If your child likes to snack on animal crackers, they'll love this homemade version of the classic. These chocolate and cinnamon animal crackers are kid-approved, refined sugar-free and totally adorable! Enjoy them at home or pack them in your child's school lunchbox.
Do you like knowing exactly what is in the food your family is eating? If preparing food from scratch is important for you, these cute homemade animal crackers are a great alternative to the store-bought snacks that your kids may be asking for. (And adults can enjoy them, too!)
This simple recipe will allow you to make cinnamon or chocolate animal crackers at home without any filler ingredients or refined sugar. They have become a staple in our house, and I make a batch almost every Sunday when I am prepping snacks for the week!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Minimally sweetened: While these crackers do have a bit of sweetness to them—provided by natural sweeteners like coconut sugar and honey—they are more snack-like than dessert-like.
- Healthier than store-bought: This simple homemade snack is naturally sweetened, made with half whole wheat flour, and doesn't contain emulsifiers or high fructose corn syrup like its store-bought counterpart.
- Two flavor variants: This recipe includes instructions to make both cinnamon animal crackers and chocolate ones. I usually make a batch of both, because our family is large enough to eat them all in the same week, but you can always alternate flavors or freeze some for later.
Looking for more homemade snack recipes? Check out these Healthy Nut-Free Granola Bars, these Fruit-Bottom Yogurt Cups or these Homemade Yogurt Drinks!
Required Ingredients
- Butter: For this recipe, you'll need to use unsalted butter softened to room temperature. If you need the crackers to be lactose- or dairy-free, you can also use plant-based butter or margarine.
- Coconut sugar: Instead of refined sugar, these crackers are sweetened in part with coconut sugar, which is a natural sweetener made from the sap of a coconut palm tree.
- Honey: You can also use maple syrup, or a combination of the two.
- Egg: I don't recommend using a substitute like flax eggs for this recipe. For best results, the egg should be at room temperature when you use it.
- Vanilla extract: I used pure vanilla extract. For a fun flavor twist, you can try a bakery emulsion like this Princess Cookie and Cake Bakery Emulsion instead.
- Cocoa powder: I used Dutch-processed cocoa powder from Costco, but natural cocoa powder should work too if it's what you have at home.
The full ingredient list, quantities and instructions can be found in the recipe card.
Suggested Equipment
Most of the items you'll need to make this recipe are pretty basic, and you probably already have all of them in your kitchen. But there are a couple items I thought were worth mentioning just in case:
- Electric hand mixer: While you can technically use a whisk, I have had better results using an electric hand mixer to combine all the ingredients and create a softer dough that comes together properly once the dry ingredients have been added.
- Cookie cutters: I bought a set of adorable forest animal cookie cutters from Amazon and have been slowly collecting different themes because I am obsessed with how cute they are. You can also use spring-loaded animal cracker cookie cutters to save yourself a bit of work, or just use any set of cookie cutters you happen to have at home (even if they don't come with a stamp for the front of the crackers).
How to Make Animal Crackers (Step-by-Step)
Step 1: Cream butter and sugars. Add the butter, coconut sugar and honey (as well as the cinnamon, if making cinnamon crackers) to a medium mixing bowl and beat them with an electric hand mixer until combined. Add the egg and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
Step 2: Combine dry ingredients. Pour the baking powder and both types of flour (along with the cocoa powder, if making chocolate crackers) into a small mixing bowl and whisk until combined.
Step 3: Combine wet and dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, beating with an electric hand mixer until they have been fully incorporated.
Step 4: Chill dough. Divide the dough in two and use your hands to shape it into flattened disks. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. (The dough can stay in the fridge for up to 24 hours, but you may need to let it soften a bit before using if it has been chilled for more than 4 hours.)
Step 5: Cut animal crackers. Preheat the oven to 350˚F (180˚C). Place one disk of dough on a floured surface (the other disk should stay in the fridge) and use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough to between ⅛ and ¼ of an inch in thickness. Cut the dough into shapes using cookie cutters, and place them about 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Re-roll any remaining dough to create more shapes.
Step 6: Bake animal crackers. Place the animal crackers in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes, until the edges have just started to brown. While the first batch is baking, take the second disk out of the fridge and repeat the previous step with the remainder of the dough. Remove the first batch from the oven (once adequately cooked) and bake the second batch. Allow the crackers to cool for at least 5 minutes before enjoying.
