Homemade Fruit And Nut Crisps

Since becoming more of a "fooditarian," I've stopped buying many processed food items such as cereal, bread, crackers etc. and have opted to make my own (which, honestly, isn't as challenging as you may think). I feel much better about what I'm eating and feeding my family because the food that we're eating is REAL, not to mention that it tastes much better. I had a bunch of nuts, seeds and unsweetened dried fruit leftover from making homemade muesli and trailmix, so I decided to make a fruit and nut bread that could also be made into crisps (raincoast crisp-like crackers). Two recipes in one—can't beat that! This recipe is so quick and easy and the end products are delicious. My recipe was inspired by one that I came across in The Whitewater Cooks With Friends Cookbook "Rosemary Nut Crackers."

Ingredients (Makes one loaf of bread + 1 batch of crackers):

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 tsp baking soda

1.5 tsp salt

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 cups low-fat buttermilk

3/4 cup favorite roasted nuts, chopped or slivered (I chose a combo of pecans pieces and slivered almonds)

1/4 cup unsweetened coconut (you can substitute parmesan cheese and chopped rosemary if you'd prefer more of a savory flavour)

3/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds

1/3 cup sesame seeds

1/3 cup ground flax seeds

1.5 cups favourite dried fruit (I used raisins and dried blueberries)

Instructions:

Combine flours, baking soda and salt in a large bowl and mix well

Add buttermilk, honey, and brown sugar and mix until just incorporated

Add nuts, seeds, ground flaxseed, dried fruit, and coconut and combine well

Pour batter into 2 greased bread pans

Bake at 350 F for about 35 minutes, until golden and springy to touch

Remove from oven and allow both loaves to cool on a cooling rack

Crackers:

Allow one of the loaves to cool longer (the cooler the better— you may want to put into the fridge for a while)
Slice loaf thinly and place slices on an ungreased cookie sheet. Transfer to the oven (which is still at 350 F) and bake for 10 minutes. Flip slices over and bake for another 10 minutes until crispy and golden in color.
Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. Allow crackers to cool completely and then transfer them to a glass jar.