One fish.
Two fish.
Red fish.
Blue fish.
Say! What a lot of fish there are.
-Dr Seuss
Quoting a beloved childhood author seemed a fitting way to begin a post about a beloved childhood snack: goldfish crackers! Or, as Pepperidge Farm says, they are “the snack that smiles back.”
I drew on the smiles.
But these homemade goldfish crackers—filled with whole grains, fiber, vitamins, and deliciousness—are surely smiling inside.
The recipe was inspired by (and heavily adapted from) an adorable cookbook called Classic Snacks Made from Scratch, by Casey Barber. Her recipes are neither vegan nor particularly healthy; but the photos are super-cute, and I love flipping through the book for ideas. Next on my “healthy makeover” list are Klondike Bars, pudding pops, and Milano Cookies. Today, we are going with the goldfish: they taste more rustic (and less “fake”) than goldfish crackers from a store, yet they are just as delicious!
Healthy White Cheddar Vegan Goldfish
- 1 cup spelt or all-purpose flour (Bob’s gluten-free will work here) (130g)
- 1 1/8 tsp salt (If you don’t like salty crackers, decrease to 3/4 tsp)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- optional: pinch turmeric for color
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp milk of choice (75g)
- 3 tbsp coconut or vegetable oil (30g)
Preheat oven to 375 F. Combine first five ingredients in a bowl, and stir together. Mix in remaining ingredients until evenly incorporated. Transfer to bag and smush into a ball, then roll out between two sheets of parchment paper. Cut goldfish shapes, either with a goldfish cookie cutter or with a knife. (I cut them out carefully with a knife. After the first few, I gave up with the goldfish and cut the rest out with a circle cookie cutter.) Cook on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 10-11 minutes. The yield will depend on the size of the cookie cutter you use (about 150 of the size shown in the photos). Thicker dough means puffier crackers; thinner dough yields crispier crackers.
Question of the Day:
Do you like Goldfish crackers?
Cheeze-Its, Cheez Doodles, and Goldfish were some of my sister’s favorite snacks when we were growing up. Me? I rarely ate any non-chocolate snack foods. I have a theory that my sister subconsciously developed a taste for salty, cheesy snacks as a defense mechanism when I refused to share any of the chocolate!
Link of the Day:
I was never in love with goldfish, but i ate them anyways b/c i didnt know about sodium or refined flour or tbhq for freshness. But i do have two interesting stories about goldfish. One time we bought a big box of goldfish but we barely ate any of it. One day my mom decreed that we werent allowed to eat any other snacks until we ate all the goldfish. So for the rest of the day, practically the only thing we did was eat goldfish and water. It sucked.
Another time we had to write a letter to pepperidge farm to persuade them to make another goldfish color. This was a school project. How the hell am i supppsed to say i want blue goldfish and not not sound ridiculous
Where is the cheese?
Nutritional yeast has a “cheesy” flavor.
The nutritional yeast provides the cheesy flavour
Yum, these sound amazing! I have just recently tried nutritional yeast for the first time and really liked it, and loved goldfish when I was little.
Is there anything I could substitute for the nutritional yeast? I don’t necessarily need a vegan option either. Thanks!! If I can substitute the yeast somehow I would love to try these! 🙂
What do you mean by “transfer to bag and smush into a ball”? Is it a special bag for making dough? Btw this recipe sounds delicious!
A bigger ziploc bag for example works like a charm. Or if you don’t mind getting your hands sticky you can just use your hands to smush the dough together.
As soon as I saw this recipe I went to the kitchen and made them! They are super easy and super delicious!!! I didn’t have a little fish cookie cutter (plus I was feeling pretty lazy and wanted to eat them as soon as possible!) so I just rolled it rolled and baked it as one giant cracker! Amazingly delicious! Thanks for such a great, easy, delicious and healthy recipe! You are the best!
Thank you so much for making them! I gave up on the goldfish look after I had enough for a photoshoot… the rest of mine became boring circles or rectangles :).
Is there any way to sub out the oil? I’m on a “no expelled oils” diet.
Maybe replace it with more non-dairy milk?
So, if I read the comments correctly, the nutritional yeast is for “cheesy” flavour only? I’m not familiar with nutritional yeast, sorry!
These are so cute! Absolutely adorable as always. I love that last photos with the one fish in focus and the rest blurred. 🙂
Hey Katie! I’ve noticed that a lot of your recipes call for nutritional yeast. I can’t find it anywhere here as I live in Paris. I’m not vegan, do you think I can substitute it for plain old shredded cheese? I understand that it will increase the calories, or can you think of any other substitute? 🙂 thanks
They do have nutritional yeast in France – it’s called levure malté.