Baked Corn Crackers

Categories Snacks, Appetisers, Finger food, Vegetarian

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I am crazy for nachos and the only thing that keeps me from devouring tons of them is the obvious huge fat and salt content. Therefore, when I saw beautiful, nachos-shaped, low-fat and low-salt Polenta Crackers featured on Three-Cookies blog, I could hardly believe my luck. The recipe (available here) proved extremely easy, quick and versatile. Even though I couldn’t call them home-made nachos, the crackers were light, crispy, spicy and highly addictive. Last but not least, they were perfect with Gin Seville and Passion Fruit Daiquiri, my recent discoveries. Thank you, Mr. Three-Cookies, for this foolproof and extraordinary recipe!

TIPS: The below spice mixture as well as spice amounts are approximate. Feel free to experiment with whatever comes to your mind.

The most important step is rolling out the dough as thin as possible. If the crackers are thick, they are hard and not crispy at all.

Preparation: 25 minutes

Ingredients (makes enough crackers for 6-8 people and at least two hours of beer/wine/cocktail drinking):

1 cup (about 130 g) flour

1 cup (about 160 g) cornmeal (or half cornmeal, half semolina; I preferred 100% cornmeal)

about 1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

water

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili
1 tablespoon oil

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Combine the flour, the cornmeal and all the remaining ingredients in a bowl.

Add gradually water (starting with 50 ml) until the dough is created and you are able to form a ball. (Do not add to much water: the dough will get sticky).

On a baking tray roll out the dough as thin as you can (I have lined mine with baking paper, but the dough doesn’t stick anyway).

With a knife or a pizza cutter cut out the shapes you want to obtain (squares were easier than triangles, hence my shape change) and bake until the crackers start being golden (about 10 – 15 minutes).

 

 

 

58 thoughts on “Baked Corn Crackers”

    1. Thank you once more for the wonderful recipe and for being the first to comment 🙂 I am glad you like them. When I made them first time (I have already made them twice) it was half of this batch and I thought it was huge (of course it disappeared quickly). I assume, in normal circumstances, it should be enough for two hours of moderate snacking (but I could finish it in one day alone of course!). I have noticed, when I used only polenta the second time, it was easier to roll out really thinly (less than 1mm thick) so there is more of crackers.

        1. I am sure he will be very proud of these crackers’ long travel to Canada 😉 and certainly happy to see how beautiful yours look.

  3. I’m crazy about nachos too…especially with melted cheese and salsa… these cornmeal crackers are such a fun idea Sissi and they look literally perfect (I find my crackers always turn out rather ‘rustic’ looking – hee.hee – the ultimate euphemism). I love that you can add spices as desired – the cumin and chili sounds yummy. Only trouble is, I’m not sure I would eat any fewer of these delights than the nachos ;). Great recipe Sissi!

    1. My favourite nachos snack is with guacamole 🙂 Thank you for the compliment, Kelly. I have changed the form because my triangles looked very weird… Squares seem to be easier. I think I also have more of these, but I hope they are a bit healthier than the supermarket crackers.

  4. Everytime I see a homemade cracker post, I keep telling myself I must try it!! Baked from scratch crackers is one thing I’ve just not done yet. Yours look so nicely crisp and perfectly baked. I’ll make my own nachos from corn tortillas as I agree, I don’t like all the salt, etc they use.

  5. Reminds on a pasta dough. Maybe it can be rolled into very thin layers with a pasta maker? It is really nice and makes me think about different ingredients: How about sesame seeds and sesame oil, smoked chilli or nigella seeds or oregano and minced dried tomatoes?

    1. Hi Kiki. I don’t think it could be rolled in a pasta maker because it’s a bit crumbly (polenta is crumbly). Sesame seeds and nigella sound terrific! I love both a lot. Thanks for the suggestions! Dried tomatoes would probably add a chewy, second texture, so they sound interesting too.

    1. Thanks a lot, Zsuzsa. They are not really home-made nachos, but the corn taste is very distinctive and they are really light.

      1. Sissi, what caught my attention was the word “light” Food with cornmeal can be heavy sometimes. Cornmeal is one of my staples, but I don’t use it often. Did you make the polenta yourself?

