Crackers – 3 Recipes

Crackers! The snack food of choice! Well, it is in this house. laughing…

In this long post has 3 crackers recipes and variations. I am posting a basic saltine cracker recipe, a variation of the recipe and more possible variations at the end. The very last recipe is completely different recipe, a Goldfish-like cracker recipe that is my husband’s favorite. One-stop shopping for cracker recipes. laughing… Once you start making your own crackers, It is very hard to buy the commercial ones, especially being able to control the ingredients, quality of them (like organic/gmo-free) and flavorings.

I messed around with various recipes until each batch came out consistently tasty and crisp. You will notice the crackers are a little browner than most prefer. We like toasted. You can bake the crackers a few minutes less and leave on the cookie sheets a few minutes to crisp more, or not. Crackers are a personal thing. We like crispy.

I had many recipes come out chewy and leave a nasty after-taste. I soon came to the conclusion it was the fat used. Vegetable shortening is downright nasty to me. Oil makes the cracker slightly oily, of course. Same goes for butter, though the flavor is better of those three fats. I finally tried coconut oil. It makes the best popcorn, so why not try it for crackers? I was right! Yum!

Note! You can alter the recipes by adding spices and herbs you like. The first recipe adapts well to other flavors, even changing out 1/2 of a cup of the flour for cheese powder for cheesy crackers. Himself likes those. They are all his. Ick.

I hope you enjoy and like the recipes. I usually double them, I am posting the original amounts, though. We find them quite tasty. I had fun working them out. I use all-organic ingredients, my personal preference.

Saltines Cracker Recipe

Preheat oven to 400°F. Very lightly grease two cookie sheets with coconut oil if you must. I use stainless steel 2-layer sheets that do not require greasing.

Mix together dry ingredients. With a pastry blender, cut in coconut oil until it resembles fine crumbs.

Slowly stir in water, a little at a time, until you get a nice dough that is not too moist or dry. Depending on your environment, you will have to adjust the water accordingly.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured pastry sheet or board to 1/8″ to 1/16″ thick. You can either use a pastry wheel and cut into squares or use a cookie cutter. I pile a bunch on my hand and transfer them to the cookie sheets. Once a cookie sheet is filled, I stab each cracker twice with a fork. I then brush the crackers with water. You can lightly salt them more if you wish. I do with pink Himalayan salt. (I use it in the crackers, too.)

Bake (1 sheet of crackers at a time!), for about 13 minutes, (more or less, depending on your oven), until golden to very lightly browned at most. I have a gas oven, if that helps. If you have an electric oven, they tend to cook more quickly, so check them after 9 or 10 minutes.

When done, transfer to cooling racks. Once cold, put in a container. I do not put a lid on them to keep them crispy. Putting one on them actually softens them here.

Makes… ?, enough for a while.

Vegetable Powder Blend Recipe

For the vegetable crackers below, you need either 4 oz of vegetable soup mix (yuck), or make your own blend of powdered, dehydrated vegetables. I dehydrate vegetables from my garden, then run through a coffee grinder to make a nice vegetable powder.

My personal blend is-
Equal amounts of Carrots, Cabbage, Tomato, Red and Green Bell Peppers, Spinach and Celery.

I then grind onions and garlic. I measure out a 1/4 of this powder and add to the first part of the vegetable powder. I then run it all through a small food processor one more time to mix thoroughly.

The powder is great added to stews and soups for extra flavor. Of course, it is great in crackers. The recipe below is an adaption of the Saltine Crackers recipe. Don’t mess with what works too much, yes?

Vegetable Crackers

Preheat oven to 400°F. Very lightly grease two cookie sheets with coconut oil.

Mix together dry ingredients, including vegetable powder. With a pastry blender, cut in coconut oil until it resembles fine crumbs. Slowly stir in water, a little at a time, until you get a nice dough that is not too moist or dry. Depending on your environment, you will have to adjust the water accordingly.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured pastry sheet or board to 1/8″ to 1/16″ thick. You can either use a pastry wheel and cut into squares or use a cookie cutter. I pile a bunch on my hand and transfer them to the cookie sheets. Once cookie sheet is filled, stab each cracker twice with a fork. Then spray or brush the crackers with water. I do not salt these crackers. It is too much, personally.

Bake (1 sheet of crackers at a time), for about 13 minutes, (more or less, depending on your oven), until golden to very lightly browned at most. I have a gas oven, if that helps. If you have an electric oven, they tend to cook more quickly, so check them after 9 or 10 minutes.

When done, transfer to cooling racks. Once cold, put in a container. No lid needed unless you want them to go chewy.

Makes about 90 crackers. Maybe more. Maybe less.

 Saltine Cracker Flavor Variations

• Use milk or buttermilk for the water.
• Use 1/2 coconut oil and 1/2 butter for the fat.
• Use 1 cup each of cornmeal and whole wheat flour instead of the plain flour.
• Add spices for flavors: garlic, onion, dill, lemon pepper, etc.
• Substitute 1/4 cup of the flour with masa harina.
• Substitute 1/4 cup of the flour with dip seasoning pkg mix.
• Add 1 tbsp each of sesame seeds and grated onion.
• Add 1 tbsp each of fresh chopped parsley and chives, and 2 tsp dill.
• Add 1 tbsp caraway seeds or 2 tsp poppy seeds.

Goldfish-like Cheese Crackers

Put all of the ingredients into a food processor and process into a good blend. Chill for about 20 minutes or more.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cover your baking sheet(s) with parchment paper!!! Trust me here! Greasing does NOT work! The cheese sticks to my SS baking sheets something fierce.

I take a third of the dough and roll out to 1/16″ to 1/8″ thick on a lightly floured pastry mat. Cut into desired cracker shape.

Bake for 13 to 18 minutes. They will puff up, even if you prick the crackers. I no longer do it because they still look like pillows about to blow. laughing…

The image to the right is the first try of making the cheese crackers, using a small, round cutter. The ones on the outer edges of the pans browned more quickly. I don’t know if it was the shape or not. Not shown is the first sheet of ones before I realized they needed parchment paper and not greasing. Cheese crumbles at best. A learning experience.