Delicious crispy, tender crackers, with a spicy salty taste, with sesame seeds and spices, with sugar and cinnamon. All this causes us to salivate more. And few people can refuse such a delicacy. Crackers are used to make snacks, appetizers, salads and even cakes. If you also like to crunch, we suggest you make crackers at home. It will turn out much tastier than store-bought, and in addition, you will be confident in the freshness and quality of the butter, which is the basis of this popular cookie. Making cracker cookies is quite simple. All its components are accessible and simple. At the same time, you can supplement the recipe with your own ingredients - seeds, fried onions or dried fruits.
Making cracker cookies at home
Crackers - dry and crispy cookies with holes - appeared as a result of a mistake by an English confectioner who overcooked biscuits in the oven. Slightly burnt cookies broke with a loud crack, so they were called crackers from the word crack, which translates as “crack.” This happened at the end of the 19th century, and a new type of confectionery surprisingly took root in European cuisine. Soon crackers became part of the army ration - they were stored for a long time, perfectly satisfied hunger, took up little space and were very light in weight.
What's good about crackers?
Modern crackers are a tasty snack and bread substitute for dieters because they can be made without fat or sugar. Crackers are used to make canapés and sandwiches, add them to salads or use them as crusts in snack cakes, serve with hot dishes and prepare desserts. Unfortunately, many modern manufacturers add preservatives, artificial flavors and other harmful additives to their products, so smart housewives who care about healthy family nutrition make crackers at home. These dietary cookies are prepared simply and quickly, are perfectly stored without losing their taste, and are used if you need to prepare a snack for unexpected guests. What can you do to please yourself and your children between meals in order to last until lunch or dinner? Of course, crackers! Healthy, light and tasty - they do not overload the stomach, give a feeling of pleasant satiety and satisfy the craving for “tasty”, which, in fact, makes us snack on candy or buns.
Low calorie crackers
You can make low-calorie cheese crackers at home to serve as a snack for children. We prepare the following ingredients:
- salt on the tip of a knife;
- a tablespoon of butter;
- a glass of flour;
- 150 g cheese;
- a tablespoon of cold water.
Cooking technology:
- Cut the cheese into thin strips that will resemble shavings. Grind the butter in the same way.
- Sift the flour through a sieve.
- Mix butter shavings with flour. Then add cheese and knead the dough again. Finally add water and salt.
- Form a sphere and put it in a disposable bag, put it in the cold for 30 minutes.
- Take out the dough and roll it out with a rolling pin. You should get a thin layer. Cut the resulting “pancake” into pieces.
- Prick each piece with a fork, forming holes.
Place the raw crackers on baking paper and place the product in the oven for 15 minutes at 220 degrees.
Secrets of making crackers at home
The first crackers were Spartan - they included only flour and water; later they began to add salt, sugar, seasonings, aromatic herbs, nuts, cheese and other additives. This universal dish can be prepared with any ingredients - honey, dried fruits, cottage cheese, potatoes, herbs and vegetables. Recipes for crispy cookies are very diverse - they are made from yeast or unleavened dough, with or without fat, fried in oil or baked in the oven. The main secret of making crackers is that the dough should be kneaded for no more than 5 minutes - in this case, the finished cookies will turn out tender, crumbly and at the same time crispy. With prolonged kneading, the products will become harder and denser. It is recommended to first keep the dough, which contains butter, in the cold (for about 30–60 minutes), and the dough with vegetable oil can be left on the table for a short time.
Next, the dough is rolled out into a layer no more than 4 mm thick and various figures are cut out of it using molds, and sometimes sausages are baked, which are then cut into slices and lightly dried in the oven. It all depends on the recipe and your culinary preferences. Holes in crackers are made not only for originality - the fact is that without them the cookies will not bake as needed. The holes allow steam to pass through and prevent the dough from rising, because the crackers should turn out flat. Holes can be made at home with any sharp object - a knife, fork, cocktail straw or wooden stick, which is used to check the readiness of baked goods.
