Multigrain Crackers

Cooking for toddlers is a frustrating endeavor.  You put in some serious thought, make something you’re sure they’ll love…and they chew it a little bit, then spit it on the floor.  But I think I’ve finally figured out a trick.  Things in cracker form are almost always accepted, and maybe even begged for. 

Remember our whole wheat cheddar crackers?  The ones that made random, unknown toddlers tug on my pants and ask “more? more?”   These multigrain crackers seem to work the same magic!

These are even better, though, because they are easily transformed to an adult snack.  Cheese, a fresh basil leaf, and a quartered cherry tomato creates a perfect summer snack for late afternoon.

These have a lot of texture from the oats and whole wheat flour, then a little crunch from the corn meal.  Make sure you roll the crackers out as THINLY as possible for the most cracker-like experience.  Our thicker crackers tasted a little more like pie crust than crackers.

Multigrain Crackers

• 3/4 whole wheat flour
• 1/4 c finely ground corn meal
• 1/4 c oats
• 1 Tbs. sugar
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. paprika
• 4 Tbs. cold butter, cut into small cubes
• ¼ c. water

Preheat oven to 400.

Start with the oats in a food processor and pulse until the oats are grainy sand textured. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and pulse to combine.  Sprinkle the cold butter cubes, then turn on the processor and drizzle in the water.  The dough should pull together into a ball; add slightly more water if necessary.

Roll out the dough ON a cookie sheet that’s been lined with parchment or foil.  This way you don’t have to move the crackers after they’re cut out. Roll the dough as THINLY as you possibly can.  This is really the trick to the recipe – roll them thinly. I found it was easier to roll the dough in two batches – working with smaller amounts of dough helped me roll it more thinly.  Use a pizza cutter to score the rolled out dough into squares of 1 or 1.5”

Bake at 400 for 5-10 minutes.  After 5 minutes begin checking – the crackers on the outer edges may finish first.  Remove them and return the center crackers to finish baking.  They're done when they turn golden brown on the edges – it happens fast, so watch closely to learn how your oven treats theses crackers.

Thank you to Kitchen Stewardship for the recipe inspiration!