Seed Crunchies
Posted: June 18, 2014 Filed under: Biscuits, Budget, Desserts | Tags: egg-white, gluten free, meringue, nuts, paleo, seeds, snack 1 Comment
Wotchers!
I’m on a bit of a using-up-egg-whites roll at the moment, having made a lot of egg-yolk-heavy recipes recently, and so here is a variation on meringue that is ideal for lunchboxes, mid-morning snack or afternoon energy boost.
They’re gluten-free and, although they contain sugar, the amount-per-biscuit is really quite low (about 5g), so they can also sneak in as a Paleo treat.
They’re packed with nuts and seeds for all those beneficial vitamins and minerals. You can also choose to make them even more substantial by replacing the flaked almonds with some toasted oats (steel-rolled for preference – less dust, more crunch!) if you like. Don’t feel obliged to stick rigidly to the ingredients below, just make up the overall weight with your own mix of nutty goodness: sesame seeds, poppy seeds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, etc.
Short and sweet (and crunchy!) this week. 😀
Seed Crunchies
70g egg-white (2 large)
pinch of salt
70g caster sugar (or the same weight as the egg-whites)
60g flaked almonds
50g sunflower seeds
50g pumpkin seeds
30g pecans – chopped
20g flax seeds
- Preheat the oven to 100°C, 80°C Fan – although no-fan is preferable if you want to keep the biscuits pearly-white.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the salt to the egg-whites.
- Whisk the egg-whites on medium speed until frothy, then gradually whisk in the caster sugar, a spoonful at a time (to allow it time to dissolve before the next spoonful). You can test whether the sugar has dissolved by rubbing a little of the egg-white between finger and thumb – you shouldn’t feel any graininess.
- Increase the speed of whisking as you add the sugar until full speed by the time the last of the sugar is added.
- Continue whisking until the sugar is fully dissolved and the meringue is thick and glossy.
- Fold in the nuts and seeds.
- Drop the mixture onto the baking sheets in whatever size you desire, but bear in mind, the larger the diameter, the longer it will take to dry out. I used a heaped tablespoon and a small round cutter to give the biscuits an even and consistent shape.
- Dry the biscuits slowly in the oven for 1-1.5 hours.
- Allow to cool completely before removing from the paper. Use a thin spatula in case the middle is still a little sticky.
- Store in an airtight container.
Time To Cook - Online 
I regularly have an glut of leftover eggwhites so have been meaning to bake this recipe for some time and finally did. My only regret is that I didn’t get round to it before now.
These crunchies are not too sweet, have interesting textures, and are a delightful crunch. This recipe works well as an unusual nibble with drinks as well as an way to have a sweet bite without busting through a daily ‘added sugars’ limit. Next time, I’ll swap out the pecans for hazelnuts and in my 3rd planned batch, I’ll see if there’s anything interesting to be gained from dusting some of the meringues with a cheese powder (tho’ this would ruin their colour so I’m undecided about this).
I initially misread the directions and made up a tray that were teaspoon sized rather than tablespoon sized before I realised my error: the mini size are, however, delightful just rather a lot of work and they call for a lot of baking sheets.
I ran out of greaseproof paper so put some of these on one of those reusable liners – and the ones on the liner stuck considerably more than the paper, so that’s a lesson learned for next time. (I turned them upside down after peeling them off and stuck them in my dehydrator for a while during which they finished drying properly but it would have been easier if they’d dried properly in the oven on the paper.)
I have been delighted with all of your recipes that I’ve baked to date – both from the blog and your excellent book 🙂 – so, thank you for that.