A couple days ago I made Bittman’s parmesean cream crackers, and they were good, not great, but for my first attempt at crackers I did okay. Today, my mom came back with animal crackers, adapted from a recipe she found online. They contain oat and barley flour, which she milled herself from groats and barley, of course. My mom loves her grain mill.

Long story short, her crackers beat my crackers. The crumb has a great consistency, grainier than animal crackers in a good way, and the oat flavor was awesome. Must experiment more with oat flour, I see big potential here.

The recipe:

• 1 c. oat flour
• 1 c. barley flour
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. quick oats
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/8 c. honey
• 1/8 c. half & half or water

Preheat oven to 325° and line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine flours, oats, sugar, and salt in a food processor or large bowl, add butter and cut it in until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the honey, then the half & half slowly, using only enough to form a cohesive ball of dough.

Divide dough into two equal portions, roll them out to at least 1/4” thickness and up to 1/16” if you like really thin crackers. Transfer to the pan, and score the crackers with a sharp knife into whatever shape you like (or use animal cookie cutters if you have lots of time on your hands). Bake 20 minutes or until lightly browned, and cool on a rack. Makes two sheets worth of crackers.