Two Ingredient Gluten-free Goldflower (Goldfish) Crackers

Yes, you can have your crackers and be healthy too!

I have been on a mission to find a recipe for gluten-free goldfish crackers for a few months. You see, since March 2016, my husband has been sick. My hubby – who has weighed the same since college, played softball for 30-plus years, worked 10 hours days at his own business only to come home and work out every night without fail – my incredibly healthy and fit husband – could not make it through the day due to extreme exhaustion, pain in his body and a myriad of other serious symptoms. After months of tests, MRIs, thinking it was a brain tumor, anticipating the worst and with no definitive answers, he was referred to a rheumatologist and she (thankfully) has narrowed his illness down to possibly being an autoimmune disease due to extreme inflammation in his body. I say possibly because they still have not come up with a definitive diagnosis. He is currently on test medication that we hope will reduce the inflammation which is a trigger for autoimmune diseases.  I could write a few chapters on what I have discovered about inflammation, but today it’s about one thing: Diet. And I am on a mission to change his diet forever.

We already eat a very healthy, plant-based diet (he still eats meat, I do not). But after researching autoimmune diseases I discovered that preservatives, processed foods (including processed meats) and gluten are major factors that contribute to inflammation. It was easy to eliminate processed lunch meat from his diet: I buy a Turkey breast and roast it myself on Sunday, slice it thin and he is good to go for the week.

My next mountain to climb was making him a healthier version of Goldfish crackers (which, by the by, contain no cheese, so where does that cheesy taste come from? hmmmm….). I am not bad-mouthing Goldfish crackers by any means. They have been a huge part of our family for years, because my husband LOVES them and eats them every day. He claims to be a Goldfish connoisseur and will only buy them at Costco because they “taste better.” Sure, honey 😉

After many weeks of trying to find the right ingredients to make goldfish crackers that were both healthy and tasty, I am happy to report that I have succeeded. There are only two ingredients in these crackers and they taste amazing. Why do I call them “Goldflower” crackers? I bought a very small goldfish cookie mold, and the tails fell off when I would transfer the dough to the baking sheet about 90% of the time.  After baking them they resembled Goldfish Blobs, so I resorted to using my flower cookie cutter with excellent results.

 

 

{Do not use UNBLANCHED Almond Meal Flour. See below for results}

 

{Cookies on the left made with BLANCHED. Icky blob on the right made with UNBLANCHED}

These crackers have a learning curve and here are some handy pointers before you take the plunge:

• The “dough” is not like regular dough. It does not need to be “kneaded” just mashed together with your hands initially to form a ball.

• Make sure you use a light hand when rolling out with the rolling pin and add almond meal flour to your work surface and the top of the dough to prevent it from being sticky.

• Do not under any circumstances use any spray oil on your cookie sheets. The cheese is oily enough and the cookies will not stick. I recommend only baking these crackers on a Silpat.

• Use only Blanched Almond Meal Flour. Most Almond Meal Flour is Blanched, but I managed to find the one bag of Unblanched flour. Unblanched is when the skin is left on the almonds during processing. I show above what happens if you use this. It’s not pretty.

• There is Almond Flour and Almond MEAL Flour.  I used the latter with better results.

{Use a small spatula to transfer cutouts to the baking sheet}

 

Here we go!

 

Two Ingredient Gluten-free Goldflower (Goldfish) Crackers

1/2 cup of Blanched Almond Meal Flour  (different from regular Almond Flour)

 

1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese in block form (pre-shredded cheddar has tons of preservatives)

Add both ingredients to your food processor and pulse until thoroughly broken down. It will look like tiny little beads. Move to a clean counter dusted with Almond Meal Flour and press out with the palms of your hands. Roll out very gently with a rolling pin to about 1/4 inch thickness. Use your cookie cutter (which I start off with by spraying lightly with Pam) and transfer flower shapes to a sheet pan lined with a Silpat. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.

Every oven is different, so start watching your crackers at about the 8 minute mark. When the edges are just brown it is time to remove them. They crisp up as they cool off.

One batch will make approximately 20 crackers. So be prepared to make 2 or 3. Let me know how yours turn out.

As a footnote, my husband is doing better since changing his diet and we start testing again this month and we are very hopeful for good results. He is practically a vegetarian, but don’t tell him that though 🙂

Enjoy!