Christmas Crackers, thin savory sheets ideal for accompanying your appetizers during the holidays. Starting from the recipe for classic crackers using simple Christmas-themed cookie cutters you can create fun crackers that will accompany you throughout the Advent season. They will be a fun idea for your kids to take to school as a snack, to make cheerful themed aperitifs or simply excellent low-fat snacks.
They keep very well for days closed in tin boxes or in containers with a lid, their taste is truly unique and genuine.
The cooking is very quick and takes only a few minutes, before baking them, we will brush the surface with an emulsion of oil and a little water, you can then sprinkle them with a bit of salt to make them even tastier, but they will be excellent even without it.
This recipe uses sourdough but if you don’t have it, just replace the grams of sourdough with 2g of yeast, 100g of all-purpose flour, and 50g of water. The sourdough for this recipe can be refreshed even in the two previous days as long as it maintains a good leavening.
Add the water in the dough little by little because you might need a little less or a bit more, you have to adjust to get a soft, hydrated dough that’s not sticky. I’ve indicated the amount of water I used to prepare them.
Do these remind you of any other snacks ideal for appetizers and aperitifs?
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Rest time: 6 Hours
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 30 crackers
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 56.99 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 7.38 (g) of which sugars 0.12 (g)
- Proteins 1.13 (g)
- Fat 2.71 (g) of which saturated 0.37 (g)of which unsaturated 1.73 (g)
- Fibers 0.15 (g)
- Sodium 91.70 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 17 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 5.3 oz sourdough starter
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp water
- to taste salt
Tools
You can prepare the dough by hand, but for convenience, I recommend using a stand mixer, and for cutting the Christmas crackers, I suggest using themed cookie cutters.
- 1 Stand Mixer Howork
- Cookie Cutters
Preparation
Put in the stand mixer or on the work surface all the ingredients required for the dough except the water.
Mix to combine, gradually add the water being careful that the dough does not become too sticky, you might need a little less or a few grams more than expected. Adjust until you obtain a well-hydrated and soft dough that is not sticky.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and round it a bit to place it in a container to rise.
Lightly oil the container where you will let the dough rest and cover well with a lid or cling film, making sure no air gets in.
Let your dough rise until doubled in size in a closed place like a turned-off oven to avoid temperature fluctuations. With the cold weather having arrived, it took me about 8 hours to achieve the result, and it was too late to bake, so I calmly took the dough and put it in the fridge until the next morning when I baked.
This is to explain that long rises are not an obstacle to your life, rather, they adapt better because you can extend them a bit.
When your dough has doubled, place it on a lightly floured work surface and divide it into three parts.
Roll out each piece of dough into a thin sheet; the thinner you can roll it, the better it should be around 1/16 inch because cutting it will cause it to puff up a bit. You can help yourself by dusting with flour but not too much to avoid drying the dough too much. Once you reach a certain thinness, I recommend rolling it up on the rolling pin and transferring it onto a sheet of parchment paper. The parchment paper will allow you to continue thinning it a little more without adding more flour.
On the same sheet of parchment paper, you can proceed to cut out your crackers.
Cut out your crackers using the cookie cutters you prefer; I used the Christmas tree and the Star of Bethlehem, but there are many shapes suitable for Christmas.
Prepare the oil and water emulsion by mixing them in a small container and stirring roughly with a kitchen brush.
Brush your crackers with the emulsion, ensuring an even but light application.
Sprinkle the crackers with salt and transfer them along with the parchment paper to the baking tray. Poke the surfaces of all crackers with a fork to prevent them from puffing up too much during baking.
Bake in a preheated oven at 392°F for about 12 minutes or until golden.
NOTES
You can keep your crackers in airtight containers, and they will remain crispy for many days. You can avoid adding salt on the surface if you have issues with excessive salt intake because they will still be flavorful with the salt already in the dough.
They are also great for making canapés because poking the surface before baking will keep them relatively flat.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use other flours in the dough?
They come out delicious with semolina flour as well, making them even crispier, but if you use semolina or whole wheat flour, you’ll definitely need to add a bit more water to the dough. It should be a soft and hydrated dough without sticking.
