Our family loves Goldfish Crackers. They’re cute, fun, tasty, and easy all at the same time. Unfortunately, they’re also pretty unhealthful. Depending on the variety, they include unreal ingredients such as refined white flour, vegetable oils, refined sea salt, and refined sugar.
TRIM HEALTHY MAMA VERSION OF THIS RECIPE ON TJ’S TASTE
In an attempt to achieve more healthful cheesy fish cracker goodness, I searched the web. What I found was the same, basic, homemade fish cracker recipe (in one form or another) floating around out there that a million blogs copied and posted (and who’s the real genius behind it, I dunno). Unfortunately, even this basic recipe is plagued with white flour. Some call for whole wheat flour, but then add just enough all-purpose to make it taste better and look poofier. Still not what I was looking for.
So, I took that basic recipe and tweaked it until it got real (real food that is). I exchanged the unhealthful refined white flour with spelt flour, the table salt with real salt, added some more cheese to make it extra cheesy (I love cheese!), and a bit more butter (I love butter!) for binding. So there you have it–a fish cracker that is really yummy and really healthful!
Oh, and you don’t have to use fish cookie cutters. Any shape will do. You could even cut it out with a pizza cutter or knife to make squares or rectangles if you don’t have any cookie cutters you can use. Or get creative…look at other kitchen tools and use them to cut shapes.
TRIM HEALTHY MAMA VERSION OF THIS RECIPE ON TJ’S TASTE
Healthful Homemade Goldfish Crackers
Ingredients
- 1/2 c. spelt flour
- 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
- 1-1/4 c. cheese, shredded
- 5 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 1 tsp. Real Salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1/4 tsp. onion powder
- 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 to 4 tbsp. cold water
Instructions
- In a food processor, add the flours, cheese, butter, salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Pulse together. A crumbly mixture will result.
- Gradually add the water, one tablespoon at a time, adding just enough that the dough begins to clump together.
- Remove the dough and press into a disk. Put in an airtight container and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
- Roll the dough to about 1/8 inch thickness (flour your work surface and rolling pin if necessary). Using a fish-shaped (or any other shape) cookie cutter, cut the dough.
- Place the cut-out pieces on an ungreased baking sheet.
- Bake at 350° F for about 15 minutes or until golden and crispy.
I’ll definitely have to try this recipe for my kids. They love Goldfish. Spelt flour is my favorite! I also have some graham flour that I need to use. Maybe to make the graham cracker goldfish?? Thanks for sharing your healthy version of this snack.
Thanks for sharing this, I am always looking for a healthy snack for my 2 year old. We are going to have to try this out 🙂
Just learning about different flours. Why use 1/2 spelt and 1/2 whole wheat? Could these be made with all wheat?
That’s just to up the nutritive value without it tasting too “nutty” from using all spelt. It works just as well using all wheat. 🙂