Vegan cheese cracker

Well, though I have named this cracker, it tastes more like the Monaco, without the oil, milk solids and preservatives!

Recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup roasted peanuts
1 cup dry coconut powder
1 to 2 cups of wholewheat flour
1 small onion, finely sliced (can use onion powder if available)
1 tsp rock salt (or as per taste)
1 tbp black pepper
1/2 tsp yeast slightly heated to make inactive. ( Can use nutritional yeast instead.)
1/2 tsp cane syrup or date syrup (optional)

Procedure:

1.  In a mixie jar, grind together the peanuts and the sliced onion.  Add water as needed to make smooth paste.  Then add the yeast.

 2. Slightly grind the pepper pods.

 Measure the dry coconut powder and keep it ready.

3.  Add the pepper, salt, and coconut to the earlier mix.

4.  Grind all of them together.  Then add in the flour to make a soft dough.  Beat it well.

Then make small balls and roll out the dough.

 5.  Use a fancy cutter to cut out beautiful shapes.  I have used a playdough cutter which we had lying around!

 Makes beautiful flowery shapes.

6.  Preheat the oven at 250 degrees for 15 minutes.
Place the flowers on a baking tray.  I do not use aluminum sheets.  These have enough oil from the peanuts and coconut to prevent sticking.  But if your dough is too sticky you may dust the tray with flour or peanut powder, or sesame seeds before placing the crackers in.

7.  Bake the crackers for 15 minutes or till slightly brown.

The crackers have a cute center formed due to raising while baking!  Didnt see that coming!
What a pleasant surprise!

And the remaining dough I made into a few rectangles.

Such a beautiful looking treat!

Okay, now I am just going overboard with the snaps and my admiration.  Hahaha.

Makes an excellent school snack, or after school snack.
Stays for a week or more.
Have used all organic ingredients, and not a drop of oil.

Excellent taste, and healthy as well! What else do we want!

Variations:
Those allergic to peanuts, may use two cups of dry coconut and skip the peanuts.
Those not wanting to use onions can skip that, or can try ginger or grated carrot instead. Havent tried that. If you do, let me now how that turned out.
Can flavor with ajwain (carom seeds) as well.  I love that flavor too, will try this next time!

The vegan cheese spread

Cheese.
That addiction that stops us from giving up dairy products.
What if there was a healthy and more compassionate alternative?

My internet exploration brought me the vegan cheese spread, made of cashew.

Recipe:
1 cup cashew nuts
salt to taste
spices of your choice, if required.

Process:

Soak the cashew nuts in water for four hours.
Drain the water and adding just about enough water, grind it to a smooth paste.
Add in the salt (and the spices if required)  In this spread I have added basil leaves and a pinch of red chilli.
Pour it in a glass jar with a loose covering, with enough space on top.  It tends to raise.
Store  in a cool dark place for around 48 hours.

There, our cheese spread is ready!

To make for more solid cheese, use less water.  Just make sure that the grinding process does not overheat the cashews.  Once the oil starts separating, the cheese does not form properly.

Banana cinnamon cookie

Recipe:

2 ripe bananas(kinda over ripe)
1/2 cup cashew nuts
1 cup sattu atta
1/2 cup desiccated coconut powder
A spoonful of powdered groundnuts for dusting.
1 tsp cinnamon powder
A pinch of salt if required.
 
Grind the cashew (May use cashew butter instead--1/2 cup)
Add banana.  Mash it in.
Then add the rest of ingredients to make cookie dough.  Add a bit of water or nut milk if necessary to get consistency right.

Preheat oven at 250 degree
Dust the baking tray with powdered groundnuts.
Scoop the batter/dough with spoon or hand to make a coarse cookie shape on to the tray
I pressed in a small piece of dried pineapple on each cookie, just for fun.
Bake for 15 min.

Can add date paste, if the kids want it sweeter or the banana is not ripe enough.
 This cookie stays fresh for about a week, if refrigerated may stay longer.  
But they generally have a tendency to disappear within 24 hours!!!

Sattu atta used is from 24 letter mantra.  It is a flour made of roasted black gram and is a good source of protein.  This makes this recipe organic, gluten free and vegan.