Healthy Homemade Chocolate Teddy Grahams
These cute bear-shaped snack crackers are absolutely irresistible! They’re crunchy and lightly sweetened with the perfect amount of chocolate flavor. They’ll keep for at least one week (if not longer!) if stored in an airtight container. This recipe is easily doubled to serve more too!
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (90g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- ¼ cup (20g) unsweetened cocoa powder (measured like this)
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp (45mL) pure maple syrup (room temperature)
- 2 ½ tbsp (37mL) water (room temperature)
- 1 tsp coconut oil, melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Make a well in the center. Pour in the maple syrup, water, and coconut oil (in that order). Stir until all of the ingredients are fully incorporated. (It will take some extra effort at the end!)
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured silicone baking mat, and roll it to be 1/16” thick with a silicone rolling pin. (See Notes!) Carefully cut out teddy bear shapes with a miniature bear cookie cutter. Transfer the cut-outs to the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake the Teddy Grahams at 350°F for 15-20 minutes or until crunchy. Cool completely to room temperature on the baking sheet before transferring to an airtight container.
Notes
IMPORTANT MEASURING NOTE – READ BEFORE BEGINNING: It’s extremely important to measure both the flour and the cocoa powder correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale (← that’s the one I own!). Too much of either will dry out the dough. Too much cocoa powder will also make the Teddy Grahams taste bitter.
If the dough won’t come together after a few minutes of stirring and working in the ingredients, add additional water, ½ teaspoon at a time, until all of the dry ingredients are incorporated.
IMPORTANT FLAVOR NOTE – READ BEFORE BEGINNING: These aren't overly sweet — and that's intentional! They're meant to be snack crackers, not dessert cookies. If you'd prefer a sweeter flavor, then substitute additional pure maple syrup (or honey or agave) for an equal amount of water. (For example, use an additional 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, for 4 tablespoons total, and decrease the water to 1 ½ tablespoons.)
IMPORTANT STEP 3 NOTES – READ BEFORE BEGINNING: I highly recommend using a silicone baking mat and a silicone rolling pin. ← Those are the inexpensive ones that I own (just the rolling pin in black), and they’re worth every penny. The silicone material prevents the dough from sticking to both your work surface and your rolling pin, and it makes the whole process go so much faster!
If you don’t have a silicone baking mat and silicone rolling pin, then lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin before rolling out the dough in Step 3. (You'll likely need to use noticeably more flour to ensure the dough doesn't stick to either one.)
The leftover dough may be recombined and rolled out to cut out more bears. If it’s too dry to stick together, moisten your hands with a little water before kneading it back together.
BEAR-SHAPED COOKIE CUTTER NOTE + ALTERNATIVE: I bought my itty bitty teddy bear cookie cutters online here, and I absolutely love them! I used the middle-sized bear, which was almost exactly the same size as the original Teddy Grahams.
If you prefer, you may slice the dough into squares instead after rolling it out. The squares generally take longer to bake. This is because the bear cut-outs sit on the countertop for a longer period of time while you punch out the rest, so the dough begins to dry out a bit. (That’s perfectly fine! It just means they don’t require as long to finish baking and turn crunchy in the oven.)
FLOUR ALTERNATIVES: Whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour. In a pinch, regular whole wheat flour may also be substituted, but the Teddy Grahams will have a more distinct “wheat-y” flavor.
SWEETENER ALTERNATIVES: Honey or agave may be substituted for the pure maple syrup.
COCONUT OIL ALTERNATIVES: Any neutral-tasting oil or melted unsalted butter may be substituted for the coconut oil.
EGG-FREE, DAIRY-FREE + VEGAN OPTION: No modifications needed!
GLUTEN-FREE OPTION: For the gluten-free flour, I recommend the following: ½ cup (60g) millet flour, 2 tablespoons (15g) tapioca starch, 2 tablespoons (15g) brown rice flour, and ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum. Many store-bought gluten-free blends (I like this one from Bob's Red Mill) should also work, if measured like this.
HOW TO STORE: Store leftover Teddy Grahams in an airtight container. They should last for at least 1 week (if not longer!) if stored at room temperature.
{gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, vegan, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?I'd love to hear what you think of it in a comment below! If you take a picture, tag @amys.healthy.baking on Instagram or use the hashtag #amyshealthybaking.