I love croutons. In my opinion, they make any salad, tastier. I just love the crunch and savoriness it adds. I finally came up with a raw vegan version, my raw vegan garlic rosemary croutons. They are crunchy, garlic-y with just the right kick of rosemary. You just can’t go wrong with garlic and rosemary. Simply season the almond pulp left over from making homemade almond milk and dry in the dehydrator or bake in the oven for the non raw version. A great way to use up the left over almond pulp. I came up with this recipe because I wanted to make a good raw vegan caesar salad, and you can’t do a caesar salad without croutons. So as a lead in to next weeks’ raw vegan caesar salad recipe, let’s make some crunchilicous croutons!
To make this recipe, you will need some almond pulp, a clove of garlic, garlic powder, rosemary, nutritional yeast, flax meal, garlic olive oil (I like the one from Trader Joe’s), and salt.
Make your own fresh flax meal by simply blending up the flax seeds in the blender until it becomes fine powder.
Add all the ingredients, except for the flax meal and 1 teaspoon of minced rosemary, into a bowl and mix well.
Add in the freshly made flax meal and…
knead well with your hands until it forms a dough. Time to shape it.
Lay down a parchment paper and spread out the dough into a 1/2″ thick square or rectangle.
Cut the dough into 3/4″ x 3/4″ squares to closely resemble croutons.
If you are using a dehydrator, line a dehydrator tray with a mesh sheet. Lay the croutons down and dry at 115℉(46℃) for about 18 hours until completely dry and crunchy.
If you are using an oven, preheat the oven at 250℉ (175℃). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and lay the croutons down. Bake for about 2 and a half hours. Let them cool completely before storing in an air-tight container.
Would you look at these? Do they not look tasty or what? I have to force myself to stop snacking on them so I don’t eat the entire batch before I use it on salads or soups. These are quite addicting as you will find out soon enough. Enjoy!
- 2 cups almond pulp (left over from making 6 cups of almond milk made with 2 cups of almonds)
- ¼ cup flax meal (made by blending ¼ cup of flaxseeds)
- 1 clove of garlic grated
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 Tablespoons garlic olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoon minced rosemary
- 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Black pepper to taste
- Make the flax meal by blending up the flax seeds in a blender until it becomes a fine powder.
- Add all the ingredients, except for the flax meal and 1 teaspoon of minced rosemary, into a bowl and mix well.
- Add in the flax meal and knead well with your hands until it forms a dough.
- Lay down a parchment paper and spread out the dough into a ½" thick square or rectangle.
- Cut the dough into ¾" x ¾" bite sized squares to closely resemble croutons.
- Line a dehydrator tray with a mesh sheet. Lay the croutons down and dry at 115℉(46℃) for about 18 hours until completely dry and crunchy.
- Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated.
- Preheat the oven at 250℉ (175℃).
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and lay the croutons down. Bake for about 2 and a half hours.
- Let them cool completely. Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated.
[…] macaroons, crackers, cookies… the list goes on! One of my favorite’s is using it in my raw vegan garlic rosemary croutons […]