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:
Can’t do yeast. NO yeast. Am considering subbing ground nuts for the nutritional yeast. And ideas about that notion?!? Must.make.these.crackers…!!!
You can always experiment!
When I saw this recipe the other day, I was actually kinda creeped out.
About a week ago, I found a recipe for home made Cheez-Its (which are my favorite) and it was chock full of butter, but I bookmarked it anyway (I’m not vegan) because at least they wouldn’t be full of chemicals like their pre-packaged counterparts. I thought about them a couple times, I couldn’t wait till I had the time to make them! I looked here a couple days later, and I saw this recipe. I began to wonder–How did she know that I was looking for cheesy, crispy, home-made goodness? Can she see my browsing history? Does she now know about my Tiny Tim obsession? Is she going to post about that now too???
I’m so glad I didn’t have time to make that Cheez-It recipe when I found it, because I’m sure I would have been hooked on them. These just came out of the oven, and they are AMAZING. My roomies are never going to guess these are vegan! I may even let them think they are the butter-laden recipe I found last week just to see the look on their face when I reveal the truth! Bwahahahahahahaha! Muaaahahahahaha!!!
Haha too funny!
Katie, I love, love, LOVE Your recipes. I’ve tried a lot of your recipes and they all have been excellent! Except, this one. I’m sorry, but I just didn’t like this at all 🙁 I don’t know if it was the ground onion or nutritional yeast, but I ended up tossing it. I think I better stick to your chocolate recipes, because they are delish!! (and your pumpkin recipes, and your banana recipes, oatmeal recipes, cookie recipes, yeah, you get the point!…Yumm! Yumm!)
Make Milano Raspberry-Chocolate Cookies next! Please? They are so unhealthy but I can’t get away from them!
These look delicious! Do you know where I could get a small enough cookie cutter? lol
I use a similar recipe to make homemade dog treats for my puppy. Good to know they make tasty human treats too!
Can anyone suggest a brand of nutritional yeast that is not processed in a place that also produces tree nuts and peanuts (bobs red mill is) thanks. My son has allergies and would love to make these for him. Thanks!
Maybe Red Star?
My son HATED these, but has spent the past half hour playing with dough scraps, so I guess that’s a win. I’m currently risking eating all of these, and think they’d be great with soup.
Correction, he’s decided he likes the crackers, but they taste a little yuck when hot. Also, he liked squeezing the bag. I guess the moral of the story is that four-year-olds make crappy food critics.
I was just thinking today that I would love to bake cheeze-its! I love them but I try not to buy them because of the stuff they put in them. I also have an addiction to gold fish…who doesn’t?! 🙂
How are these vegan if they are made with milk?
It says “milk of choice”. That can mean non-dairy milk