Whole wheat crackers
The recipe for healthy crackers is optionally supplemented with seeds and sunflower seeds to taste, which will increase their benefits, but will slightly increase the calorie content. The convenience of the recipe is that whole grain dough can be kneaded in a food processor or mixing bowl using a hook attachment.
Composition of ingredients
By replacing butter in the recipe with any vegetable oil, you can use crackers for the Lenten table. Salty and sweet versions of cookies give equally good results.
Ingredients:
- 300 g whole grain flour;
- 6 tbsp. l. cooking fat (lard);
- 150 ml cold water;
- ½ tsp. salt and 1 tsp. Sahara;
- ½ tsp. soda
For a sweet option, reduce the amount of salt by half, and add 2 tsp of sugar. more. The use of lard gives a particularly crispy version; with vegetable oil, the products are denser.
Step-by-step cooking process
A cracker recipe at home turns into a hearty snack, the taste of which can be changed at your discretion. You can add a pinch of Italian herbs to the salty cookies, and add coconut flakes to the sweet version.
Preparation:
- When using a food processor, it is convenient to start with dry ingredients: pour whole wheat flour, salt, baking soda, and sugar into a mixing bowl.
- Turn on the mixer at medium speed and lightly mix the ingredients.
- Add water to the dry mixture and add fat, continuing to slowly stir the mixture. Do not turn off the mixer until an elastic dough is obtained.
- Form a round ball with your hands and wrap it in cling film.
- Then the grain mass should stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
- The ripened dough is divided into several parts and each is rolled out into a thin layer (no more than 4 mm).
- Form crackers by cutting the dough into squares. Prick the surface randomly with a toothpick or fork.
- Bake cookies on parchment or silicone mat at 180°C.
Readiness is determined by the golden hue of the crackers. This usually takes no more than 15 minutes with simultaneous heating on both sides.
Crackers are a fairly simple cookie to make and can be made by almost all home cooks. Even children can trust this recipe. But there are a few subtleties that will help make the result especially airy and crispy.
Secrets of making homemade crackers:
- For crispy cookie dough (any recipe), knead quickly. If the mixture is processed for more than 5 minutes, the finished products will be hard. Quick kneading, even with flaws in homogeneity, provides a light, crispy product.
- Holes in crackers are not just a tribute to tradition. Thanks to them, the dough does not inflate, and heating occurs evenly. Thanks to this simple technique, baking time is reduced.
- Using coarse salt when mixing quickly ensures that unmelted crystals will be found in the finished products. This savory technique is appropriate in spicy, salty products, as well as when adding seeds.
- Dough prepared according to any recipe can be made lean by replacing animal fats with vegetable oil in the same quantity. It is not advisable to use only olive or unrefined sunflower crackers because of the pronounced smell.
Crackers prepared according to the simplest recipes are supplemented with spices of your choice: ginger, paprika, herbs, nuts. The addition of dry poppy seeds will add extra crunch to the sweet cookies. So, at home, you can get completely different tastes from simple products and give your products your favorite aromas.
Homemade Cheese Crackers Recipe
Let's try to make delicious cheese crackers, which make delicious sandwiches and snacks. Grind 150 g of hard cheese, separate the yolk of one egg from the white, sift well 160 g of premium wheat flour, finely chop 150 g of chilled butter. Now quickly rub the butter and flour with your hands until it becomes homogeneous, add cheese and yolk to the dough. Knead, periodically adding more flour, since in the end the mass should not stick to your hands. Wrap the bun in cling film and place in the refrigerator for 40 minutes. After this, knead the hardened ball a little and divide it into parts, roll each of them into a large circle or square. Cut the resulting cakes into triangles, squares, and diamonds. Make holes on the surface of the cookies, preheat the oven to 180°C, grease a baking sheet with vegetable oil, lay out the crackers and bake them for no more than 15 minutes until they turn light golden brown. Let them cool on the sheet and only then remove, otherwise the cookies may break.
Elementary recipe for cheese crackers
The simplest cooking recipe can become a “lifesaver” for those who are expecting guests any minute, but there are no treats in the house. These crackers can be a good snack for beer or the basis for creating canapés with other ingredients.
