Nostalgic and fun, this healthy animal crackers recipe is lightly sweetened and baked with fresh milled flour, molasses, vanilla and cinnamon — a fun and delicious cracker for kids to snack on.
I’ve always been an avid baker. Cookies, brownies, breads and biscuits, you name it, I’ve probably tried to make it. Once my daughter became a toddler and wanted more snacks, I was thrilled to start making her some treats.
What is more kid friendly than some animal crackers? The problem is, the usual ones you buy at the grocery store aren’t what I would consider nutritious — especially for a growing toddler. So I set out the grain mill on the kitchen counter and got to work making a healthy animal cracker recipe.
Less cookie-like and much more similar to a lightly sweetened graham cracker, these little crackers fit the bill. They were oh so adorable with the cute elephant and zebra shapes and my daughter loved holding them in her tiny fingers and chomping on them.
If you have a little one in your life or just love the nostalgia of a animal cracker, I hope you enjoy these are much as our family has.
Are Animal Crackers Healthy?
Generally speaking, when consuming animal crackers from the store, they are not considered a healthy snack even or a nutritious dessert. Made with large amounts of sugar, refined flour, artificial flavors and other questionable ingredients, they are not something I want to serve to my family.
However, when making homemade animal crackers from scratch, using whole, nutritious ingredients, they can be a lovely and healthy snack idea. These healthy animal crackers for kids are made with freshly milled flour, real butter and very low sugar. Scroll below to learn more reasons why you’ll love this simple animal crackers recipe.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Healthy Animal Crackers Recipe – made with freshly milled flour and ingredients you know and love, you can feel good about feeding these crackers to your toddler, kids and husband.
Easy Snack Idea – A few common kitchen ingredients and a set of cute animal cookie cutters is all you need to make this snack. Be sure to include your kiddos in the baking process — it is so much fun to cut out all of the different animal shapes!
Real Food Ingredients – Only wholesome, nourishing ingredients are called for in this recipe! Animal crackers without high fructose corn syrup — done! Animal crackers without seed oils – you bet! Just butter, milk, soft wheat flour and a whole lot of love.
Delicious & Great for Kids – With a taste and texture similar to a graham cracker, rather than a super sweet sugar cookie, the homemade crackers have a flavorful taste and a crunchy texture.
What are the Ingredients of Animal Crackers?
Milk – A splash of milk adds a sweet, creaminess to the crackers. We love using raw milk but you could also use whole milk from the store if you don’t have access to grass-fed raw dairy.
Butter – We usually buy our butter in bulk from Costco.
Molasses – A touch adds a sweet, caramel flavor to the animal crackers that reminds one of gingerbread cookies.
Vanilla
Freshly Milled Soft Wheat or Spelt – creates the perfect animal cracker. While I often use soft white wheat to make these crackers, spelt is also an excellent choice. I love using ancient grains whenever I can!
Salt
Baking Powder
Cinnamon – Pairs perfectly with the molasses flavor.
Sugar – I usually prefer to use an unrefined sweetener like honey or a low glycemic option like agave nectar but when making cookies sugar creates the best texture. You will find this recipe is very low in sugar, specifically created for young children. If you’d like a sweeter animal cracker, check out my tips below.
Tips
- The dough can get sticky after the first roll and cut. To avoid this, place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper.
- If you over roll the dough, it can get tough and create a less than desirable result once baked. When rolling and cutting the dough, I do not recommend rolling each piece out more than twice.
- Speaking of rolling out dough, the thinner the dough is rolled out, the crunchier and more crisp the animal cracker will be.
- These animal crackers for toddlers are designed for young children or those that do not have a big sweet tooth. If you’d prefer the crackers to be sweeter, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar before baking.
- To add a simple glaze to the top of the animal crackers, whisk together a cup of powdered sugar, a couple splashes of cream and some vanilla extract.
- To color the cookies, opt for natural coloring agents such as fresh fruit juice or freeze dried fruit powder such as dragonfruit or strawberries.
Tools You May Need
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Mixing bowl
Baking sheet
Grain mill
Rolling Pin
Parchment paper or silicone baking mat
Easy Animal Crackers Recipe
So simple and fun to make, these animal crackers are a yummy and healthy snack you can feel good about feeding to your family.
Makes: 30-60 crackers (depending on size)
Ingredients
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons butter, cut into 12 pieces
3 cups freshly milled soft wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
Step by Step Instructions
Preheat oven to 350° F. In a bowl whisk together the milk, molasses and vanilla. Set aside.
In a food processor, add flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Pulse a couple of times to combine. Sprinkle the pieces of butter over top of the dry ingredients and pulse approximately 10-12 times until the butter has been evenly mixed in. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and once again pulse the food processor 10-12 times until the dough resembles wet stand and begins to come together.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead a few times until smooth. Divide down into 2 pieces. Using the first piece, roll into a rectangle, 1/8 inch thick. If you find the dough getting sticky, you can cover with a piece of parchment paper and roll. Using the cookie cutters, cut into shapes. Transfer animal crackers to a prepared baking sheet. Repeat steps with remaining piece. (I do not recommend rolling the dough out more than twice due to the crackers becoming tough.)
Bake crackers for 15-18 minutes, until golden brown and the edges are beginning to lightly brown. Cool on a wire rack. Store crackers in an airtight container for about a week.
Note: These crackers are designed for young children and are purposefully lightly sweetened. For a sweeter animal cracker, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar before baking. Or add a glaze to the tops of the crackers. Flavor and color the glaze by adding juice from fresh squeezed fruit or freeze dried fruit powder such as dragonfruit or strawberries.
More Easy Snack Recipes
Pretzels With Fresh Milled Flour
No Sugar Strawberry Applesauce
Healthy Animal Crackers Recipe
Nostalgic and fun, this healthy animal crackers recipe is lightly sweetened and baked with fresh milled flour, molasses, vanilla and cinnamon — a fun and delicious cracker for kids to snack on.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 6 tablespoons butter, cut into 12 pieces
- 3 cups freshly milled soft wheat flour
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. In a bowl whisk together the milk, molasses and vanilla. Set aside.
- In a food processor, add flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Pulse a couple of times to combine. Sprinkle the pieces of butter over top of the dry ingredients and pulse approximately 10-12 times until the butter has been evenly mixed in. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and once again pulse the food processor 10-12 times until the dough resembles wet stand and begins to come together.
- Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead a few times until smooth. Divide down into 2 pieces. Using the first piece, roll into a rectangle, 1/8 inch thick. If you find the dough getting sticky, you can cover with a piece of parchment paper and roll. Using the cookie cutters, cut into shapes. Transfer animal crackers to a prepared baking sheet. Repeat steps with remaining piece. (I do not recommend rolling the dough out more than twice due to the crackers becoming tough.)
- Bake crackers for 15-18 minutes, until golden brown and the edges are beginning to lightly brown. Cool on a wire rack. Store crackers in an airtight container for about a week.
Notes
These crackers are designed for young children and are purposefully lightly sweetened. For a sweeter animal cracker, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar before baking. Or add a glaze to the tops of the crackers. Flavor and color the glaze by adding juice from fresh squeezed fruit or freeze dried fruit powder such as dragonfruit or strawberries.
