While people in most parts of the northern hemisphere are waiting for the winter to end, here in Dubai the end of winter means unbearable heat and the end of many activities. My pretty successful running season is almost over. I ran my first ever marathon, and did amazing PBs over the 10k and half marathon distance. Now there is only a couple of 10k races left. By April, outdoor activities will be only bearable if spent in the swimming pool. Life will be over and we will go into some sort of summer hibernation.

Is that the reason why I struggle to write introductory posts for my recipes? Have I exhausted myself over winter? Am I emptied out? I really don’t know.

Fact is, nothing comes to my mind that would be worth writing or entertaining enough to introduce these gluten free crackers to you in a blog post. This is not a temporary thing: I’ve been trying to think something up for several days. To no avail. Although I have never considered myself a writer, this might be a writer’s blog block. Haha, nice typo…..
There is no fool-proof way to create a great or at least decent blog post. Most often I just write something off the cuff and connect post and recipe more or less elegantly. This time I am at a total loss. Sesame……. no associations. I can only think of “Open Sesame” and the story of Ali Baba and the forty thieves. A lesson in Arabic story-telling, reconnecting to gluten-free crackers? Sorry guys, that goes beyond my limits. Almonds….almonds……almonds……. Marc Almond! Remember him from the 80s band Soft Cell? It’s getting hopeless. Crackers….crackers…..nope, nothing happening. Rosemary……. I wish that stuff would grow in my garden like basil and mint does. Instead all rosemary seeds in my garden unanimously decide to not even pop up……
Perhaps I just blame David Lebovitz and his post about proper blog posting: no exclamation marks, leaving out the stuff that no-one reads, checking the times that people spend on my website and then deciding how much of my post they might have read. According to my statistics, people spend an average of 1min 43sec on my site. In that time they look at little less than two and a half pages. Is that enough time to read through a post, or even two? You tell me, if you got to read this until here. Now here comes the recipe, without any introduction. I warned you.
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SESAME ALMOND CRACKERS WITH ROSEMARY 
2 cups almond meal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sesame seeds
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 egg white
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
Yields 18-20

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Preheat oven to 175C/350F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine almond meal, salt, sesame seeds and rosemary. Stir until well mixed. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk the egg white. Stir in water and oils.
Combine wet and dry ingredients and stir until mixture holds together. Between two sheets of parchment paper, roll out the dough to 1/8inch (1/4 cm) thickness. With a cookie cutter, cut crackers into desired shape and place onto prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden. Let cool completely before storing in airtight container.

8 Comments

  1. I love your recipes and intros! 🙂 The crackers look so good and so pretty with the white and black sesame seeds.

  3. people average 1:35 on my site…so even less than yours! But hey I got to the end of yurs in about a minute and a half! good stuff anja and thanks again for the contacts! too scared to get in touch with anyone yet!

  4. Anya, for an ‘uninspired’ post, I think you’ve done brilliantly. I’ve been trying to go gluten-free and these look great. I’m going to try them tonight. And how nice to know there are still a few lovers of Marc Almond out there!

  6. I do, I love your blog. I mostly enjoy your recipes. They are all very unique, healthy and I love the ingredients in every one. I don’t think most people spend more than a minute or two on any site. Period. people are impatient and busy. I know I am, there I said it. 😉 I started reading this post this mornning then got side tracked like 7 times and am just finishing it now. So I probly just bumped up your average reading time to 12 minutes. 😉

  7. Well, I’ve read about four of your recipes, and four of your introductions, about six minutes after discovering you via Google. So I’m guessing that your readership is comprised 100% of people like me – fast readers looking for tasty recipes. 🙂

  8. Just discovered your blog and spending here quite some time so hope that your average will go up:) Thanks for all beautiful recipes which are easy to make and dont consist of 20ingredients:)

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