These Homemade Gourmet Crackers are a revelation. A copycat of the gourmet fruit and nut crackers sold at the stores to serve with cheese that I love but are pricey! These are simple to make, keeps for weeks, cost 80% less than store bought and taste so much better, you’ll be amazed (I was!).
Spectacular with cheeses and spreads, and for gifting!
Stop press!!! Big news – DOZER HAS A BUTTON!!
↑↑↑ For all Dozer lovers out there who just want to skip straight to Dozer and see what cheeky antics he’s up to today, just click on the Dozer button and it will take you straight down to him, then you can come back and read the post!!!
Oh – there is a button to jump to the Recipe too, which I’ve had for a while now, and I also added a button to jump straight down to the Video.
A button for everyone – whatever you’re after! Dozer, recipe video or just the recipe!
OK, enough about the Dozer button. Onto today’s recipe – Homemade Gourmet Crackers!! I am super excited about this one because I’ve had some great feedback from my official taste testing team (aka my mother’s golf friends who descend upon the beach shack for a post-golf lunch and provide very constructive feedback on my recipes).
These crackers are so great, I really wish I had a fantastic story to go with them. But actually, I don’t. Quite simply, gourmet crackers are all the rage nowadays but I just can’t bring myself to pay the rather obscene prices for them. Fellow Aussies may have noticed a certain brand of gourmet crackers prominently placed near the cheese and spreads section of supermarkets like Woolworths and Coles. Crackers that look just like these homemade ones – except they are round – and they cost $6 for 15 pieces. $6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been known to drop a small fortune on designer shoes a handful of times in my life. However, I cannot bring myself to pay $6 for one packet of gourmet crackers, especially when 1 packet would never suffice for my gatherings, I’d have to get 3 or 4. Can you imagine paying $24 just for the crackers for a cheese board??
Oh wait, I just realised I totally lied. I did buy one packet – for taste testing purposes, to copy them. 😉 I’d been eyeing them off for months, wanting to do a huge cheese board with these gourmet crackers. Then finally the penny dropped – get a packet and copy them.
So that’s what I did.
These are very simple to make. It’s just like mixing up a muffin batter, except it’s baked in a loaf tin. Freeze (to make it super easy to slice thinly), slice, then bake again. It’s like making biscotti (ooooh, haven’t done that yet!!). It’s highly customisable, and brilliant for making ahead because the baked crackers stay crisp for at least 1 month OR you can keep the loaf in the freezer for weeks and weeks, then bake when you want them.
My taste testers agreed 100% that there is no contest when comparing these Homemade Gourmet Crackers to the store bought ones. With homemade, you can actually truly taste the ingredients – the spices, the cranberries, the sunflower seeds. The store bought one has far less flavour. When you taste them one after the other, which we all did, the difference is so “in your face”, it’s quite extraordinary.
If you’re planning a cheeseboard these upcoming holidays, I truly hope you consider these. Your family and friends will be blown away. They really are so simple, customisable, and make ahead – my taste testers were eating crackers I’d made 4 weeks earlier!
Oh – and they cost about 20% of the gourmet crackers that I copied. 🙂 I have a little gathering with friends this weekend, and I’m wondering how many times I will point to the crackers on the cheese board and proudly say “I made those”. I’ll ask my friends to keep count! – Nagi x
More cookie / cracker copycats
Other recipes I’ve created in the past for the same reason as these Byron Bay cookie copycat recipe (ie because I love ’em but they’re expensive!)
- Byron Bay Cookies Copycat White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies – big, thick, buttery cookies loaded with white chocolate and macadamia nuts. Crisp with a tender melt-in-your-mouth texture, just like Byron Bay Cookies!
- Muesli Cookies (Breakfast Cookies / Granola Cookies) – copycat of the thick, chunky, chewy muesli cookies sold in cafes across Australia. A healthy breakfast option because it’s like a bowl of oatmeal in cookie form – refined sugar free, low fat, gluten free, keeps you full for ages but it tastes like a sweet cookie!
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Homemade Gourmet Crackers
Ingredients
- 1 cup / 250 ml milk (any fat % cow's milk)
- ¼ cup / 50g brown sugar , packed
- ¼ cup plain unsweetened yoghurt (I used Greek)
- ½ cup / 75g plain flour (all purpose)
- ½ cup / 75g whole wheat / wholemeal flour
- ½ cup dried cranberries (or other dried fruit of choice)
- 1 tsp baking soda / bi-carb (or 3 tsp baking powder)
- ½ cup rolled oats (or 1/3 cup more nuts of choice)
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds (or other seeds or nuts of choice)
Spices:
- ½ tsp ground turmeric (can omit)
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg (or All Spice or 1/8 tsp cloves)
- ¼ tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried rosemary (or ½ tsp more thyme)
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F (all oven types). Grease and line a small loaf tin with baking paper (mine is 21 x 11 x 7 cm / 8.5 x 4.5 x 3”) (Note 1).
- Whisk the milk, sugar and yoghurt in a bowl.
- In a separate bowl, add plain flour, wholemeal flour and cranberries. Stir – use fingers to break up cranberries if required.
- Add remaining ingredients, including Spices, plus the milk mixture. It should be a thick batter, like muffin batter (note: batter in video looks slightly thicker because it was standing for a couple of minutes, doesn't affect outcome).
