Homemade Animal Crackers Recipe

Barely sweet, hyper-crisp, and just a little playful.

By
Stella Parks
Stella Parks
Stella Parks
Editor Emeritus
Stella Parks is a CIA-trained baking nerd and pastry wizard, dubbed one of America's Best New Pastry Chefs by Food & Wine. She was the pastry editor at Serious Eats from 2016 to 2019.
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Updated December 04, 2023
Closeup of a homemade rhino-shaped animal cracker, propped upright to look like it's standing.

Serious Eats / Sarah Jane Sanders

Why It Works

  • A low-hydration dough with a modest amount of sugar results in crackers that are crisp and lightly sweet.
  • Chilling the dough for several hours allows its flavor to fully develop and makes it easier to roll and cut.

The variety of sanctioned nomenclature for Stylized Animal Snacks boggles the mind. "Wait, what's a Stylized Animal Snack?" you ask. Well, I'd call 'em Animal Crackers, but you might've called them Animal Cookies. Unless you called them Circus Animals. Or did you prefer Zoo or Carousel Animals?

Some of these have frosting while others have icing and some complain that some come plain. Of the plain sort, we have Barnum's "Animal Crackers" which taste like cookies and come in a box and Carley's "Animal Cookies" which taste like crackers and come in a bag.

If you'd like to sugar coat the issue, you'll have to choose between cookies "fully" or "lightly" frosted. Keebler, unwilling to miss out on any potential consumer base, used to offer both frosted animal crackers and iced animal cookies. Before discontinuing both products, I used to wonder if they would debut frosted animal cookies and iced animal crackers to round out the collection.

A giraffe-shaped animal cracker, propped upright next to a glass of milk. The giraffe looks as though it's trying to drink from the glass.

Serious Eats / Sarah Jane Sanders

The glazed animals (to use a neutral term) can come in white, or pink and white, the latter of which may or may not be bedazzled with rainbow sprinkles. And just when it seems all of the possible permutations of the above options have been calculated, you realize you forgot about Japan.

"No sugar rush, no icing or frosting or whatever you call it, no sprinkles, no boxcar."

Enough! Give me a damned animal cracker. No sugar rush, no icing or frosting or whatever you call it, no sprinkles, no boxcar. I want the kind of off-brand business you can only find in some vending machine at an abandoned rest stop somewhere between Pennsylvania and Kentucky. The kind of cracker that never tastes quite like you want but perhaps like what you need. Barely sweet, hyper crisp and just a little playful. Since they are super dry, the cookies store incredibly well, remaining crisp for ages. They will not likely have a chance to last that long.

Don't get me wrong, I have every intention of tackling the frosted, iced, sprinkled, and cookie versions over my illustrious industrial copycatting career. But with the holiday excess behind and New Year's Resolutions ahead, the simplicity of a cracker is just what I need.

December 2011

Recipe Details

Homemade Animal Crackers Recipe

Prep 25 mins
Cook 15 mins
Active 30 mins
Chilling Time 3 hrs
Total 3 hrs 40 mins
Makes 30 cookies

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces flour
  • 3 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 4 ounces sugar
  • 1/4 ounce powdered milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 ounce vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 ounces egg whites
  • Extra flour for dusting

Directions

  1. Make the Cookie Dough:

    Use a fine-mesh strainer to sift flour. Set aside.

    Using a hand or stand mixer (fitted with a paddle attachment) cream together the butter and sugar, along with the powdered milk, nutmeg, salt and baking soda, on medium speed. Not until light and fluffy, but only until well combined. About a minute. Scrape the bowl down with a flexible spatula and cream a minute more.

    Set the mixer to low. Drizzle in the vanilla. With the mixer still running, add half the flour and mix until just incorporated. Then add half the egg whites. Repeat with the remaining flour and egg whites. Mix until homogenous, then shut off the mixer.

    Use a spatula to scrape the cookie dough onto a large sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap the dough and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or overnight, before rolling.

  2. Cut and Bake the Cookies:

    Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and have 2 parchment-lined baking sheets standing by.

    On a well-floured surface, roll the cookies to just a little over 1/4-inch thickness (3/8-inch if you like to be precise). Run a metal spatula between the dough and the rolling surface, to ensure the dough isn't sticking in any places. Cut the dough with your desired cutters and transfer the cut-outs to the cookie sheet. They won't spread significantly in the oven, so they can be placed fairly close together.

    If you like, dock the cookies twice with the tip of a clicky pen (clicked to the retracted position) to mimic the large, deep dock marks on the originals.

    You can gather, knead and re-roll the scraps three times; the dough is very forgiving.

    Bake the cookies for approximately 12 minutes, or until quite firm to the touch and just beginning to brown. Cool thoroughly.

Special Equipment

Kitchen scale, fine-mesh strainer, hand mixer or stand mixer, flexible spatula, rolling pin, metal spatula, animal-shaped cookie cutters, two rimmed baking sheets, parchment paper

Make-Ahead and Storage

The crackers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a month.

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