Animal Crackers -

Animal Crackers

You'll never buy processed animal crackers again after making these healthier animal crackers. These crispy cookies made with maple syrup will become one of your kids favorite refined sugar free cookies. And they will become one of your favorites to make since these are simple 4 ingredient healthy cookies. Grab the printable version of the recipe in my free e-book here.

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Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 14

Mixing Time: 5

Total Time: 24

Servings: Cookies

Calories: 60kcal

Equipment

1 Stand Mixer
1 Rolling pin with thickness guide rings
1 Pack Animal Cracker Cookie Cutters or your choice of cookie cutters

Ingredients

170 g butter unsalted, softened
100 g maple syrup or try this no-chill cut-out cookie recipe made with honey
350 g flour
1/8 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit and pull out two baking sheets.
Add softened butter and maple syrup to the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle or spatula attachment on your mixer, mix on medium speed until fully creamed together.
Add salt and 1/3 of the flour to the bowl. Mix on low and then medium speed just until combined. Add another third of the flour and mix again. Add the rest of the flour and mix until fully combined.
Lay a large piece of parchment paper on a flat surface. Do not add flour or you may dry out your dough.
Grab half of the cookie dough and place it on your parchment paper. Flatten dough with your hands as much as possible first, then use the rolling pin to even out the surface. This will help to prevent stretching the dough and creating cracks.
Roll to 1/4 inch thickness.
*See note.
Using your cookie cutters of choice, cut out your cookies and transfer them to your baking sheets. They should come off of the parchment paper easily, but if they do not, stick a stainless steel dough scraper or spatula in the freezer for a couple of minutes, and then use it to gently scrape the cookies off of the parchment paper.
*See note for additional tips.
Bake in the preheated oven for 12-14 minutes for roughly two-inch size cookies. Cookies are done when the edges are starting to brown and the bottoms are browning around the edges.
*See note.
Allow cookies to cool for five minutes before removing from the baking sheets, then cool completely on a plate or cooling wrack. Make sure to give them ample time to cool down before serving or storing.
Cookies can be stored in a sealed container or plastic bag for up to 5 days on the counter or up to two weeks in the fridge.

Notes

If you use salted butter, omit the salt from the recipe.
There is no need to chill this cookie dough. If you need to make this ahead and store it in the fridge, you will need to set it out to soften to room temperature again before rolling and cutting it.
I highly recommend using a rolling pin like this one that has thickness guide rings to get an even surface when rolling your cookies.
It is helpful to keep the temperature of your kitchen below 75 degrees Fahrenheit while rolling and cutting out your cookies. This prevents the butter in the cookie dough from becoming as melty and hard to work with/pick up off of the parchment paper.
Alternatively, you can keep the portion of dough you are not working with in the fridge, covered, until you need it. Keep in mind that if you leave it in the fridge for too long, it will become hard and need to soften back up.
Note that the size of cookie cutters you use may change your necessary baking time. I have used medium-sized cookie cutters and small cookie cutters and baked them for 12-14 minutes for the perfect crispness without burning. If you use regular-large size cookie cutters, you may need to bake them longer. If your pan is really crowded that may also increase the bake time.

Nutrition

NaturallySweetenedKids.com