These Cranberry Hazelnut Crackers are loaded with dried cranberries, hazelnuts, and seeds. Great eaten on their own, but even better with cheese!
Another year and another Christmas has come and gone. Hopefully, you had a great Christmas. I did.
With us living in the US for so many years, I haven't spent Christmas with my family in a very long time. Even though this was our 4th Christmas since being back in Canada, the pandemic and family illnesses got in the way of getting together for the past 3 years.
Not this year though. We had both mine and Mr. Dreamboat's families over for Christmas dinner. It was a full house and a great day.
With all the hubbub that is Christmas, it's easy to forget that another major holiday is just around the corner. Not that I celebrate New Year's very much (or very wildly) anymore.
For me, New Year's Eve is all about the snacks. I often make a series of hot and cold appetizers, and things like charcuterie boards to snack on throughout the evening, without really making much of a main course.
These Cranberry Hazelnut Crackers would fit in perfectly with any sort of snack board that you might have.
These crisp and flavorful crackers are based on some of my favorite store-bought crackers. These artisanal crackers are delicious, and made by a Canadian company, but they can be hard to find, and are expensive.
So imagine my excitement when I found a recipe for a cracker that looked very similar to them in one of my favorite cookbooks. I made them ASAP. I changed the recipe a little bit to make them more like my favorite flavor of these crackers. The result was excellent!
How to Make Cranberry Hazelnut Crackers:
Before I needed affordable and high-quality access to my favorite addictive crackers, I never would have considered making crackers from scratch. I mean, who does that, right?
But it's hardly any more difficult than making muffins. You just mix up the batter as if you were making muffins, then pour it into a loaf pan and bake. Where things get a little different is in the second baking stage.
The most difficult part is cutting the loaves up super thin. For this, you will want a sharp, good-quality bread knife. Then the slices get baked again, which is when they turn into crackers.
Cranberry Hazelnut Crackers Ingredients:
- Whole wheat flour
- Baking soda
- Salt or consider using MSG-salt for more savory flavor
- Buttermilk: or use kefir, plain yogurt, plain Greek yogurt mixed with milk (half of each usually works well), or dried buttermilk powder
- Brown sugar
- Honey
- Dried cranberries see note
- Hazelnuts
- Roasted pumpkin seeds
- Sesame seeds
- Flaxseed: the flaxseed will need to be ground, but unless you're using it very often, I recommend buying it whole and grinding it as needed (a coffee grinder is great for this) as ground flaxseed has a very short shelf life.
- Shredded Parmesan cheese
- Fresh rosemary (or you can use dried rosemary in a pinch)
Cranberry Hazelnut Crackers Variations:
One of the really great things about these delicious crackers is that you can switch out some of the ingredients to suit your tastes, or to suit what you happen to have in your pantry.
The easiest ingredients to swap out are:
Dried Cranberries: consider using dried cherries, dried blueberries, raisins, chopped figs, or chopped dried apricots instead.
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds: Consider replacing them with sunflower seeds or hemp seeds.
Sesame Seeds: Try using sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, or chia seeds.
Hazelnuts: Try using macadamia nuts, pecans, almonds, or cashews.
Although I really like snacking on these crackers just plain, I highly recommend serving them with cheese. They're especially good with soft cheeses to balance their very crunchy texture. Plain or herbed goat cheese is my favorite.
Consider adding them to your New Year's Eve cheese platter - but make sure to hide some away for yourself too. They will be gone fast!
Want more party snack recipes?
Cranberry Hazelnut Crackers Nutrition Notes:
The nutrition information in the recipe below is for one cracker if you cut the recipe into 60 crackers. If you cut the crackers thicker, the recipe will make fewer crackers, and the nutrition information for each cracker will vary accordingly.
The nutrition information uses the ingredients listed in the recipe. If you switch any of the dried fruits or nuts and seeds in the recipe, the nutrition information may vary slightly.
Cranberry Hazelnut Crackers
Equipment
- Coffee Grinder to grind flaxseed
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups buttermilk or use plain kefir, plain yogurt, plain Greek yogurt and milk, or dried buttermilk powder
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 cup dried cranberries see note
- ¾ cup whole hazelnuts see note
- ½ cup roasted pumpkin seeds (or replace with sunflower seeds)
- ¼ cup sesame seeds
- ¼ cup flaxseed ground
- 2 Tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
- 2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary If you don't have any fresh rosemary, use ¾ teaspoon of dried rosemary instead
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease two 8.5x4.5" or 8x4" loaf pans with cooking oil.
- Stir together 2 cups whole wheat flour, 2 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. In a small bowl or large measuring cup, stir together 2 cups buttermilk, ¼ cup brown sugar, and ¼ cup honey together. Stir the buttermilk mixture into flour mixture until just combined.
- Add 1 cup dried cranberries, ¾ cup whole hazelnuts, ½ cup roasted pumpkin seeds, ¼ cup sesame seeds, ¼ cup flaxseed (ground), 2 Tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese, and 2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary and stir until just incorporated.
- Pour batter into prepared loaf pans. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool slightly in pans, about 5 minutes.
- Remove loaves from pans and allow to cool completely on a wire rack, several hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Slice loaves very thinly (about ⅛" or 3mm) using a sharp, serrated knife. Spread slices in a single layer on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, then flip and bake until almost completely crisp (crackers will continue to dry and crisp while cooling). Cool on a wire rack then store in an airtight container or bag.
Notes
Nutrition
*Recipe adapted from Whitewater Cooks at Home
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