Raw Sun Dried Tomato Crackers with 'Mozzarella'

If you haven’t yet ventured into making raw flax crackers yet then this recipe is a great one to start with. My partner affectionately calls them poo-crackers because they are full of fibre and really get things moving. Ah, boys, just charming.

They are seriously so yummy though – this recipe makes quite an impressive sized batch – but trust me – don’t go halving it. Firstly, although a simple recipe, it can be quite time consuming – soaking and chopping all those herbs, and secondly, they will get demolished quite quickly!

When making raw crackers, you could actually follow my rule of using 4 cups flax to ½ a cup or more of nuts, with a few cups of something to help bind such as vegetable pulp, grated zucchini, or the sun dried tomato I’ve used in this recipe. Add whatever herbs and spices you like and you’re away. The other thing to consider, is that in dehydrating them, the moisture is removed and therefore the flavours get surprisingly more concentrated. So whilst you may think the mixture isn’t quite punchy enough, it’s probably spot on once it’s dried out.

Please don’t skip the maple syrup either – a little sweetness rounds out the salty flavour of the sun dried tomatoes. On that note – I highly recommend sourcing the organic sun dried tomatoes if possible – you should even be able to find these at a regular supermarket – the regular deli tomatoes of course are prepared in oil and have other things added to them. And, if you really have to – you can make these in the oven on low – you may just need to do them in a few batches.

Now – the raw, vegan ‘mozzarella’ cheese! This is incredible! Fist-pump! I remember when I first got into raw cheese making my partner would beg me to make a batch every single week, which I did until it got tiresome and then and I said ‘forget it buddy!’. Aw, I know, I’m mean aren’t I.

[bctt tweet="Ever wondered how to make a raw, vegan 'mozzarella' cheese? Find a recipe here."]

It’s such an easy thing to prepare though, you just need to allow it time to culture. Macadamias usually give the cheese a softer and fluffier texture than cashews do, so it makes a great mozzarella. You just use a little dairy free probiotic powder to start the culturing off, which you can find at most health stores or chemists. If you only have capsules, just open them up and pour them in. I find 24 hours is enough to culture this type of nut cheese, and of course, once you pop it in the fridge, the culturing process is drastically slowed down, so you can store it like this for weeks.

Enjoy, my little raw Italian cheese lovers!

📖Recipe

Raw Sun Dried Tomato Flaxseed Crackers

Naturopath Lauren Glucina

These flaxseed crackers are a staple in my home now, made with golden flax, they are high in fibre and essential fatty acids. This recipe makes a huge batch. Note the active prep time is 20 minutes but this excludes both the soaking time (30 minutes) and dehydrating time (approximately 10 hours).

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Dehydrator time 10 hours hrs

Total Time 10 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Course Snack

Cuisine Raw, Vegan

Servings 100

Calories 27 kcal

Equipment

• Dehydrator

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 4 cups golden flax seeds
• ½ cup pecans
• 2 cups organic sun dried tomatoes
• 4 large cloves of garlic peeled and minced
• 3 tablespoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
• 1 tablespoon Italian herbs
• Pinch or two of cayenne powder more if you like it spicy
• 1 tablespoon 100% pure maple syrup
• ½ teaspoon coarse black pepper
• ½ cup tightly packed fresh basil minced
• ½ cup tightly packed fresh parsley minced

Instructions

 

• In a very large mixing bowl, soak your flax seeds with 6 cups of water for around 30 minutes, or until they have gelled up. Meanwhile, put the pecans in a small bowl, only just cover them with water, and let soak for 30 minutes. Put the sun dried tomatoes in a separate bowl, add 1 cup of warm water, and let soak for the same amount of time.
• Once soaked, add the pecans and sundried tomatoes with their soak water to a blender and whiz till combined. You’ll get a thick paste. Add this to the flax bowl.
• Add all other ingredients to the flax bowl and mix in by hand till well combined.
• Spread the mixture evenly over dehydrator trays lined with the teflex paper (or baking paper). As a rule of thumb: 3 heaped cups of mixture per tray. Aim to spread it evenly – at least .5cm thick (otherwise they will break). You should get three to four trays out of this.
• Dehydrate at 145˚C for 2-3 hours, then remove the trays. Place a new dehydrator tray, with just the mesh sheet and no teflex, over the cracker, then flip them over. Gently peel off the teflex sheet – I found that quite a bit stuck to the sheet –that’s ok, just scrape it off and place it on a new tray so you don’t waste it.
• Dehydrate again at 115˚C for another 6-8 hours or until dry. Once dry, break them up either by hand or using a knife – expect this process to be a little rustic!
• Store in an airtight container.

Notes

• Nutrition panel is an estimate only and is for 1 of 100 crackers. 100 crackers should be equal to about 4 full dehydrator trays.

Nutrition

Calories: 27kcalCarbohydrates: 2gProtein: 1.2gFat: 1.8gFiber: 1.5gSugar: 0.5gCalcium: 10mgIron: 0.4mg

Keyword Flaxseed crackers

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📖Recipe

Raw Macadamia 'Mozzarella'

Naturopath Lauren Glucina

This simple nut cheese needs to culture for 24 hours, but the resulting 'mozzarella' is worth the wait. A lovely dairy alternative. Not active prep time is 10 minutes - it excludes the soaking and culturing time. 

4 from 3 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 10 minutes mins

Course Sides

Cuisine Raw, Vegan

Servings 8

Calories 123 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 cup macadamia nuts soaked in water for five hours
• ¾ cup water
• ½ teaspoon probiotic powder
• 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
• ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Serving suggestion:

• Couple of heirloom tomatoes
• Fresh basil
• Olive oil and balsamic vinegar
• Sea salt

Instructions

 

• Once the macadamias have been soaked, drain the water and give them a little rinse. Add to a blender with ¾ cup of water and blend till smooth. Add the probiotic powder and blitz till just combined.
• Transfer the mixture to a nut milk bag and tie it closed. Hold it over the sink, gently squeezing out any excess liquid.
• Place the nut milk bag in a sieve and rest it over a small bowl. Place a heavy object on top of the nut milk bag such as a large jam jar. This extra weight will help press any remaining liquid out.
• Cover with a tea towel and leave somewhere warm and cosy but out of direct sun – I usually pop mine on top of my dehydrator.
• Leave to culture for 24 hours.
• Transfer to a mixing bowl and stir in the nutritional yeast, salt and lemon juice. Divide the mixture into three equal portions and roll into ‘mozzarella’ balls. From here, you can slice them up as you wish. Keep in the fridge for a week or so.

Nutrition

Calories: 123kcalCarbohydrates: 2.8gProtein: 1.5gFat: 12.75gSaturated Fat: 2gFiber: 1.5gCalcium: 146mgIron: 0.1mg

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