Allergy-Friendly Animal Crackers (GAPS, Paleo, Grain-Free, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free, Soy-Free)

If you are on a special diet like GAPS, SCD, or Paleo, you can easily find recipes for crackers, and even pre-packaged store-bought items. However, if you also have allergies or food intolerances, it can be VERY difficult to find recipes that meet your dietary requirements. I have tried a few sunflower seed cracker recipes, and this one is by far the tastiest. My girls love these crackers, and I send them with Lily for a portable and non-messy preschool snack! They are slightly sweet and very crunchy, but not tough or chewy. These are great plain or dipped in yogurt or sunbutter. I think you could reduce the honey and add some herbs and spices to make a nice savory cracker to go with hummus or salmon salad. That will probably be my next experiment!

I adapted this recipe by replacing the almond flour with ground sunflower seeds and the butter with coconut oil. I also bake them initially at a lower temperature to keep them from getting too brown. The animal crackers were baked initially at 300 and the squares at 275, so you can experiment a bit to find your preference. I also use a bit less water. For half the batch I made them into animal crackers like Teddy or Bunny Grahams. Aren’t they cute?

However, it is verrrrrry tedious to cut out the dough and transfer it to a baking sheet. So, I prefer to put a piece of wax paper over the dough and roll it directly on a baking sheet, then peel away the wax paper and score them into little squares. Alternately I have rolled them between two pieces of wax paper and then transferred them to the baking sheet upside down (so that you can peel away the wax paper that was underneath. Does that makes sense??)  When they are done baking, it is super simple to just snap them apart at the lines.

I photographed these on a tiny plate, so there’s nothing to give you an idea of scale, but these are about 1 to 1 1/2 inch squares that are just right for toddler hands, but you could make them full-size for s’mores, like in the original link. Yum!

The first step in making these crackers is to soak (or sprout) and dehydrate your sunflower seeds. There are lots of articles online that go into detail about why, but in a nutshell (haha), soaking nuts and seeds makes them easier to digest and the nutrients easier to absorb. For sunflower seeds, I add about 2 teaspoons of salt to 4 cups of raw sunflower seeds, soak for 7 hours, rinse (or not), then dehydrate at 105 degrees for 24 hours. You can also dry them in your oven on the lowest setting, being careful not to burn them. Or, buy them already sprouted. I’ve seen this brand locally.

Ok, enough chatter…here’s my adapted recipe!

Allergy-Friendly Animal Crackers (GAPS Friendly, Paleo, Grain-Free, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free, Soy-Free)

 

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Ingredients

• 1½ cups ground sunflower seeds
• 6 tbsp coconut flour
• 1 tbsp gelatin
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 heaping tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ cup coconut oil
• 5 tbsp honey
• 3 tbsp water
• ½ tsp vanilla

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. In food processor mix the ground sunflower seeds, coconut flour, gelatin, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
3. Add the coconut oil and blend until smooth and moist.
4. Mix in the honey, water, and vanilla.
5. At this point if the dough is too moist (and it probably will be), slowly add in small amounts of coconut flour until you get a dough ball that is not too sticky, but not too dry to roll.
6. Option 1: Put the dough down on a piece of wax paper, top with a second piece of wax paper (so the dough doesn't stick to your rolling pin) and roll the dough until it is about ⅛ inch thick. Then you can cut the dough into shapes and carefully transfer to the parchment lined baking sheet.
7. Option 2: Transfer the dough ball (or half the dough ball, depending on the size of your baking sheet) to the parchment lined baking sheet. Place a piece of wax paper on top of the dough ball, roll until about ⅛ inch thick, remove the wax paper, and score the dough into squares.
8. With either option, bake for 20-30 minutes until the dough begins to brown on the edges and the top.
9. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
10. The crackers will still be soft at this point. The magic happens next!
11. Once cool, preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Return the crackers to the oven for about 2½ to 3 hours until the crackers are golden and dry. This is the step that makes them crunchy!
12. Enjoy!

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• cute little cookie cutters – these are adorable, but make sure you promptly hand wash and dry them or they will rust!
• dough scraper – I used this to score the lines to make square crackers
• nifty rolling pin – you can set the thickness of your dough with the little rings at the end
• gelatin – a great egg replacer and thickener for yogurt too!
• real salt – I sometimes buy it locally as well
• ceylon cinnamon – read up on why to opt for ceylon