Buttered Saltine Crunch Cookie

I sat on the cream linoleum floor, curled up next to the cast iron wood stove to warm my frozen toes fresh from my sopping wet boots. I had just come in from an afternoon in the snow, exploring the woods at my grandma's house in northern Michigan. The afternoon of this memory isn't one snowy day in particular. It's an entire season filled with memories of American Girl books, Anne of Avonlea rentals, and this flavor memory I hold so dearly.

Buttered saltine crackers in my grandma's kitchen.

This spring, I enrolled in Christina Tosi's Monthly course on creative baking. I wanted to flex my culinary education muscles and get inspired by someone I admire while creating a collection of baking courses due out over the next year. The goal of the course is to learn Christina’s recipes and then be inspired to write your own. Honestly, the only recipe I’ve ever taken 100% credit for writing from scratch is the Martian Mallow sundae at Scoops, the ice cream shop I worked at in high school. Other than that, my recipes have been minor riffs on other recipes I've known and loved.

While this recipe starts with a riff on a recipe from the class, it digs deep into my own flavor story centered around this memory. Entire sleeves of Saltines, being devoured along with a sidecar of Fleishman's. My cookie goals were as follows.

1. To mimic the crunchy familiar feeling of the crackers.

2. To fill the flour with the powdery saltiness that is signature to Saltines.

3. Nail the gooeyness of room temperature butter slathered on those perfect little bites.

This recipe, of course, is Everybody approved with variations from traditional to gluten and dairy free. Choose your ingredient list below and get baking!

Please note, I'm going to be writing recipes using grams instead of cups measurements for dry ingredients from now on. I highly recommend you purchase a kitchen scale. I've had this scale for over a decade, bought on a whim from the clearance section at Sur La Table - it has not disappointed!

Buttered Saltine Crunch Cookie

jump to your ingredients of choice: TRADITIONAL | GLUTEN-FREE | VEGAN | GLUTEN & DAIRY FREE

🥐traditional

Ingredients for the Brown Butter Saltine Crunch

65 g Saltines
15 g non-fat milk powder (1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp)
2 g kosher salt (3/4 tsp)
50 g browned butter

Ingredients for the Buttered Saltine Crunch Cookie

225 g unsalted butter, at room temperature (2 sticks)
300 g granulated sugar
100 g light brown sugar
1 egg
130g All-purpose flour
130g ground saltine crackers
3 g baking soda (1/4 tsp)
5 g kosher salt (1 1/2 tsp)
65 g mini marshmallows
60g panko bread crumbs (about a ½ cup)

🌈gluten free

Ingredients for the Brown Butter Saltine Crunch

65 g Schär Gluten-Free Table Crackers
15 g non-fat milk powder (1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp)
2 g kosher salt (3/4 tsp)
50 g browned butter

Ingredients for the Buttered Saltine Crunch Cookie

225 g unsalted butter, at room temperature (2 sticks)
300 g granulated sugar
100 g light brown sugar
1 egg

GF Flour Blend:

40g White Rice Flour
24g Cornstarch
22g Brown Rice Flour
20g Tapioca Starch
18g Non-Fat Dry Milk
4g Potato Starch
3g Xanthan Gum

130g ground Schär Gluten-Free Table Crackers

3 g baking soda (1/4 tsp)

5 g kosher salt (1 1/2 tsp)

65 g mini marshmallows

60g gluten-free panko bread crumbs (like Kikkoman brand)

✨vegan

Ingredients for the Brown Butter Saltine Crunch

65 g Saltines
15 g soy milk or coconut milk powder (1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp)
2 g kosher salt (3/4 tsp)
50 g browned butter (Use Miyoko's European-style vegan butter - it's the only one that will brown due to nut-based proteins)

Ingredients for the Buttered Saltine Crunch Cookie

225 g unsalted vegan butter, at room temperature (2 sticks)
300 g granulated sugar
100 g light brown sugar

Equivalent of 1 egg

Mix 1.5 tablespoons water + 1.5 tablespoons coconut oil + 1 tsp baking powder

130g All-purpose flour

130g ground saltine crackers

3 g baking soda (1/4 tsp)

5 g kosher salt (1 1/2 tsp)

65 g mini marshmallows

60g panko bread crumbs (about a ½ cup)

💯gluten & dairy free

Ingredients for the Brown Butter Saltine Crunch

65 g Schär Gluten-Free Table Crackers

15 g soy milk or coconut milk powder (1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp)

2 g kosher salt (3/4 tsp)

50 g browned vegan butter (Use Miyoko's European-style vegan butter - it's the only one that will brown due to nut-based proteins)

Ingredients for the Buttered Saltine Crunch Cookie

225 g unsalted vegan butter, at room temperature (2 sticks)

300 g granulated sugar

100 g light brown sugar

Equivalent of 1 egg

Mix 1.5 tablespoons water + 1.5 tablespoons coconut oil + 1 tsp baking powder

GF Flour Blend:

40g White Rice Flour
24g Cornstarch
22g Brown Rice Flour
20g Tapioca Starch
18g Non-Fat Dry Milk
4g Potato Starch
3g Xanthan Gum

130g ground Schär Gluten-Free Table Crackers

3 g baking soda (1/4 tsp)

5 g kosher salt (1 1/2 tsp)

65 g mini marshmallows

60g gluten-free panko bread crumbs (like Kikkoman brand)

Materials

Stand mixer

Kitchen scale

Small and medium bowls and containers

Spatula

2 3/4 oz cookie scoop or 1/3 cup measure

Parchment paper

Sheet pan

Instructions

Make the Brown Butter Saltine Crunch

Preheat your oven to 275° F
To brown your butter, melt in a saucepan over medium-low heat until the butter becomes nutty golden brown. (For a tutorial, Sallys Baking Addiction has a great one). Set aside until you're ready to use.
Place the crackers in a bowl and crush them with your hands until they are in half-inch or smaller pieces.
Add the milk powder and salt and toss to mix.
Pour butter over crackers and toss to coat, then spread the mixture evenly on a sheet pan lined with parchment.
Bake for 20 minutes and cool before incorporating it into your cookie dough. Pieces should be golden brown and have a soft crunch when cooled.

Make your cookie dough.

Preheat the oven to 375° F.
Weigh out your saltine crackers and place them into a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process until crackers are fine and powdery.
Add the butter and sugar to your mixer bowl. Cream together at medium to high speed for 3 minutes using the paddle attachment.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle, add the egg, and beat on high for 7-8 minutes.
Measure your flour, pulverized cracker crumbs, baking soda, and salt together and sift them together with a fork to distribute everything together.
With the mixer on low, add dry ingredients. Mix for about 1 minute and then scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure every bit of the butter-sugar mix is incorporated with the flour mix until there is no dry flour bits in the bowl.
Add your Brown Butter Cracker Bits and mini marshmallows on low speed for about one minute until evenly distributed.
Using a 2 3⁄4 oz ice cream scoop (or you can measure each cookie on your scale to be 2.75 oz), scoop one portion of your dough, and roll in a bowl of panko bread crumbs. Place on a sheet pan lined with parchment and push down on the top slightly so the cookie dough balls look like small hockey pucks. These cookies do spread when baked, so be sure to leave about 2 inches between each cookie on the sheet.
Refrigerate for 10 minutes, then bake for 12 minutes or until the top starts to be golden brown. Take the cookies out of the oven but do not remove a cookie from the pan for 10-15 minutes. These cookies are super soft, but hard as they cool. If you try to remove them from the pan too soon, they'll fall apart. However, this is key to the ooey-gooey factor, so it's totally worth it.