Animal Crackers Recipe

Updated April 08, 2021

These unique snacky treats require a couple ingredients you might consider hard to find, but graham flour and whole wheat flour are interchangeable so don't worry if you can't find the former. Bob's Red Mill is a fairly common brand these days and they make a graham flour, but any whole wheat pastry flour will work. Mace is a little more difficult to locate but middle eastern stores or any store with a good selection of spices should have it.

At the restaurant we served these frosted with royal icing tinted pink with powdered strawberries, but I prefer them plain. Keeping them plain also extends the shelf life from a day to up to a month.

Note: If you don't have a food processor, this dough can be made entirely by hand, and you can grind the oatmeal into a coarse flour with a spice grinder. If you don't have that either, you can use a pastry cutter to roughly break up the oats but you won't be able to cut the crackers into smaller shapes. By hand, combine the oat flour/whole oats, sugar, graham flour, cinnamon, mace, baking soda and salt in a large bowl, mixing thoroughly. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or just rub it into the dry with your hands, then add the hot water and vanilla. Incorporate fully by hand with a flexible bowl scraper, then incorporate the flour the same way.

Recipe Details

Animal Crackers Recipe

Active 15 mins

Total 60 mins

Serves 12 servings

Cook Mode (Keep screen awake)

Ingredients

7 ounces (about 2 cups) whole rolled oats
14 ounces (2 cups) granulated sugar
1 ounce (1/4 cup) graham or whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground mace
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut in 1/4 inch cubes and thoroughly chilled
1/2 cup hot water
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 3/4 ounces (about 1 3/4 cup) all-purpose flour

Directions

In the bowl of a food processor, combine oats, sugar, graham/whole wheat flour, cinnamon, mace, salt, and baking soda. Process until oats are powdered and mixture is homogenous, about 30 seconds.
Distribute butter cubes evenly over surface and pulse until mixture is mealy with no large chunks of butter remaining, about 10 quick pulses. Add hot water and vanilla. Pulse until fully incorporated, about 10 quick pulses.
Turn out dough into a medium mixing bowl. Add flour and knead in with a flexible dough scraper or by hand until fully incorporated. Wrape dough tightly in plastic, form into a disk, and transfer to refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Remove dough from refrigerator and unwrap. Place on a lightly floured work surface. Using rolling pin, roll dough out until roughly 1/8-inch thick, flouring as necessary. Use cutters or a knife to cut into desired shape. Gather scraps, re-roll, and cut more shapes. At this point you can freeze your cut crackers for later, layering with parchment paper in between and wrapping tightly with plastic. Crackers baked from frozen will puff up less and keep their shape better which is good for smaller, more detailed shapes.
When ready to bake, adjust oven racks to upper and lower middle positions and preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats, space crackers an inch apart. Bake for 8 minutes, then rotate sheet(s) and bake for additional 2 minutes. Cookies should be firm to the touch and lightly golden brown. Allow to cool and harden fully before removing from baking sheets. Store in airtight containers for up to 1 month.