064 / 75 · Smaller Meals and Sweet Finishes

Roasted Red Pepper White Bean Dip with Seeded Crackers

About 3 cups dip and one cracker sheet; divide both into 4 equal portions · Active 25 min · Cook 25 min · Total 1 hr

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Roasted peppers make white bean dip a warm terracotta color, while homemade seed crackers give it something crisp and substantial to scoop with. This is a smaller meal or a generous snack, with the crackers included in the ingredients and nutrition estimate. The dip is blended while the cracker sheet bakes, so the oven does most of the waiting. Keep the two components apart until you are ready to eat.

Jump to ingredients

Roasted red pepper and white bean dip with thin homemade crackers containing three kinds of seeds.

Roll one thin sheet

The cracker dough is full of seeds, so a rolling pin works best when the dough sits between two pieces of parchment. Aim for an even one-eighth inch, or 3 mm, rather than an exact decorative outline. Thick islands remain chewy after thin corners have browned. If an edge gets away from you, fold it inward and roll again. Scoring the dough before baking makes it easier to divide later, but a few irregular pieces are welcome in a dish intended for scooping.

Water belongs in the dough, not the dip

Drain the peppers and beans thoroughly before weighing them. The peppers contribute enough moisture for a soft spread once blended with oil and lemon juice. Start the processor with beans and peppers, then stop to scrape the sides so garlic does not remain in one concentrated patch. The finished dip should hold a shallow ridge when a spoon is drawn through it. It will be softer while freshly blended and a little firmer after refrigeration; neither state needs a thickener.

Let a snack be itself

Bean dip is useful in a lifter’s kitchen without turning every serving into a protein claim. Here the interest is flavor, texture and a portion you can repeat. Divide the cooled cracker sheet into four piles and the dip into four containers if you are preparing it ahead. You can then choose whether it is enough on its own or whether another dish belongs alongside it. Crackers soften quickly when packed against wet dip, so use a separate dry container rather than a single open compartment. A flexible spatula helps remove the last portion from the processor bowl.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup whole-wheat flour (120 g)
  • 1/4 cup hulled pumpkin seeds (30 g)
  • 1/4 cup hulled sunflower seeds (30 g)
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons sesame seeds (15 g)
  • 4 1/2 teaspoons olive oil (22.5 ml/20 g), divided
  • 1/3 cup water (80 ml/80 g)
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine salt (3 g), divided
  • 2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (about 17 oz/480 g drained total)
  • 1 1/3 cups jarred roasted red peppers, drained (200 g)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (30 ml/30 g)
  • 1 small garlic clove, peeled (3 g)
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (1 g)
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper (0.5 g)

Set out

Food processor, Rolling pin, Baking parchment, Large baking sheet, Kitchen scale, Pastry wheel or knife, Cooling rack

Allergens

Wheat, Sesame. Check labels and substitutions.

Make it

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F/175°C. Mix flour, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame and half the salt in a bowl. Stir in 2 teaspoons/9 g of the oil and the water to make a firm, cohesive dough; knead briefly by hand.
  2. Roll between two parchment sheets into an even sheet about 1/8 inch/3 mm thick and roughly 10 by 12 inches/25 by 30 cm. Remove the top paper and slide the lower paper and dough onto the baking sheet. Score into about 24 pieces without separating them.
  3. Bake 20–25 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway, until the surface is dry and the edges are golden. Move thinner pieces that finish early to a rack and let any paler center pieces bake a few minutes longer. Cool for 10 minutes, then break on the score lines.
  4. While the crackers bake, process beans, peppers, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, black pepper, the remaining 11 g oil and remaining salt until smooth, scraping the bowl twice.
  5. Divide all the dip into 4 equal portions and all the crackers into 4 equal piles. Serve a portion of each together; a cracker count alone may be misleading when the pieces are irregular.

A different kind of prepared portion

This makes a useful change from another sweet snack between commitments. The recipe includes the whole cracker batch, so its serving estimate already counts the flour, seeds and oil; extra crackers or toppings change that total.

A useful detail

Both 15 oz/425 g cans should supply about 480 g drained beans together. Weigh after draining; keep any extra beans for another use rather than silently adding them to this batch.

Another way

  • Replace the pumpkin seeds with the same weight of sunflower seeds for a two-seed cracker.
  • Blend 1 teaspoon/2 g smoked paprika into the dip for a deeper roasted note; the base recipe contains no paprika.

Keep it well

Keep the dip covered at 40°F/4°C or below for up to 3 days. Cool crackers completely before sealing in a dry airtight container for up to 3 days; keep separate from dip. Transport dip chilled. Freeze dip for up to 1 month, thaw refrigerated and stir before serving.