Homemade Animal Crackers-Regular

Since my chocolate ones turned out pretty good I wanted to try the regular flavored ones.  And guess what?!  I actually like these better than the chocolate ones!  Which is very surprising because I am a chocoholic.

Classic Animal Crackers
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Flour
1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Cup Of Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal
4 Tablespoons Of Honey
3/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
4 Tablespoons Of Liquid Buttermilk (I only used about 2 tbsp.)
1/2 Teaspoon Almond Extract
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Cup Of Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 Cup Butter

Preparation Instructions:
To begin this classic animal crackers recipe, you should first preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, or 200 degrees Celsius. Next take out a blender or food processor, add in the oatmeal, then grind it until it's reduced to a fine powder. Next take out a large mixing bowl, and then add in the ground oatmeal, baking soda, and table salt. Sift this initial batch of ingredients together. Moving along, next cut your butter into pieces that are roughly pea size. You can now pour in the buttermilk and honey, vigorously stirring the mixture until a firm animal cracker dough has formed. Next up, clean and flour a flat surface, then roll out your animal cracker dough to an eighth of an inch thick. At this point you can take out your animal cracker cookie cutters, and make a variety of different shaped pieces. Place your finished crackers on to a greased baking sheet, then slide it into the oven to bake for5 to 7  minutes, or until the animal crackers turn a light brown color. Once the crackers are done, let them cool down on wire wracks.

 Chocolate Animal Crackers

Ingredients:

1/3 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

3/4 Cup Flour

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Soda

1/2 Cup Oatmeal

6 Tablespoons Honey

1/2 Almond Extract

3/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

4 Tablespoons Buttermilk (to make your own it is 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice per 1 cup of milk) may not need it all

1/4 Cup Softened Butter

Preparation Instructions:

 Pour the oatmeal into a food processor or blender and pulse it until the oats are near a powder consistency. Next add the ground oats to a large mixing bowl along with the table salt, and then sift them together. Next add in the cocoa powder, white flour, baking soda, honey, almond extract, vanilla extract, buttermilk (just a little at a time), and salted butter. Stir the contents together until a firm animal cracker dough takes shape. If you find that the dough is too dry, then simply add in more buttermilk. You are also more than welcome to either increase or decrease the cocoa powder proportion, it depends on your own taste preference. Moving forward, now that your dough is done, place it in into the refrigerator to chill for one hour (or a little less if you're impatient, it just make sit easier to roll). Once the dough has chilled, roll it out on a floured surface to an eighth inch thickness. Using flour dipped animal cracker cutters, or play-doh cutters, create a variety of different cracker shapes. Place the cut out crackers on to a greased cookie sheet. You will want to bake the chocolate animal crackers at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, for roughly ten minutes. Once baked, be sure and let the animal crackers cool on wire wracks.

These are great with frosting on them too, but that ups the calorie count. These are a nice snack dipped in milk too!

When I made mine, I had to add a little more flour because I used all the buttermilk, so only add as much buttermilk as you need to make it manageable to roll.  If it is a little sticky, that's okay.  It firms up when it is in the fridge.

Print Classic Recipe  Print Chocolate Recipe