- Scrape/pour into tin. Bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Cool on rack, then wrap in cling wrap and freeze for at least 2 hours, up to 3 months. (Note 2)
- Unwrap loaf and allow to thaw partially so the outside is not rock hard frozen (around 20 minutes).
- Preheat oven to 120C/250F (all oven types). Place one shelf in the middle, and another shelf beneath it.
- Use a serrated bread knife to slice thinly – around 2 mm / 1/12” thick (see video). Place biscuits on 2 large baking trays, you can squeeze them in as they won’t expand or stick.
- Bake for 50 minutes or until they are a light brown, swapping trays halfway.
- Leave biscuits on tray to cool – they will harden so they snap when you break them. (Note 3)
- Store in an airtight container for 4 weeks (probably ok for longer, I’ve only done 4 weeks). Brilliant served with creamy cheeses like brie, camembert, but soft, creamy blue cheeses is the ultimate pairing!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
LIFE OF DOZER
Dozer smacking his lips over MY lunch today – a very spicy Asian Noodle Salad. No spicy salad for you Dozer! Too painful for you!
These are so go Nagi, thank you for sharing. I’ve made a few times (I gifted them with a wedge of cheese to several friends for Christmas and they all raved) One tip I’d like to share is to bang the tin on the bench a couple of times to remove any air holes in the batter – I had these with my first couple of batches.
Great tip Emma, and what a wonderful gift! Food gifts are the best type of gift in my eyes ❤️
Absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing such a wonderful recipe. Everyone who tried the crackers loved them!
You’re so welcome A! You wont look back now, store bought just doesn’t compare ☺️
These were perfect. Thank you.
I they didn’t crisp up enough so I cooked them a 3rd time on a very low oven for approx 30 minutes. Everyone that has tried them has asked for the recipe. I know I will keep on making them and experimenting with other options.
Perfect Maryanne!!!
Brilliant! I knew I would find a recipe for these soon. I can rely on you Nagi 🙂 Last year I did the same with Nordic seed crackers. $13!!! a packet from a gourmet store, but truly fabulous crackers. Some research, some recipe combining & tweaking & now my “4 seed crackers” are a complete hit.
Absolutely amazing
Thanks so much Erin!
Hi Nagi
My daughter in-law is vegan and would love to make them for her. Could I use coconut milk and coconut yogurt?
Or almond milk and coconut yogurt?
Love love your recipes and your humour.
Yes definitely Marie!
I have just made my third batch of these wonderful cookies and this time I made them with coconut yoghurt and oat milk for my son who is vegan and they worked a treat. I made some following the recipe and I made some using walnuts and figs but keeping everything else the same – both versions were fabulous.
Made the crackers &served them to friends they loved them so much ,asked me where I bought them ,I told them I made them they didn’t believe me until I showed them your recipe!The crackers did soften up the next day so I placed them in the microwave for 1 minute & stayed crispy for day’s ..
Perfect Bruna!!
I would like to know if you have ever put out recipes for healthy dog snacks
I am gluten free but I make these with the “Robin Hood” gluten free mix. Needs about 1/4 cup more flour. They are awesome!
I can’t thank you enough for posting this recipe.
No eggs, no flour, I can’t stop eating them. Two thumbs up!
Oh that’s awesome to hear Libby! Thanks so much for letting me know!
I have just finished baking my first batch of these and I have a second batch ready to go with pistachio nuts instead of the sunflower seeds. The crackers took longer to cook but they were certainly worth the wait – absolutely delicious. My first batch also had a hole in the middle of many of them where the mix was obviously not pressed down in the tin properly. Next time I’ll be more careful when I fill the tin with the batter. But OMG what a recipe!!
I’m so glad you love them Mary!!
These were delicious! Making a second batch already. Perfect for Christmas entertaining. Thank you Nagi!
Yes! And they are perfect to gift as well Lisa 🙂
Forgot to rate, sorry!!
Thanks so much Julie!
I’ve just made these and they are delicious…way better then the expensive shop ones that almost break your teeth!!
I have another batch on the go using dried apricots & slivered almonds using 1tspn of mixed spice instead of cinnamon & nutmeg.
I love the empty baked bean can idea, I must try that next!
Thanks for the recipe and Merry Christmas to you.
Was so excited to see this recipe for gourmet crackers, I’ll be making these!!! Thank you.
They are sooooo good! Love to know what you think once you try them Deb!
Hi Nagi! tell me, please, the size of your loaf tin. The one you use for this recipe.
Hi Berna, the dimensions are in the instructions, Number 1 – N x
So sorry. I feel so stupid. I just didn’t read it, don’t know how.
how about using a empty baked bean.can for baking nagi xo
Great idea!
Hi Nagi!
Great Vietnam video!
Would like to make these crackers to serve with Italian cheese Log??
Concerned that there will be a flavor conflict
What do you think?🧐
Hi Sarah, they will be great!! – N x
These are delicious with any cheese, from standard cheddar or jack to soft cheeses to higher-end types.
Hi Nagi. You mentioned fresh figs would have too much moisture. Could you use dried fig and almonds? Or dried apricots and hazelnuts? Our fav two flavours. Would you chop them up before adding to the mix?
Yes definitely use anything dried (not fresh) there are so many possible flavour combos that would be great!!