If you have children, your pantry likely has in it some snack food items you wouldn’t be proud of. Mine sure does. Fortunately they do love fruit and veggies but they very much enjoy munching on some crunchy carbs. Goldfish, pretzels, chips, popcorn, and crackers are regularly requested. The convenience of packaged junky snack food easily creeps into our lives over and over. When the prepackaged food is so easy to just buy, open, and eat, it’s easy to eat a little too much and a little too often. There is something special about participating in the preparation of your food. The love and work that go into something is important. The appreciation for the effort involved in food preparation helps you to take a moment and be present instead of just gobbling up the convenience food around you. Making things from scratch isn’t just frugal. Going through the process of start to finish, from-scratch cooking, connects you to your food, allows you to savor every bite, and can help to be mindful of portion control.
When you or your children really just want crunchy carbs, try making some homemade goodies with real ingredients and no chemical preservatives!
Homemade crackers are easy to make and fun to do with the children. Who doesn’t love using a cookie cutter?! A few simple ingredients you already have and you can whip some up.
The spices you can use for this recipe are endless. You can make them sweeter and add cinnamon, you can go savory with garlic and onion. Really whatever makes you happy here! Get creative!
Homemade Crackers
Equipment
- mixing bowl
- rolling pin
- cookie cutter
- toothpick
- pastry brush
- lined cookie sheet
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2-3 tsp spices of your choosing
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cracked pepper
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 cup water
- course salt
- more oil for brushing
Instructions
- Mix together your flour, sugar, baking powder, salt/pepper, and spices of your choosing in your mixing bowl.
- Make a well in the center of your flour and add oil and water.
- Incorportate the oil and water into the flour mixture until it forms a ball of dough. If the dough is too wet, add small amounts of flour until you are able to make a dough ball. You want the dough to still be somewhat tacky.
- Onto a floured surface, roll out your dough evenly and very thin, no more than 1/4 inch thick.
- Use cookie cutter (or pizza cutter or knife) to cut out your crackers.
- Transfer crackers to a lined cookie sheet.
- Use a toothpick to "prick" each cracker 3-5 times each.
- Using pastry brush, brush oil onto each cracker.
- Sprinkle the crackers with course salt.
- Bake in oven at 400 degrees F for 12 minutes.
- Allow crackers to cool and store on counter in sealed container. These crackers do not have preservatives in them and the humidity in your home could affect how long they can be kept. Store in fridge if you need to store them for more than a few days.