Graveyard Spicy Bean Dip with Savory Tombstone Crackers
/My mom spoiled me rotten every Halloween (ok, and maybe every other day of the year… you may recall the story of the Moore family eating pumpkin every day for a month) and I still take Halloween snacks very seriously.
And why not?! The best part about Halloween is that you get to be a kid again!
As I was rounding up my ideas for Halloween-related posts, I knew I wanted to do something playful with food - other than turning my zero waste kitchen into a spooky tablescape - but I still wanted it to stay true to Compost and Cava’s eco-friendly slant. The key, to me, in making Halloween food fun is also keeping it EASY.
And seriously, is anything more Halloween than bean dip?
Farts are basically just the ghosts of meals past.
I wanted a playful appetizer that not only was zero waste (this one is also a Meal Without Plastic) but that wouldn’t require slaving away. You can totally buy a baguette from the bakery section of your grocery in lieu of making crackers - many places have them available in paper bags - but don’t cheat yourself out of the deliciousness that is homemade crackers.
Thus, today I bring you…
Graveyard Spicy Bean Dip
Ingredients:
1 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
2 teaspoon chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 avocado
1/2 plum or Roma tomato
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)
Directions:
Combine first 6 ingredients in a food processor. Season with salt and pepper. Add olive oil if desired.
Dig in.
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Savory Tombstone Crackers
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 generous tablespoons melted garlic ghee (vegans can use olive oil)
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon finely chopped chives
freshly ground pepper (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 F.
Stir together first three ingredients in large mixing bowl until well combined.
Form well in the middle of your flour mixture and pour in water and melted ghee. Add chives.
Stir together until it turns a dough. (The dough may be a bit crumbly.)
Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Lightly flour a cutting board and rolling pin. Roll out the dough in a couple batches until thin. Using a sharp knife with a fine tip, draw several straight lines lengthwise across your dough, approximately three inches apart.
Use the knife to draw your tombstones, making sure the tip of the knife meets the cutting board below. Carefully separate tombstone shapes from remaining dough. Trace designs on tombstones as desired (I did RIP and ghosts).
If desired, fold small square of paper in half. Sprinkle freshly ground black pepper into the crease and lightly tap onto designs, brushing stray pepper flakes back into creases.
Use a spatula to transfer tombstones onto parchment paper and dab with any remaining melted ghee, if desired.
Work remaining dough from cut outs back into a ball, repeat steps 6-9 until dough is gone. Don’t worry if your dough looks crackly or your tombstones aren’t perfect - isn’t a broken tombstone even scarier?!
Bake crackers for 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
You’ll never go back to store-bought crackers again! You might not always want to turn them into tombstones, however. Could be a little weird around Valentine’s Day, but I suppose that depends on your relationship.
And finally, please remember to…
Compost your parchment paper and folded paper square from cracked pepper
Recycle the paper bag from your flour.
Wash and reuse your ghee jar or recycle.
Recycle your chile and black bean cans.
Recycle the cardboard box from your salt.
And compost all remaining vegetable matter.
With a little thought at the store or farmers market, you can walk away from these two recipes and only have produce stickers to toss in the trash can (assuming some of your produce isn’t in season where you are). Now THAT makes this snack guilt-free!
