They might not look like much, but the Trader Joe’s Norwegian crispbread crackers are seriously one of my favorite things on earth. They are the perfect cracker – extremely crisp but sturdy enough to hold some serious toppings, flavorful enough to eat on their own but not overwhelming when paired, and most of all, deeply satisfying and delicious. Plus they are essentially only seeds & whole grains, making them nutrient packed (but I promise they are so good, the health aspects is just a nice side bonus).

Upon doing some research, these are indeed not a Trader Joe’s creation, but in fact a longstanding recipe whose origins date back to the Viking time. Because this bread baked flat and dry and was full of nutrients, it was a top choice for travel, as it would last long periods of time and satiate whoever consumed it with little room taken up in their pack. A win-win-win-win (long lasting, easy to store, nutrient-packed, DELICIOUS).

And although I now know the crispbread was indeed made for journeys, my journey of transferring two buses in Brooklyn to get to Trader Joe’s, just to wait in a hour long line is well… not worth it. So let’s make out own! Being this is a longstanding recipe (and you can read ingredient lists as a general guide), these are incredibly simple to make.

My personal favorite way to eat these is with aged cheddar and zingy jam, but try peanut butter, cream cheese, mascarpone & jam, good butter & salt, tuna salad, or even make them into mini sandwich bites! They are good on everything.

The recipe below is very straightforward, so I don’t have a ton of notes on method, but I will say (and I recommend this with every recipe I post) go by the recipe indicators, not the time. For example, if the recipe says “look for them to be very dry and lightly browned across, roughly 1 hour”, go by the indicator (dry, lightly browned) even if that takes an extra 10, 20, even 30 minutes.

This recipe relies on the crackers having essentially all of the moisture baked out to get that crisp snap – if they are too soft out of the oven, they will dry bendy, like a very thin, unpleasant bread. A lot of factors, including how thin they are spread, your ovens true temperature, and even your altitude can impact baking time, so always judge by recipe indicators.

The last note, and one on most of my baking recipes – I have the below recipe in grams/weight and I HIGHLY encourage you to weigh your ingredients!! It is far more accurate – did you know there is not even a standard “cup”? So there really is no way to know you have the proper amount of whatever ingredient without the weight. This is especially important in baking where just a few dozen grams in the wrong direction could have a big impact. Here is the scale I use.

Copycat Trader Joe’s crispbread

Recipe by BakesWithRachCourse: Snacks, AppetizersDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Ingredients

• 13g (1/2 tbsp) honey

• 300 mL (1 1/4 C) warm water

• 1/2 tsp thyme, chopped

• 1/2 tsp rosemary, chopped

• 68g (1/2 C) rye flour

• 68g quick cooking oats

• 12g (1/4 C) oat bran

• 40g (1/4 C) sesame seeds

• 30g (1/4 C) pumpkin seeds, roughly chopped

• 30g (1/4 C) sunflower seeds

• 22g (2 Tbsp) flax seeds

• 1 tsp salt

• Flaky salt

Directions

• Preheat oven to 325 F and prepare one half sheet pan or two quarter sheet pans with parchment paper or silpat mats.
• In a small bowl, combine the honey and chopped herbs, and let sit 10-30 minutes (optional, this is to infuse more of the flavor into the end crackers). Mix well with the warm water.
• Mix the rest of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Slowly pour the wet into the dry, mixing to combine. Let sit five minutes, until the mixture has soaked up the excess moisture and is thick and spreadable.
• Using an offset spatula, spread the mixture in a thin layer across your prepared pan(s). It should be fairly thin, but even across with no spots showing the bottom of the pan. Take your time here – making it even is more important than making it super thin, as an even layer will bake evenly across and you can always adjust baking time if it is too thick.
• Bake for 10 minutes, and then remove from the oven and carefully cut into squares (I find a bench scraper works perfect for this). This will help them snap evenly once they are done baking. (if you want them more rugged, you can just break them up and skip this) Sprinkle flaky salt on top.
  
  Return to the oven and continue to bake until they are very dry and lightly browned across, roughly 1 hour, occasionally opening the oven door to release steam. Break apart and cool.

Recipe Video