Krax, by Martin

Open Source Savoury Cheese Crackers

In 2021 or so I started eating more carefully for my health. I had already been vegetarian for a few years for climate reasons, but was still eating a lot of processed foods and carbs. One of my favourite snacks was Arnott's Shapes, a cracker that is widely available in Australia but nowhere else that I was able to find. These are, however, loaded with processed wheat and seed oils ...

So I set out to replicate them at home in a more Keto-friendly way. The following is the result of years of iterative experimentation and I love them WAY more than the old Shapes, or indeed any crackers I have ever found in my supermarket or anywhere else online. They are easy to make, low-carb, and quite healthy, with lots of fibre and protein. They're always popular with family and visitors and I usually make a couple batches every week.

I'm an open source guy, so this recipe is for everyone to make and share. I just ask that, if you write about them anywhere, that you reference this page (dougiamas.com/krax), as they are definitely my original invention.

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups Parmesan cheese, grated (I buy it pre-grated in big 2Kg bags)
• 2.5 cups Almond meal (or almond flour for a smoother texture)
• ½ cup chia seeds (can substitute poppy seeds but definitely try chia)
• ¼ cup mixed other seeds (I suggest light colour ones like quinoa and sesame seeds)
• 1 tablespoon chilli powder (or 2 tablespoons if you like it spicier)
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• Other optional healthy ingredients I sometimes add: sesame flour, quinoa flakes, nutritional yeast

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C.
   
2. Mix all the ingredients together dry:
   • In a large microwave-safe mixing bowl, combine the grated Parmesan, almond meal, chia seeds, mixed seeds, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper.
   • Add the chilli powder according to your spice preference.
   • Stir all the ingredients together until well combined
     
3. Turn it into dough:
   • Microwave the bowl for 3 minutes, the cheese will melt
   • Stir it all up and make it consistent
   • The mixture is probably a touch dry, so while stirring slowly add half a cup of boiling water to help it combine more. You want a nice dough-like consistency.
4. Divide the Dough:
   • Divide the dough into four equal parts.
5. Prepare for Baking:
   • Flatten out each portion of dough between two sheets of baking paper with a roller.
   • Transfer each bottom sheet to a baking tray in the oven.
6. Hot baking:
   • Place all the baking trays in the oven and bake for about 5 minutes.
7. Cut the crackers:
   • Quickly remove the baking trays from the oven and score the dough to form biscuit shapes. I just criss-cross with a pizza cutter, it's super-fast, but you can use a big knife if you're careful.
   • The reason we do this now is to avoid them melting altogether again when it's too soft or causing a mess when they're too hard.
8. Warm baking:
   • Lower the oven temperature to 100°C.
   • Set a timer for two hours.
   • Leave the crackers in the oven to finish. My oven timer will switch off the oven so I basically just go away and leave them be.
9. Cool and serve!
   • Allow the crackers to cool down completely. At this point I sometimes sprinkle them with a little salt or onion powder to give them a little extra zing on the tongue.
   • Enjoy!

This recipe is hard to get wrong - it's very forgiving of different amounts of everything (I usually never measure anything and do it all by eye).

I worked out the macros once for this exact recipe:

Variations:

You can eat the dough raw and it's quite flexible. Try using it to cover blocks of paneer in an air fryer for a deliciously different treat, or as a pie crust.

Most cheeses work (but are not quite as tasty!) Cheddar is pretty good.

You can make low-fat versions by substituting some or all of the parmesan cheese with cottage cheese. Not as tasty or crunchy, but good for dips.