Furikake Animal Crackers

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Have you heard about Furikake Animal Crackers? Furikake Chex Mix might be the "original" furikake snack but in the last few years, the animal cracker version has become a very popular Hawaii snack! Similar concept, but with animal crackers in place of chex mix. Furikake Animal Crackers are crunchy with a delicious salty-sweet balance. It makes a great snack for kids and adults. Also popular at bake sales, potlucks, and for school lunch treats. