene reference, please note), and stashed it away in the freezer. And when I need some hot, hot crackers, I carefully slice up a few pieces from the loaf and bake them. I have found that you have to cut them about 1/2 inch thick. Now, you might become overenthusiastic about your knife skills and want to cut them thinner; I would say resist. For optimal crispness without drying out, the 1/2 inch thickness is key. I’ve been serving it with some gorgonzola that Francesca let us take from her stash and it is perfect. I’d imagine it would be lovely with a nice aged cheddar as well. It is also really nice eaten plain, but tis the season etc etc. You could also melt some chocolate and dip it into that if you want to go the sweet route, but I haven’t tried this yet. I’ve noticed that the recipe in the reel is almost idential to this one One Tin Eats shared a couple of years ago, so do with that information what you will.
Note: Couple of minor tweaks that I’ve made: left out the thyme and rosemary and added in some chilli flakes. I’m including them in the recipe below because I think it would be nice to have that hint of wintery herbs, but know it will be delicious even without. I baked it in one standard loaf pan instead of the two mini loaf pans.
Fruit & Nut Cracker
Barely adapted from Recipe Tin Eats & Crowded Kitchen
Ingredients
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or omit this and add 1 cup all-purpose flour instead)
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped (or 1 tsp dried)
1 tbsp fresh thyme, finely chopped (or 1 tsp dried)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
3/4 cup any dried fruit, chopped (apricots, figs, dates, raisins, cherries, etc)
3/4 cup any nuts or seeds, chopped (pecans, pumpkin seeds, pistachios, walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds etc)
1 tbsp orange or lemon zest
1 cup milk of choice (we used oat milk, but any kind works)
1/4 cup honey
Method
Preheat oven to 350˚F and line 2 mini loaf pans (~5 1/2” x 3 1/4”) with parchment paper.
Add all ingredients except milk & honey to a mixing bowl. Stir until well combined. Stir in the milk and honey.
Divide between the 2 mini pans. Bake for ~25-28 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean.
Let cool to room temperature, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4 hours, or overnight. (You can also leave them frozen for up to 3 months, as long as they are tightly wrapped.)
Preheat oven to 300˚F.
Remove from the freezer & slice into 1/2” thick slices. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 12 minutes, then flip each cracker over. Bake for another 12 minutes, then check for doneness. If they aren’t quite done, flip again and cook for another 3-8 minutes.