GONE CRACKERS: DIY Christmas crackers are good, crispy, holiday fun

You can make tasty, artisan-style crackers yourself with these easy recipes!

It's easy to make your own artisan crackers — a great gift for food lovers!

By CINDA CHAVICH

When you’re planning a party menu, there’s the cheese tray, the charcuterie board, the creamy chicken liver parfait, the hummus and white bean slather — but beneath it all, there’s the cracker.

The base for all of the meats and cheeses and spreads is something crunchy to ferry all of that flavourful stuff from plate to mouth.

Sure, you can just open a box of those ubiquitous water crackers, or choose one of the great locally-made cracker brands — I’m thinking, of course, of the tasty handmade crackers from Victoria’s Jenny Marie’s Crackers (@jennymariescrackers), the crunchy, gluten-free seed cracker selection from Eve’s Crackers (@evescrackers), and chef Lesley Stowe’s Raincoast Crisps, from the artisan cracker maker who started it all from her Vancouver specialty foods store, and first took BC’s gourmet crackers to the world.

But today I’m enjoying my own version of the nutty, seedy, artisan cracker — thanks to my sister, Deanna, and a recipe she shared that was published in her local newspaper.

Deanna’s Christmas package arrived this week, and included two little loaves of pre-baked “crackers” — ready to slice and bake again.

It’s a savoury take on the twice-baked biscotti cookie idea — and a delicious addition to your holiday cheese or charcuterie boards. Loaded with tasty stuff, from dried cranberries to a variety of seeds and nuts, these crackers stand alone as tasty snacks but are also perfect to serve with Brie or goat cheese, even a slice of aged cheddar, on a holiday cheese board.

So, here’s Deanna’s recipe, and a few more I’ve discovered, so you can make your own artisan crackers at home, too!

CRANBERRY WALNUT ARTISAN CRACKERS

This is a recipe shared by my sister, Deanna, who found it in her local newspaper.

1 cup (250 ml) barley or whole wheat flour

1 cup (250 ml) all purposed flour

1 cup (250 ml) dried cranberries

½ cup (125 ml) chopped walnuts

½ cup (125 ml) pumpkin seeds

¼ cup (65 ml) ground flax seed

2 tsp (10 ml) baking soda

1 tsp (5 ml) dried rosemary

½ tsp (2 ml) salt

½ tsp (2 ml) dried thyme

¼ tsp (1 ml) cinnamon

¼ tsp (1 ml) ground nutmeg

Pinch of black pepper

2 cups (500 ml) buttermilk

½ cup (65 ml) packed brown sugar

3 tbsp (45 ml) pure maple syrup

2 tsp (10 ml) fresh lemon zest

1 tbsp (15 ml) whole flaxseed

Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C). Grease two 9X5 inch (23X13 cm) loaf pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper. You can also use 8X4-inch pans or mini loaf pans (if the latter, reduce baking time to 20-25 minutes).

In a large bowl, stir together all of the dry ingredients (flour to pepper).

In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, brown sugar, maple syrup and lemon zest. Add this to the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined.

Divide the batter between the loaf pans, smoothing the tops with an offset spatula. Sprinkle the flax seeds on top.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden and springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and let cook in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove from the pans and let cool completely on a wire rack. Once cooled, wrap the loaves tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for at least two hours or overnight.

Slice partially frozen loaves into 1/8=-inch crackers and bake until crisp

Preheat the oven to 300 F (150 C). Line two baking sheets with parchment.

Using a serrated knife, slice the loaves (they should still be partially frozen) as thinly as possible, ideally 1/8 inch thick. Place the slices in a single layer on the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes then remove from the oven, flip the crackers over and bake another 15 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks.

Store crackers in an airtight containers for a week or freeze for longer storage. Each loaf makes about 40 crackers.

ROSEMARY SEA SALT CRACKERS

I'm sharing a recipe published on the BC Farms & Food site — flavoured with fresh herbs and rolled into oval crackers, “like the best artisan bakery flatbreads.”

Yield: Makes 36 crackers (5-by-15-centimetre, or 2-by-6-inch oval crackers)

1 3/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

zest of 2 lemons (optional)

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 cup water

olive oil for brushing

chunky sea salt

Preheat the oven to 450ºF (230ºC). The oven must be very hot before baking.

Use a fine grater to zest the lemons. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, lemon zest, and rosemary. Make a well in the center and add the oil and water, stirring gradually. When the dough becomes soft and shaggy, knead it gently a few times to form a smooth ball.

Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Work one piece at a time, keeping the others covered with plastic. Divide a piece into 6 smaller pieces.

Two ways to roll out the dough:

1. Using a rolling pin, on a piece of parchment paper, roll out each piece of dough into an oval shape, dusting with flour as needed. It’s important to roll the dough as thin as possible—so thin you can almost make out work surface beneath it. The thinner the dough, the crispier the cracker.

2. Or, use a pasta machine to roll out each piece of dough. The machine helps to get very thin, crispy results—usually at its fifth setting. Run a piece of dough 3 times through on the first pasta machine setting. Each time, add flour and fold over the dough. Run the dough 1–2 times through the #2 and #3 settings on the machine. Add flour if needed to keep the dough smooth and pliable. Finally, run the dough through on setting #5. You should end up with a thin-as-pasta oval of dough.

Place the rolled ovals on an oiled tray. Lightly brush each cracker with olive oil, and sprinkle sparingly with chunky sea salt.

Bake 5-7 minutes until crisp and golden brown at the edges.

Store crackers in an airtight container for up to 3 days. You can also freeze these crackers in airtight bags for up to 6 months.

HEMP & FLAX CRACKERS

This recipe for gluten free crackers comes from the Canadian hemp growers at Manitoba Harvest.

1/2 cup of almond meal

1/2 cup of ground flax meal

3 tablespoons Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts

1 tablespoon coconut flour

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 tablespoons of organic unsalted butter (melted)

1 large egg

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Mix almond meal, flax meal, Hemp Hearts, coconut flour and fine sea salt in a large bowl.

Pour melted butter and large egg over the dry ingredients and mix well to combine with a fork until dough comes together in a ball (you may need to use your hands).

Roll the crackers out with a rolling pin or between parchment paper.

Use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut into small squares and sprinkle with a pinch of additional sea salt.

Bake for 30 minutes or until completely dry and crisp.

Cool on cooking rack and store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

©CindaChavich2025