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!
Hi do you have your crackers recipe using gluten free ingredients looking for interesting foods for my 4yr old grandson
Hi Leanne, I’ve heard that these cookies are successful with gluten free flour – I haven’t tried myself through to confirm. If you do though, you’ll also need to ensure your rolled oats are certified GF. N x
These were amazing!! Loved by all. I used my thermomix by adding all the ingredients in at once and mixed on reverse for 10 sec / speed 4. I added extra cranberries and included 1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds as well. It was perfect! Thank you so much! I am making a second batch right now.
Hi Nagi, I thought you might be interested to know about the keeping qualities of your wonderful crackers. I made a batch in December 2020 ready for a big family Christmas. Unfortunately Covid stopped that and there were only 6 of us around the table. I forgot all about the crackers until I found them in their Tupperware today (June 2021). I was about to throw them out when I thought I would try one just for fun. And I am delighted to say that they are perfectly edible and still very crispy!! Amazing!
N x…. I love, love your recipes! I had these crackers at my daughters house and we loved them (store-bought). I tried to find them online but they were $7-$10 a small pack! ugh! So I found your recipe here and cannot WAIT to try it! Simple ingredients. Your photos are beautiful, as well. Thank you so very much for sharing your wonderful recipe! Cheers!
Do you have any suggestions on keeping the fruit and nuts throughout the loaf? Mine all sank to the bottom.
Oh no Kirsty – that’s definitely not right. Sounds like your batter was too thin – did you mis measure somewhere? N x
Ooh that combo sounds delish!
I made mine with date/orange and sunflower seeds. I baked them in two mini loaf pans, so they are a bit more square. One for now and one for later. I did not manage to cut them quite as thin as yours but they are perfectly crispy and delicious.
The crackers have gone soft. How long and at what temperature (fan) should I bake them for (to become crisp again)?
Crunchy with cranberry sweetness and a hint of spice. Perfect.
I’m so happy you love them Awais! N x
Is 21x11x7cm height x width x depth? I’m so keen to try these, they’re so expensive at the supermarket!!
Hi Emma, 7cm is the height here 🙂 N x
These. Not only are they a staple in our house for when we want to make a simple cheese plate special, they make the most impressive little gift. I bag these up in cellophane bags with twine and take them to people’s gatherings.
Easy, amazing
Will not be buying crackers again
Hi , love a good cracker , these sound delicious, do you think I could put them in a dehydrator
Nagi, does it have to be cows milk? I am lactose intolerant – could it be plant based milk or lactose free milk?
Yes that will work fine Nicki!! N x
This recipe is awesome. I’ve now made:
Cranberry & sunflower seeds
Apricot & sunflower seeds
Fig & pistachio
Apricot & cashews
Blueberry & sunflower seeds
Apple & walnut
All fantastic and when I say I’ve made them, everyone has asked for the recipe. Thanks Nagi.
Did you change any of the spices used or just the fruit and nuts? Also did you use fresh or dried blueberries? Thanks!
Sorry Erin, I missed your question. From memory I omitted the tumeric for one batch and swapped All Spice for Nutmeg in another batch.
Hi Anne, did you still use the same quantity of Apricots as cranberries? Was this the same for Pistachios for sunflower seeds?
Yes, same quantities, just different ingredients.
I guess if you wanted round crackers you could cook the mix in a couple of the old fashioned round loaf tins or in cleaned fruit cans? Love the recipe. I have a batch in the oven now to have with cheese and my pear paste.
I love the idea of the fruit cans. I did buy a tin that gave me smaller biscuits and I looked at a nut load tin but was worried I wouldn’t be able to get the mixture out after it was baked.
Nagi I have made this before and we love them. We are going to have them with some cheese after dinner tonight
These look great! 😀
Do we have to cool and freeze? Or can we go straight to baking after the first bake?
Hi Christiana, you need to cool and freeze to be able to thinly slice them 🙂 N x
Thank you for this recipe Nagi, I’m a fan of your cooking. These are even better than the store bought ones you mentioned! Made these for my cheese board when we had people over last night and they were a great hit with many requests for the recipe which I happily passed on!
Nagi, this was an easy and delicious recipe. I just made them by halving the ingredients (a smaller batch), turned out great. Thank you!