These Sourdough Animal Crackers are the perfect homemade sourdough treat to make! These fun cookies are lightly sweetened, have tangy sourdough notes, and a little bit of cinnamon spice.
Disclaimer: Please note that this post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase or sign up for a service.
While I love a good loaf of sourdough bread, I love using my sourdough starter or discard to make all kinds of yummy homemade treats as well. These Sourdough Animal Crackers are one of my kids’ favorite snacks. They are so easy to make too.
Need some more homemade sourdough snack ideas? Be sure to also check out these Sourdough Vanilla Wafers, Sourdough Graham Crackers, and Sourdough Cheese Its.
Jump to:
❤️ Why you’ll love this recipe
- Easy: Making homemade animal crackers may seem daunting but it is actually very easy.
- Active starter or discard: You can use your active sourdough starter or sourdough discard for these cookies.
- Great snack: These really are such a wonderful snack. My kids love them in their lunch boxes.
🥣 Ingredients needed
For this recipe, you will need:
- Butter: I always recommend using unsalted butter for making cookies.
- Sugar and honey: To give the animal crackers a little bit of sweetness.
- Vanilla
- Egg
- All purpose flour and whole wheat flour: The base of the cookie dough.
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon
- Sourdough discard: You can use sourdough discard or active starter in this recipe.
🔪 Equipment needed
You will need a rolling pin and animal cracker cookie cutters.
⏲️ Recipe instructions (step by step guide)
Begin by creaming together your butter, sugar, and vanilla extract (image 1).
Next, add in the remaining ingredients and mix until combined (image 2).
Refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes.
Once the dough is chilled, preheat your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
On a clean, floured surface roll out the dough to about ¼-inch (6 mm) thickness. Use your animal cracker cookie cutters to cut out the dough (image 3).
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges are golden. Repeat until all of your cookies are baked.
👩🏻🍳 Tips
- This recipe makes about 55 to 60 cookies but it will depend on the size of your cookie cutter.
🥡 How to store leftovers
Store any leftover animal crackers in an airtight container at room temperature. They will be good for five days.
Other sourdough recipes:
If you tried these Sourdough Animal Crackers or any other recipe on my site, please leave a ⭐ rating and let me know how it goes in the 📝 comments below. I would love to hear from you and I’m always happy to try to answer any questions you may have!
Sourdough Animal Crackers
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- Baking sheet
- Hand mixer
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup sourdough discard
Instructions
- Cream your butter, sugar, and vanilla extract together.8 tablespoons unsalted butter, ¼ cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Next, add in the remaining ingredients and mix until combined.2 tablespoons honey, 1 large egg, 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ cup sourdough discard, 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes.
- Once the dough is chilled, preheat your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- On a clean, floured surface roll out the dough to about ¼-inch (6 mm) thickness. Use your animal cracker cookie cutters to cut out the dough.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges are golden. Repeat until all of your cookies are baked.
Crystal says
I thought these turned out great! My toddler loves them, and the ingredients are so much cleaner than the grocery store crackers.
Audrey Wood says
I am so glad you liked the recipe. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to leave a review 🙂
Anisa says
They came out tasting a little bland and I followed your recipe to the T. Not sure what I did wrong.
Audrey says
Hi Anisa, animal crackers usually aren’t very bold in flavor (just like the ones at the store aren’t). You can add more honey if you like them sweeter or more cinnamon if you want more spice.
Ashley says
I love this I’m always looking for things to replace my children store bought school snacks and these were perfect!
Elma says
I just made this today. I followed your recipe to a T. These crackers are not crunchy. And once they were baked the designs anew not well defined. Is there anyway to make these crunchier? I baked them for 10min and the edges are brown. I even left them in the oven with the door ajar so they can dry up some more but it still didn’t become crunchy.
Audrey says
Elma, because these are homemade and not meant to be shelf stable they won’t be crunchy like the store bought ones. They should have crisp edges though.
J says
I really like how you list your directions and include the ingredients again. It makes cooking and following recipes so much easier! Thank you for that!