With just five ingredients, these light and crispy Christmas tree-shaped crackers are quick and easy to make with a cookie cutter! We like to serve them with a Christmas tree cheese ball, but they can go with just about any dip, or they look super festive on a charcuterie board.
We've made a lot of homemade cracker recipes (rosemary olive oil crackers, gourmet fruit & nut crackers, even homemade cheez its), but this is the easiest one of them all!
It's just flour, a little sugar, salt, water, and olive oil, plus a little flaky salt for topping. They're super crispy, light, and versatile for serving with just about any dip or cheese imaginable.
This recipe is part of our 2025 Recipe Advent Calendar. If you missed the first few recipes, try our Cheesy Thumbprints with Red Pepper Jelly or Grissini (Italian Breadsticks) next!
What You Need To Make This Recipe
- Flour: Regular all-purpose flour is best for this recipe. We have not tried it with gluten free flour and it would likely not have the same crispness.
- Sugar and salt for balanced flavor.
- Olive oil: Don't use extra virgin olive oil in this recipe. These are baked at a high temperature and extra virgin olive oil has a low smoke point.
- Flaky salt: Optional, but adds texture and more flavor.
How to Make This Recipe
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and salt.
Add in the water and olive oil and mix with a spatula until a shaggy dough forms.
Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and knead the dough for about 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest for 15 minutes. Divide the dough in half. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it's about 1/16th of an inch thick. You shouldn't need flour, but if the dough starts to stick, you can use a light dusting.
Using a Christmas tree cookie cutter, cut the dough into tree shapes as close together as possible (this dough does not re-roll very well). Transfer the cut trees to the baking sheet. Use a fork to pierce each cracker a few times (to keep them from puffing up too much in the oven).
Use a basting brush to brush each cracker with a light layer of olive oil, then sprinkle the crackers with a bit of flaky salt.
Bake the crackers for 6-8 minutes at 450˚F. Rotate the tray halfway through to ensure even baking. They are done when they start to lightly brown and crisp at the edges. Keep a close eye on the oven as they can burn quickly.
Storage
Keep these stored in an airtight container for about a week. The longer you store them, the more stale they may be.
Lexi & Beth's Best Tips
- Don't re-roll the dough: It's very difficult to re-shape and the crackers will turn out tough.
- Alternate tree orientation: To make the most out of your dough, alternate facing the Christmas tree cookie cutter right side up, then upside down so you can fit more on each sheet of dough.
- Use enough olive oil for brushing on top: You should use a very light layer, but make sure it's enough that the flaky salt will stick on top.
- Keep an eye on the oven: These can go from golden brown and perfectly crispy to burnt in a matter of seconds!
More Homemade Cracker Recipes
Recipe
Christmas Tree Crackers
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 450˚F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and salt.
- Add in the water and olive oil and mix with a spatula until a shaggy dough forms.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and knead the dough for about 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest for 15 minutes.
- Divide the dough in half. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it's about 1/16th of an inch thick. You shouldn't need flour, but if the dough starts to stick, you can use a light dusting.
- Using a Christmas tree cookie cutter, cut the dough into tree shapes as close together as possible (this dough does not re-roll very well). Transfer the cut trees to the baking sheet. Use a fork to pierce each cracker a few times (to keep them from puffing up too much in the oven).
- Use a basting brush to brush each cracker with a light layer of olive oil, then sprinkle the crackers with a bit of flaky salt.
- Bake the crackers for 6-8 minutes. Rotate the tray halfway through to ensure even baking. They are done when they start to lightly brown and crisp at the edges. Keep a close eye on the oven as they can burn quickly.
- Remove from the oven and let them cool completely on the sheet pan. They will harden more as they cool.
JAS says
Could Italian or other dried seasonings be added? If so, how much?
Lexi Harrison says
Sure! I'd start with a teaspoon and see how it looks from there.
Susan M Haugen says
Can I use wheat flour?
Lexi Harrison says
That should work fine here.
Jules says
We made these in football shapes for a game-day party, and they turned out great. I rolled them super thin, and they were so crispy!
Lexi Harrison says
Such a fun idea!!
Jamie says
What is the dip recipe?
Charity says
Made these the first time exactly how it was written and they were excellent, second time I did not roll them thin enough, third time I made them with fresh milled soft white wheat and my husband said “how did you make wheat thins?!” They taste almost exactly like them! Also love your cheese coin recipe too!!
Lexi says
love to hear that, thanks so much!!
Sue McCormack says
Good to know with the fresh milled flour.....thank you so much!
Olivia says
The first batch I didn’t roll thin enough so those didn’t come out quite as crispy and I noticed they were chewy/stale within a day. The next three batches I made were rolled super thin and they were AMAZING! My husband said to stop buying crackers at the store. I also added chopped rosemary into one batch and grated parm & thyme into another and they were awesome too!
Erin says
Love these crackers! Remember to roll the dough very thin so they are light and crispy. I topped them with a generous sprinkle of sea salt and a bit of dried rosemary. I used a star cutter shape and they were a hit on our Christmas charcuterie board! I stored them in a zip lock bag and they were still crispy 3 days later.
Step says
Such a great cracker recipe! Crisp, salty and delicious! My fam loved spreading cheese on these beautiful babies!
Candy Jacobs says
These were so simple and very good! 👍
Sandra says
I made these crackers Thursday for my Christmas Party Sunday. They came out crisp.
However when I just checked them Saturday night they have totally lost their crispness. How can I refresh them day of the party.
Your recipe states will stay fresh for one week in an airtight container. Mine lost crispness after one day.
Lexi says
It's likely that they weren't rolled thin enough or baked quite long enough. Thankfully, it's an easy fix. Just pop them back in the oven until they are light golden brown and crisp.
Kaysea says
What other oils can you use besides olive oil?
Lexi says
Any oil will work fine in this recipe
Taryn says
Is it 1/2 cup and 2 tbs water?
Maria says
What size tree cookie cutter do you use?
Lexi says
It's about 2 inches
elvira says
I love your recipes! I have made 3 different kind of crackers and the sweet and spicy roasted nuts. All prepared for Christmas presents this year😊
Lexi says
That makes me so happy to hear! Have a great Christmas!
Sheila McLaren says
Can you freeze them?
Lexi says
It should be fine to freeze these after baking.