        1. Hi Zsuzsa, “light” because there is only a tiny amount of oil (compared to supermarket nachos) and because cornmeal is lighter than flour in terms of taste and also kcal. Some people might have problems with corn digestion, but it’s always treated as a lighter flour alternative (for example corn flour instead of wheat flour in pastry cream, pancake etc.). The crackers also felt very light when eaten (they would be heavier if made with 100% wheat flour).
          Many bloggers put “polenta” instead of “cornmeal”, so I did the same… thank you for your remark. I have just put cornmeal everywhere. This way it’s correct I hope.

        2. I have also compared these crackers to my last crackers, puff pastry ones, which were definitely not light 😉

          1. If the crackers “felt very light when eaten” – then my impression of the photo was correct. Less fat and calories are always good, but it was the light consistency, that caught my eye. I definitely have to try them now. You put on such cool things Sissi!

            1. Thank you so much, Zsuzsa! I hope they would feel very light for you too (but the dough has to be rolled out really thin, almost like paper).

  10. I love nachos so much! They’re always my guilty pleasure when I go out with friends for drinks… These look so so good! Just through in some chili sauce and I’ll be one very happy person 🙂

  11. Sissi, it’s amazing you make your own crunchy snacks! I’ve never thought about doing so, but can certainly see why one would choose to do so! Questions about Polenta, are they in powder form? I’ve seen them in the refrigerated section of our local market, but not really familiar with this ingredient…

    1. Hi Jeno – Polenta is often sold in blocks of “ready made” format, but all that is is the grain/flour stuff mixed with, I guess water. You can usually buy the grain/flour stuff as the powder… I would imagine your local whole-foods or healthfood store should have it! 🙂

    2. Thank you so much, Jeno. It wasn’t really difficult. I have noticed some people call polenta what is really simply cornmeal. I’m sure cornmeal is available in the US. It’s like semolina, but made from corn. And it’s sold beside flours, grains etc. I suppose.

  12. Whoa, first those incredible looking puff-pastry snacks and now these Sissi? I’m the same as Jeno – I never really even thought about trying to make my own snacks like these because I’ve just associated such things with “bought stuff” for so long. “Having people over? Ok, make the meal, don’t forget to grab a back of crunchy things and some drinks.” – Thanks for opening my eyes. I’ll definitely have to give these a try… and the good thing is, I’ve seen polenta for sale here too, so I know I can get it 🙂

    1. Thank you so much, Charles. I hope you try these one day. They are really easy and delicious, but of course not a copy of nachos.

  14. Homemade crackers? They sure look awesome, like how you spicy it out. I still yet have to try to bake crackers…
    Have a great week ahead Sissi 🙂

  15. These looks pretty tasty — but what I like even more is the fact that they sound easy to make. For a long time I never knew what to make for appetizers, but now I have a couple recipes waiting in the wings to try. I’m definitely going to make these when my crazy work period wraps up (in about two weeks!!!!)

    1. Thanks, Barb. They are very easy. The only tricky part is rolling the dough out as thinly as possible (almost paper thin). Otherwise they become hard. Good luck with your work!

  19. I actually prefer potato crisps than nachos, but I have to admit that I love Doritos, especially the ones with cheese flavour…yummmmm…;)!!! These crackers look very pretty and sound quite light too, you should one day feature another cracker recipe with cheese flavour, I’m sure I’d difrecly go to the nearest supermarket to find all the ingredients…;).

  20. I love foolproof recipes! I made my first crackers a couple of months ago and loved them! Since then I’ve been looking for great little jewels like this. Thanks!

  21. Haha! From what I read from you and Mr Three cookies, this sounds pretty addicting! I mean to make home made crackers for the kids and maybe make with them…. But it’s been so long I haven’t done. I need to make some time pretty soon or else the kids will get too old to make with me haha. Lovely recipe Sissi and Mr Three Cookies!

    1. Thank you, Nami. Oh, yes, these are highly addictive! It would be very convenient to prepare with children I think. Even the rolling part is easy.

  23. Perfect. I’m always on the lookout for low-fat snacks.
    And I love the description ” makes enough crackers for 6-8 people and at least two hours of beer/wine/cocktail drinking”

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