To make crackers with cheese you will need the following ingredients:
- 1/10 kg of hard cheese;
- 1/10 kg butter;
- ½ cup flour;
- yolk.
Technology for preparing cheese crackers:
- Chop the butter with a knife. To do this, it is advisable to take the most frozen product possible.
- Pour the butter shavings into a bowl and, gradually adding flour, combine the 2 ingredients. Knead the workpiece.
- Add the yolk to the butter-flour mixture and mix all ingredients until smooth.
- Grate the cheese on a coarse grater and mix with the dough. Knead the resulting dough until it becomes plastic, like plasticine.
- Form the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film and place in the refrigerator for ½ hour.
- Take out the dough and divide the portion in half. Roll out the first part, forming a circle. Divide the circle into triangular pieces and make several holes in each part using a cocktail straw.
Place the triangles on parchment paper, which does not need to be greased with anything. Bake the pieces in the oven at 180 degrees for about 10 minutes.
Homemade saltine crackers recipe
This is perhaps the simplest cracker recipe, so you won't have any trouble making them using available ingredients. Grind 120 g of frozen butter on a coarse grater, add to it 200 g of sifted flour and 2 tsp. fine salt. Turn the butter and flour mixture into crumbs, pour in 60 ml of milk and knead the dough. It should be quite dense, elastic and not sticky, and the dough should be kept in the cold as usual - this rule works for all recipes. Otherwise, you will not be able to roll it out and form the products into the desired shape. Before placing the figures on the sheet, do not forget about the holes. Bake crackers for 13–15 minutes at 200°C. This appetizer is ideal for savory canapes with cheese, meat, fish and vegetables.
Universal crackers for both tea and beer
The recipe for homemade crackers with cheese can be supplemented with a more nutritious ingredient, which will make the snack universal. This version of “crispy cookies” can be served with tea or beer. You need to prepare the following products:
- a glass of flour;
- 50 g butter;
- 2 tablespoons sour cream;
- 100 g hard cheese;
- egg;
- a pinch of salt.
Cooking principle:
- Grate the cheese on a fine grater. Sift the flour to enrich it with oxygen.
- Chop the frozen butter with a knife and immediately mix with flour.
- Then you should add an egg, sour cream and cheese to the preparation.
- Knead the dough. Form a ball, wrap in film and put in the refrigerator for 20-25 minutes.
- Roll out the cold dough and cut into equal pieces. You can use a mold and squeeze out the cracker blanks.
Bake the crackers in the oven for 20 minutes at 200 degrees. Then turn off the oven and leave the cookies for another 10 minutes.
How to make sesame crackers
Savory sesame crackers are delicious on their own with tea, coffee and milk, so they can be served as a snack on their own rather than as a sandwich base.
Combine all the dry ingredients for the dough - 200 g flour, 1 tsp. sugar, 2 tsp. salt, half a packet of baking powder and 3½ tbsp. l. sesame Make a slide with a small depression in the middle, pour in 120 ml of milk, 2 tbsp. l. odorless vegetable oil and the same amount of sesame oil. Knead the dough, and after it has rested on the table under a towel for 20 minutes, you can roll it out, cut out cookies and bake for 10–15 minutes in an oven preheated to 190 °C. Don't forget to sprinkle the crackers with sesame seeds 5 minutes before they are ready. Sesame crackers are usually served with Oriental and Asian dishes.
Rye crackers with bran
Healthy cookies, which are classified as dietary and lenten snacks, can be consumed during strict diets instead of bread. These crackers are suitable for serving with first courses or as a separate snack.
Cracker. Homemade recipe with bran.
You can use rye crispbread as a base for mini sandwiches.
Composition of ingredients
Cracker recipe at home allows you to make it not only a tasty, but also a healthy dish. Due to the bran, rye cookies become a dietary and vitamin supplement. These cookies are good for intestinal function and also serve as a source of B vitamins and valuable minerals.
Ingredients:
- 180 g rye flour;
- 40 g bran (wheat or rye);
- 120 ml water;
- 2 tsp. baking powder;
- 40 ml vegetable oil;
- a pinch of sugar and salt;
- 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar.
