Keto Picnic Veggie Cucumber Sandwiches w Air Fryer Granola
How to Make It
Step 1
Pull your cream cheese out in advance to soften at room temperature. You may use a microwave to assist you in warming the cream cheese, but you cannot melt it. Once it’s soft, mash it in a mixing bowl using a fork. Next, thin-slice celery stalks, dice pimentos, and chop the green onion. Add these ingredients to the cream cheese with salt, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, parsley, and oregano. Mix with your fork until your vegetable cream cheese spread is blended.
Step 2
Set the cream cheese spread aside and prepare the cucumber. For every 4 servings, slice the ends off of a whole medium-sized cucumber. Peel the skin off the whole cucumber, and slice the naked cucumber into two short halves. Slice each half in half again, this time down the length of the pieces, to make 4 pieces of cucumber about 5-6 inches long. Use a spoon to scrape the seeds and pulp from each piece of cucumber to make hollow “canoes”.
Step 3
Discard the cucumber peel and seeds. The cucumber “canoes” should equal the yield listed in your ingredients (about 1 ½ ounce per piece). One by one, use a spoon or your fork to spread the vegetable cream cheese into each hollow piece of cucumber. Pack the cream cheese in, and it’s okay if it piles above the top of the cucumber. Set the filled cucumber sandwiches in your refrigerator to chill and set. Now you can make the granola.
Step 4
Chop pecans and cashews, and add them to a large mixing bowl. Make sure you have a mix of larger and smaller chopped pieces. Mix sliced almonds and shelled pepitas (pumpkin seeds) into the bowl. Sliced almonds are best for this recipe since they are very lightweight. However, if you only have whole almonds, just chop them finely.
Step 5
Set the bowl of nuts aside and grab a small pot. Over low heat, melt coconut oil in the pot and stir in tahini until you have a smooth, tan liquid. Once the ingredients combine, take the pot off the stove heat, and stir in salt, vanilla extract, liquid stevia, and brown sugar replacement. Stir the mixture to help it cool down for about 60 seconds. Then, pour it over the nuts in your mixing bowl.
Step 6
Use a spatula to fold the nuts over with the hot coconut oil mixture until they absorb some of the moisture and are completely coated in the glossy, sweet granola glue. Set the bowl aside. Turn your air fryer on to preheat to 350 degrees. Line your air fryer tray with parchment paper and use a toothpick to poke small holes throughout the paper. Use your spatula to pour and spread the sticky granola mixture in the lined tray. Make sure the nuts are spread into a single, solid layer. Pour any excess “granola glue” from your mixing bowl on top.
Step 7
Set the tray of granola in your air fryer and cook the granola for only 5 minutes. Remove the tray, and use your spatula to toss and turn your granola before re-forming it into a single layer and returning the tray to your air fryer. Cook the granola for another 2-5 minutes. If your air fryer has a light feature to watch your granola, use this to watch out for burning nuts. If your granola overcooks, it can become dark very quickly. When done, remove the granola from your air fryer, toss once more with a spatula, and let the granola cool completely before enjoying with the cucumber sandwiches. Each serving includes 1 piece cucumber sandwich and 1 ½ ounce granola.
Ingredients
- Cream cheese – 3 oz
- Celery – 2 oz
- Pimento Canned – 0.5 oz
- Scallions – 0.5 tbsp, chopped
- Salt – 1 dash
- Paprika – 0.25 tsp
- Onion powder – 0.13 tsp
- Garlic powder – 0.13 tsp
- Parsley, dried – 0.5 tsp
- Oregano, dried – 0.13 tsp
- Cucumber, raw, without peel – 6 oz
- Pecans, raw – 3 oz
- Cashews, raw – 0.5 oz
- Almonds, sliced – 1 oz
- Pumpkin or squash seeds, shelled, unsalted – 0.5 oz
- Coconut oil – 1.5 tbsp
- Tahini – 0.5 tbsp
- Salt – 1 dash
- Vanilla extract – 0.5 tsp
- Liquid Stevia – 10 drops
- Brown Sugar Replacement – 0.5 tsp