Sourdough Animal Crackers

These Sourdough Animal Crackers are a fun, easy back-to-school treat that brings back all your favorite nostalgic memories.

The tender, yet crisp crackers are lightly sweetened with honey and brown sugar and so easy to roll and cut out! With cute animal cookie cut-outs, it’s a fun activity for all ages.

Sourdough discard adds a slight tang and helps bind the ingredients together. Plus, a touch of cinnamon boosts a hint of warmth for the plain crackers or you can frost them with sprinkles for a sweeter animal cookie.

Follow my detailed instructions with photos and tips below to make the best sourdough animal crackers every time.

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👍 Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Tender, crisp animal crackers.
• Can leave plain or frost with sprinkles for cookies.
• Easy-to-roll dough that’s perfect for kids to cut-out and bake.
• Lightly sweetened with honey and brown sugar.
• Favorite nostalgic back-to-school sourdough recipe.
• Stay crisp for days and stores extremely well.

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🔍 Top Baking Tips

• For crisp crackers like store-bought animal crackers, roll the dough thinly to ⅛” or less.
• These Animal Cracker Cut-outs are what I used for four different animal shapes (zebras, elephants, giraffes, and lions) and have detailed imprints.
• Chill the dough at least an hour before rolling out so the flavors meld and the dough isn’t too soft when cutting out.
• I tested the recipe at different temperatures and 325ºF was the perfect temperature so they didn’t over bake or burn too quickly.
• If frosting, wait until the animal cookies cool completely.
• For the best flavor and color in the pink frosting, use freeze-dried strawberries like I do for the frosting in my Sourdough Strawberries & Cream Scones.

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🛠 Tools Needed

• Baking scale
  • Flour and sourdough starter can vary in weight from person to person, so weighing your ingredients is the best option! Measuring your ingredients by weight will make your baking more consistent and accurate.
• Animal Cracker Cut-Outs
  • I use these cute animal cookie cut-outs from Mrs. Anderson’s, but you can use other animal or non-animal shapes. You could even make holiday or Christmas crackers or cookies with this simple dough.
• Rolling Pin, for rolling out the cookies.
• Sheet Pan, lined with parchment paper
• Stand mixer or electric hand mixer, for mixing the cookie ingredients

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🛒 Ingredients Needed

See below for my ingredient recommendations and possible substitutions.

• All-purpose Flour
  • You can substitute some of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour for more nutrition and wheat flavor.
• Salt
• Baking Powder adds an ever-so-light amount of lift and helps keep them crisp, yet tender.
• Unsalted Butter
  • Using butter instead of oil as the primary fat adds richness and keeps the dough soft for rolling out.
  • These have an almost Sourdough Shortbread Cookie texture.
• Vanilla Extract enhances flavor and adds warmth and the perception of sweetness.
• Brown sugar
  • Adds structure and sweetness to the cookies with a hint of molasses.
• Honey
  • The natural sweetener helps them crisp and the floral complexity complements the cinnamon and vanilla.
• Egg
  • Adds structure to help bind the ingredients together.
  • To make egg-free, substitute with an egg replacer or flax egg.
• Sourdough Discard
  • If you don’t have an active sourdough starter, learn how to make one in a week by following my how-to guide. See my top sourdough starter tips and other sourdough discard recipes.
  • To make 100% gluten-free, use a gluten-free sourdough starter and gluten-free flour.
• Cinnamon
  • A touch of cinnamon adds a cozy warmth and flavor to the crackers, especially when they’re plain and unfrosted.
  • The flavor is comparable to Teddy Grahams or my Sourdough Graham Crackers.

Frosted Animal Cookies

• Powdered Sugar
  • The fine sugar dissolves quickly and easily for all icings, such as the frostings for my Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting, Cranberry Orange Sourdough Bread, or Sourdough Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins.
• Whole Milk or Heavy Cream
  • Substitute with plant-based milk.
• Nonpareil Sprinkles are the tiny, dot sprinkles that give a little crunch and rainbow colors like my Funfetti Sourdough Bread.
• Freeze-dried strawberries or red food coloring.
  • Grind and sift freeze-dried strawberries for the best fruity flavor and color in the pink frosting.
  • However, you can use a dot of red food coloring (gel or natural) for a bright pink hue.

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🐘 How to Make Sourdough Animal Crackers

Follow this detailed recipe guide with step-by-step images as you make the best sourdough animal crackers.

1. Mix the Dry Ingredients

Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon in a small mixing bowl and set aside.

2. Mix the Wet Ingredients

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or electric hand mixer) on medium speed, beat the softened butter, honey, and brown sugar together for 3-5 minutes.

Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed and mix until the butter is pale yellow, fluffy, and no large grains of sugar remain.

Mix in the egg, vanilla extract, and sourdough discard until incorporated. It’s okay if the emulsion breaks.

3. Mix the Animal Cracker Dough

Dump in the bowl of dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until the dough comes together into a cohesive mass and dough ball.

4. Chill the Dough

Scrape the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap and bring to a round disc shape like you’re making Sourdough Pie Crust (Extra Flaky!).

Wrap the dough in the plastic wrap and use your palms to smush the dough into a round disc.

Refrigerate for at least an hour to infuse the flavors and make rolling and cutting out easier.

At this point, you can freeze the dough for up to three months.

5. Roll and Cut Out Animal Crackers

Divide the dough in two (you can reserve half the dough in the refrigerator to bake later or freeze it).

Allow the dough to soften at room temperature for at least five minutes before rolling out so it doesn’t crack.

Between two large pieces of parchment paper, roll out the animal cracker dough with a rolling pin to ⅛” thin. If it sticks, lightly flour the parchment paper and rotate the dough periodically.

Lightly flour the cookie cutters and cut or punch out the animals. Re-roll and cut out scraps. This dough creates a lot of animal crackers.

6. Bake

Preheat the oven to 325ºF (163ºC) and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Space the cut out crackers close together on the sheet pan as they don’t spread much.

Bake for 12-13 minutes or until the crackers are just brown around the edges.

Cool for at least 15 minutes on a wire rack. At this point, you can serve and store the plain animal crackers!

7. Frost the Crackers (optional)

To frost the crackers and make sourdough animal cookies, mix powdered sugar and milk or cream in a small bowl to a thick frosting consistency. 

Divide half the icing into another small bowl and add ground freeze-dried strawberries or a drop of red food coloring to add a pink color to the icing.

Spoon the frosting into a thin layer on some of the completely cooled cookies, top with sprinkles, and let air dry on a wire rack until the frosting hardens.

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How to Store and Serve

• Store unfrosted animal crackers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
• Refrigerate frosted animal crackers for a couple of days.
• Be sure to allow the crackers to cool completely before storage.
• For longer storage, freeze baked animal crackers for up to 2 months and thaw at room temperature.
• If the crackers soften, reheat them in an oven at 300ºF for a few minutes.

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions