Sourdough Animal Crackers

4.46 from 11 votes

These homemade Sourdough Animal Crackers are somewhere between a shortbread cookie and a graham cracker. They are crisp, lightly sweetened and finished with hints of cinnamon and vanilla. Made with simple ingredients, these crackers come together fairly quickly and can be cut out in a variety of fun shapes and sizes.

Prep Time30

Cook Time10

Chill Time30

Total Time1 10

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Author: Emily Christensen

Equipment

Ingredients

210 grams all-purpose flour 1½ cups
70 grams whole wheat flour ½ cup
6 grams cinnamon 2 teaspoons
5 grams salt 1 teaspoon
30 grams granulated sugar 2 Tablespoons
113 grams unsalted butter ½ cup
75 grams maple syrup ⅓ cup
10 grams vanilla extract 2 teaspoons
80 grams sourdough discard ⅓ cup

Instructions

Mix dry ingredients - In a mixing bowl, combine the flours, cinnamon, salt, and sugar.
210 grams all-purpose flour, 70 grams whole wheat flour, 6 grams cinnamon, 5 grams salt, 30 grams granulated sugar
Add butter - Cut cold butter and then use a pastry cutter or your fingers to incorporate it into the dry ingredients, creating a sandy consistency.
113 grams unsalted butter
Add wet ingredients - In a separate bowl, combine the maple syrup, sourdough discard and vanilla. Pour into the dry and mix to combine.
75 grams maple syrup, 10 grams vanilla extract, 80 grams sourdough discard
Knead - Dump the dough onto the counter and knead together by hand for a couple of minutes until incorporated and a ball forms.

Note: This will seem dry at first but it will come together.

Chill - Divide the dough into 2 and wrap both in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll - Pull out one section of the dough and roll it thin, to 1/16”. For a slightly thicker and softer cookie, roll it out to ⅛”. Use mini cookie cutters to cut into animal shapes. Take the scraps and re-roll to get more animal crackers. In total, this recipe makes about 115 2" crackers.
Bake - Place on a lined baking sheet and bake in a preheated 400°F oven for 8-10 minutes. If your animal crackers are thicker, they could take closer to 12 minutes. They should be lightly browning along the edges.
Cool - Let the animal crackers cool. They will continue to crisp up as they cool.
Repeat - Pull the remainder of the dough out of the fridge and repeat the process. You can repeat this as many times as you would like to with the scraps. If the dough starts to get too warm simply place it in the fridge for 10-15 minutes before proceeding.

Notes

This recipe will yield about 115, 2" crackers.
Don’t skip refrigerating the dough to ensure the dough holds its shape and design when baked.
If you find your crackers won’t hold their shape after cutting them out, put them in the refrigerator again for 20-30 minutes before baking.
Use cold butter from the fridge, it does not need to be frozen.
If the crackers aren’t crisping up after cooling, bake the next batch longer. Likely, your crackers are thicker, so they are taking longer to dry out.
You can take out the granulated sugar, but it really helps with flavor to add just a little bit of sweetness.
After cutting out, I re-roll the remaining dough 2-3 more times to get the maximum number of crackers. If the dough is getting too warm, put it back in the fridge before rolling it out again.
Store in an airtight container on the counter.

Nutrition