The lean composition of the dough can be made very flavorful by using malt instead of sugar and strong brewed coffee instead of water. A serving of 100 g of ready-made crackers contains no more than 380 kcal. The entire quantity of cookies according to this recipe has an energy value of about 1125 kcal.
Step-by-step cooking process
Meat crackers start by mixing all the dry ingredients, then adding liquid and kneading the dough.
Preparation:
- Mix rye flour with bran, add baking powder and salt. If possible, loosen the composition with a mixer.
- Add vinegar, vegetable oil, and malt extract to the flour mixture in a bowl.
- Gradually pour in water (or coffee) and stir the mixture until a mass is obtained that can be formed by hand.
- Achieve a dough consistency where it does not stick to your fingers. To do this, you can sprinkle bran. If the mass is a little dry, add water.
- Roll out the rye mass into a layer about 3 mm thick. To do this, it is convenient to use two sheets of baking paper, between which the dough is placed and rolled with a rolling pin without the danger of sticking.
- Cut the cracker blanks, and then often prick them with a fork. You can use a cookie stamp, which immediately makes holes.
- Bake crackers in an oven preheated to 200 °C for no longer than 12 minutes. If possible, turn on the upper and lower heating at once.
Remove the crackers from the sheet while still warm and then place them on a wire rack or metal sieve to cool completely.
How to make sweet French crackers at home
Sweet crackers can be a great alternative to cakes, cookies and buns. They are prepared according to the same principle as saltine crackers, only the composition of the dough is different. Mix 100 g of soft butter with 250 g of flour and 50 g of sugar, grind well until smooth, add 3 tbsp. l. sour cream or cream and 4 tbsp. l. condensed milk. Knead the dough, cool it, roll it out, cut out crackers of any shape, make holes and bake for a quarter of an hour at 180 °C. Ready-made crackers can be combined with each other in the form of a sweet sandwich with nut or chocolate paste. Children especially love these crackers, so you can take them to school for snacks during recess.
Flavored crackers according to a non-standard recipe
To get a flavorful and unusual version of crackers, which is unlikely to be purchased in a store, you need to spend a minimum of products and time for preparation. The so-called “Israeli” recipe for crackers with cheese at home involves the use of the following products:
- a glass of flour;
- 150 g butter;
- 1 teaspoon each of salt and sugar;
- 3 cloves of garlic.
- teaspoon of spice mixture;
- 50 g hard cheese;
- a teaspoon of vinegar;
- 3 tablespoons cold water;
- egg;
- a pinch of sea salt;
- sesame for sprinkling.
Preparing and baking flavored cheese crackers:
- Place the butter in the freezer for 1 hour. Grate the cheese. Pass the garlic through a garlic press.
- Pour the flour into a bowl and grate the frozen butter into it. Mix the ingredients and add all the dry ingredients.
- Then add vinegar, half an egg and water to the dough. Kneading the dough. Roll it into a ball. Place in a bowl, cover with a towel and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Roll out the dough into a thin layer and cut into small pieces, which can then be pierced with a fork.
- Brush each piece with egg on top, sprinkle with sesame seeds and sea salt.
- Place the crackers in the oven to bake. Remove when they turn a deep golden color.
These crackers can be served with any sauce. This option goes perfectly with a variety of soups.
Salty and Sweet Flax Crackers for Vegans
Vegan crackers are healthy, so you can eat them every day, and if you cook the cookies at a low temperature, you will get a healthy raw food treat.
So, grind thyme, basil, oregano, sage, marjoram and any fragrant herbs in a coffee grinder, add 2 tbsp. l. sesame seeds and 2 tsp. sea salt. Separately mix 80 g ground flaxseed, 50 g whole flax seeds, 120 g sunflower seeds, 50 g sesame seeds and 1 tbsp. l. ground herbs. Combine this mixture with 1 kg of tomatoes, blended in a blender, and spread the mixture on a baking sheet covered with parchment, and sprinkle with ground herbs on top. Bake the crackers for a day at a temperature of 40 ° C so that they retain all the vitamins and microelements. 8 hours after the start of heat treatment, cut the linen layer into squares, and after another 8 hours, remove the parchment and place the cookies on the wire rack. These crackers can be prepared in an air fryer and dehydrator.
