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!
I’m making these right now and they have been baking 40 min and toothpick is still not clean. Anyone else have to bake them much longer. Love all your recipes!
Yes! I’ve been making this recipe since the first version came out. I found increasing the temperature to 375°f and time to 45 mins works best for me. I love this recipe and get lots of requests for it.
The Best crackers. Just need to fine tune my cooking time for cracker crispness. I love them but my husband can’t get enough of them!
Thank Nagi
I am glad you enjoyed it Anna! N x
What ratio would you recommend for cracked pepper and rosemary biscuits please and would i leave the other ingredients the same ?
Hi JC – that would be a different recipe entirely. You could always double the pepper quantity to increase the pepper flavour in these. N x
These crackers are awesome! Thanks for a winner of a recipe!
So glad you enjoyed them Lisa! N x
Thanks so much for this recipe Nagi. I’ve been making these since you shared the recipe last year. I baked them yesterday & the 3 loaves are now in the freezer ready to be sliced & baked for the upcoming busy entertaining season.
You are smart to think ahead! N x
I just love this recipe Nagi. I have made it loads of times. I now give them away as gifts, everyone loves them and asks for more. Thank you
Hi Nagi,
Could I use self raising wholemeal flour as I have some left & dont really want to by more wholemeal flour at this time.
Hi Kim, you can, I would reduce the bi-carb to 1/2 tsp as well as the flour has raising agent in it already. N x
Thanks Nagi. Made these per the instructions, only change was all wholemeal self raising flour, leaving out the bi-carb. However once they cooled I’ve put them in a plastic container and within 20 mins they have gone soft. Please help me save my delicious crakers.
Do you have a recipe for biscotti?
There is a search bar on the website
Onto my third batch (blueberry and pumpkin seed for this lot), and will never buy the exxy shop ones again. I happen to have a $2 flea-market tin that makes them exactly the same size as the ones I usually buy, so nobody would know I’d made them, except I’m prancing around telling everyone how magical I am!
Thank you, Nagi. I don’t know how you do it. <3
Delicious!
Could I sub the yogurt for sour cream (that’s what I have right now & I want to make them again-without going to the shop!)
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