You may recall that I went crazy for these crackers last year. They’re from Top Seedz, a small company in Buffalo, New York. Many of you told me you bought some and found them as irresistible as I did. Now you can make them. At home. So they’re as fresh as can be. Top Seedz has developed a packaged mix for home bakers, and it really works. I made the crispy shards pictured above.
Why has Top Seedz made it so easy for consumers to recreate its products at home? Proprietor Rebecca Brady might seem to have a screwy business model, but she recently won a million dollars in a small-business competition. One of the judges told her that if she didn’t win, he would invest.
Making the crackers from the mix could hardly be easier. You add olive oil and boiling water, then spread the batter super-thin on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake 30 minutes. Cool, peel off the parchment and pat yourself on the back. You’ve just made crunchy, seedy, gluten-free crackers for snacking or cheese boards.
The package instructions are good but here are a few pointers:
Oven ready: Crackers before baking
The instructions call for rolling out the batter between two sheets of parchment. Instead, I spread the batter with a rubber spatula and dispensed with the top sheet.
Spread the batter as thin as you can or the crackers won’t be properly crisp.
The instructions call for scoring the batter with a knife. I had trouble with this so I just baked the batter as a whole sheet and broke it into crackers later. Brady says that scoring works if you go slow and lift your knife up and down rather than dragging it.
If you want more salt (I did), add it before you bake.
When the crackers are done, slide the sheet of parchment onto a rack to cool. When cool, the crackers lift easily off the parchment.
Store the crackers in an airtight container. If they lose their crispness, reheat them at 325°F until they are hot, then cool on a rack. They’ll crisp right up.
Until January 31, Top Seedz is offering Planet Cheese readers a 20% discount. Enter code TopSeedzPlanetCheese at checkout. If you order six pouches or more, shipping is free.
Garlic Feta Spread
½ pound Greek, French or Israeli feta (not cow’s milk feta)
Approximately ¼ cup plain whole-milk yogurt or Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh mint or ½ teaspoon dried mint
Pinch hot red pepper
Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Use a little less yogurt if you want a spreadable consistency, a little more yogurt if you want a dip. Depending on how moist your feta is, you may need to adjust the amount of yogurt to get the consistency you like. Serve with crackers, pita, radishes, fennel, carrots, beets or other dippers.
Makes about 1 cup
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