A sweet version of raw food crackers is made from 1 cup of ground flax seeds, grated pulp of 1 raw apple, 3 tbsp. l. honey, a handful of raisins and cinnamon. The cooking technology is the same, and the baking time at 40 °C is 15 hours.
Vegan seed crackers
A useful addition to a diet that excludes all animal products would be crackers with flax seeds and sesame seeds. This delicacy turns out to be extremely crispy, so it appeals to supporters of any type of diet. Drying such products with a slightly heated oven is suitable even for raw foodists.
Composition of ingredients
For the aroma and spicy taste of vegan crackers, the following herbs are used: marjoram, basil, sage, oregano, and other favorite seasonings. You can use one additive or mix different ones to taste.
Ingredients:
- sesame (white, black or mixture) – 6 tbsp. l.;
- mixture of herbs - 2 tbsp. l.;
- ground flax seeds – 80 g;
- whole flax seeds – 50 g;
- sunflower seeds – 120 g;
- tomatoes – 1 kg.
This composition does not require sugar, and sea salt (no more than 2 tsp) is used to add flavor. The number of seeds can be adjusted to taste, observing the general proportion per 1 kg of sweet tomatoes - up to 350 g of various seeds.
Step-by-step cooking process
The cracker, the recipe for which does not contain flour at home, is prepared exclusively from plant seeds. Pre-grind the selected spices in a coffee grinder. Then grind 80 g of flaxseeds, which bind the composition instead of flour.
Further preparation:
- Measure out 1 tbsp. l. dry herbs, then mix them in a separate bowl with salt and 2 tbsp. l. sesame Leave the mixture for sprinkling.
- Tomatoes are peeled and pureed using a blender or meat grinder.
- In a deep bowl combine all the whole seeds, ground flax, 1 tbsp. l. herbal mixture and stir.
- Then add the tomato mass and mix the mixture thoroughly. The dough turns out liquid, there is no need to bring it until it forms a lump.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment and spread (spread) the dough onto the paper in a layer of no more than 3 mm.
- Sprinkle the entire surface with the prepared sesame mixture and salt, and then place the baking sheet in the oven.
- Heating is set to no higher than 40 °C. Dry the crackers for about 8 hours.
- Remove the pan from the oven and cut the thickened mixture into crackers. Then continue drying for another 8 hours.
Remove the finished spiced cookies from the sheet and cool on a wire rack. After this, the vegan crackers can be served or placed in a glass jar with a tight lid for storage.
Manno-coconut crackers: a dessert for every day
With this dessert you can easily forget about cakes and ice cream. Prepare this dish and you will see that your household will love it.
Mix 1 cup wheat flour, ¼ cup semolina, ½ cup warm water, 2½ tbsp. l. vegetable oil, and then knead the dough and let it lie for 15 minutes. While the dough is resting, make a syrup from ½ cup water and 1 cup sugar - simmer over low heat until the volume of the syrup is reduced by half. Roll out the dough, cut out squares, circles or diamonds from it. Fry the crackers in vegetable oil on both sides and place them on parchment paper to absorb excess fat. Add ½ tsp to warm sugar syrup. cardamom, stir well and add crackers. When the cookies are soaked in sweetness, remove them with a slotted spoon and place them on a plate to dry, sprinkle with coconut flakes. Enjoy your tasting!
We prepare crackers with the branded online store “Eat at Home”
Experimenting with crackers is a real pleasure, the main thing is to understand the basic technology of their preparation. Delicious cookies can be taken with you on trips - they help pass the time on the road, calm children and make life more enjoyable. And with original cookie cutters from the branded online store “Eat at Home”, making crackers is even easier and tastier! Treat your guests to unusual crackers, and they will definitely ask for more! It’s probably no coincidence that a couple of centuries ago an English pastry chef overcooked biscuits in the oven. What would we do without crackers? By the way, store them in a tightly closed glass jar - this way they will remain fresh for a long time to the delight of home gourmets!