I don’t think I know a single toddler who doesn’t love crackers.  The problem is that many of them are loaded with high fructose corn syrup, sugars, sodium, artificial colouring, and a bunch of other ingredients that I can’t properly pronounce.  Luckily, we have found several healthier options that Miss G loves (like these, these, and these), but that doesn’t stop us from whipping up a batch of these delicious goldfish cracker knock-offs every once and a while.  They’re ridiculously yummy, easy to make, and only require a handful of ingredients. Doesn’t get much better than that, does it?

 

Here’s the ingredient line up for our homemade cheddar crackers… Wholewheat flour, olive oil, good cheddar cheese, some garlic or onion powder (plus cayenne if you wish) and a tiny bit of sea salt. (You may also need a touch of warm water if you’re using a mixer instead of a food processor.)

Of course a tiny little kitchen assistant is a necessity also.

First things first, measure your wholewheat flour into a large mixing bowl.

Add in LOTS of old cheddar.

Be sure to sneak a little pinchful into your mouth while no one’s looking.

Then add your spices. We use a combination of garlic powder and cayenne pepper, but you can pretty much add what you like.

Next, add some olive oil.

And just a teeny tiny bit of sea salt.

When all of the ingredients are in the bowl, mix everything up. If you’re using an electric mixer like we did, or mixing by hand, you’ll probably have to add just a touch of warm water to help the dough come together. If you’re using a food processor, the moisture from the olive oil and cheese will probably be enough.

Take a look inside your bowl and stare in awe.

Right now, your mixture should look something like this.

Dump the contents of your bowl onto a clean work surface, and gently form your dough into a ball.

Lightly flour your counter and rolling pin and roll out your dough fairly thin.

Using a teeny tiny cookie cutter, cut out tons of tiny crackers. You may want to flour it every so often to ensure a clean cut.

Gracen chose a moon-shaped cutter, so millions of tiny moons it was.

Lay them on ungreased baking pans.

And then pop them in the oven to bake.

Take them out of the oven just as they begin to turn slightly brown, let them cool, and serve!

I highly recommend making a batch of these sometime soon! The original recipe can be found here, and this is our modified version:

 

Wholewheat Cheddar Crackers

3 cups of sharp cheddar
8 tablespoons of olive oil
1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon of cayenne paper
1/8 teaspoon of sea salt
1/4 cup of warm water (if mixing by hand or electric mixer)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine all ingredients and gently form dough into a ball.

On a lightly floured surface, using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to 1/8 of an inch thick. Form shapes with a cookie cutter, dipping it in flour from time to time to ensure a clean cut. Gently transfer crackers to an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake the crackers for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are just barely browned at the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Enjoy!