Beet Hummus with Almond Crackers

Has anyone ever caught the parchment paper on fire inside your oven while baking something? This happened to me today while making the paleo almond crackers and it was frightening! I have a gas oven, and sometimes I can hear when it lights up. (I'm assuming that is normal??) This time, I heard a very loud sound, like a poof and then I saw yellow fire through the oven window. Luckily, Chad was around to handle it, and my crackers were still edible!

I've adapted the Creamy Beet and Tahini dip recipe from TheKitchn and the Paleo Herb Crackers from Multiply Delicious.

Beet Hummus

Excuse the wonky picture, I am still learning! I took the picture with my cell phone and it rotated in a weird way when I posted it. The color of this dip is a gorgeous reddish pink. The beets are surprisingly sweet after roasting, and they make an interesting combination with the sesame tahini!

Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients

• 4 medium beets (3/4 pound), washed and skins peeled with a vegetable peeler
• 3 small garlic cloves, quartered
• 1/2 cup sesami tahini
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt (or sour cream)
• 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and
  freshly-ground pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Wrap the beets in foil and place on a baking sheet to avoid any dripping onto the bottom of the oven and roast until tender, about 1 hour. Let cool.

Cut beets into wedges and transfer to a food processor. Add the garlic, tahini, greek yogurt, lemon juice, salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper and process until smooth. Taste and season with additional salt, pepper, or lemon juice if needed.

Serve with paleo almond crackers. Store leftovers in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Almond Crackers

These are beyond awesome. I takes a little work to roll out the dough thin enough, but it's worth it! The crackers are strong enough to dip with and provide a satisfying crunch.

Ingredients

• 2 cups almond flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon of favorite herbs of choice (I used a blend of oregano, thyme, and cayenne)
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 egg white
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon coconut oil

Method

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine all ingredients in a food processor until the batter forms into a dough ball. If it doesn’t, add a little more water or olive oil to the batter and process again. It should be a stiff dough and all dry ingredients are wet and a tad sticky.

Place dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll out to an even thickness of about 1/8 of an inch. Transfer parchment to a baking sheet pan and remove the top piece of parchment. Using a pizza cutter trim off uneven edges of dough, then cut the sheet of dough into cracker size pieces/squares.

Bake for 10 minutes. Turn off oven and let crackers sit inside oven for an additional 10 minutes, until golden.