Our kids can't get enough of these homemade crackers, and they love being able to choose between two different flavors! We like to make a batch of each type every weekend and keep them on hand for snacking or school lunches. I just can't get over how adorable they look!
Helpful Tips
- Get the right consistency: You'll need to chill the dough a little before rolling it in order to help the crackers hold their shape and prevent them from sticking to the cookie cutters—but chilling them for too long can make the dough harder to roll out. If you find that the dough is cracking or sticking to the cookie cutters, try dusting it with flour and re-rolling it.
- Add enough flour: When rolling out your dough, don't forget to spread flour on both your rolling pin and the counter you are working on to prevent sticking.
- Don't re-roll the dough too much: I have found that the more times I re-roll the dough, the less the animal design shows on the front of the crackers. (This is likely due to the dough warming up too much.) Re-rolling the dough to avoid waste is fine, but try to cut as many shapes as you can each time you roll the dough to avoid having to do it too many times.
- Press down on the stamps: If you are using the same animal cracker cookie cutters that I did, you'll need to press down quite firmly in order to create an imprint that won't fade when the crackers puff up during baking (especially if the dough has had time to warm up).
- Determine the right baking time: The baking time for these crackers can vary depending on your oven and on how thinly you rolled your dough, but it can be difficult to tell whether the edges have browned when making a chocolate batch. When making this recipe for the first time, consider making a batch of cinnamon crackers to get an idea of how long you'll need to cook them for.
Storage Instructions
Once the crackers have cooled, they can be stored in an airtight container on the counter for up to a week.
Frequently Asked Questions
Have a question that wasn't answered here? Let us know in the comments and we'll be happy to help!
More Kid-Friendly Homemade Snacks
If you have tried these Chocolate & Cinnamon Animal Crackers or any other recipe on our website, please let us know how it went in the comments below. We can't wait to hear from you!
Homemade Animal Crackers (Chocolate & Cinnamon)
Equipment
- 1 electric hand mixer
- 1 medium mixing bowl
- 1 small mixing bowl
- 1 whisk
- plastic wrap as needed
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 2 large baking sheets
- parchment paper (or silicone baking mat)
Ingredients
Cinnamon Animal Crackers
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ¼ cup honey or maple syrup
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup + 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 cup + 1 tbsp whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Chocolate Animal Crackers
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ¼ cup honey or maple syrup
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup + 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup + 3 tbsp whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ cup cocoa powder Dutch-processed or natural
Instructions
- Add the butter, coconut sugar and honey (along with the cinnamon, if making cinnamon crackers) to a medium mixing bowl and beat them with an electric hand mixer until combined. Add the egg and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
- Pour the baking powder and both types of flour (along with the cocoa powder, if making chocolate crackers) into a small mixing bowl and whisk them together until combined.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, beating with an electric hand mixer until they have been fully incorporated.
- Divide the dough in two and use your hands to shape it into flattened disks. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. (The dough can stay in the fridge for up to 24 hours, but you may need to let it soften a bit before using if it has been chilled for more than 4 hours.)
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F (180˚C). Place one disk of dough on a floured surface (the other disk should stay in the fridge) and use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough to between ⅛ and ¼ of an inch in thickness. Cut the dough into shapes using cookie cutters, and place them about 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Re-roll any remaining dough to create more shapes.
- Place the animal crackers in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes, until the edges have just started to brown. While the first batch is baking, take the second disk out of the fridge and repeat the previous step with the remainder of the dough. Remove the first batch from the oven (once adequately cooked) and bake the second batch. Allow the crackers to cool for at least 5 minutes before enjoying.
Notes
- Don't skip the flour: Make sure to spread flour on both your work surface and your rolling pin to prevent sticking.
- Avoid re-rolling too much: Try to cut as many shapes as possible from the dough to avoid re-rolling it too many times.
- Press on the stamps: If using cookie cutters with stamps, press down firmly to create imprints that won't fade during baking.
- Test the baking time: When making these for the first time, start with a batch of cinnamon crackers so you can see the edges brown more easily and determine how long to bake them.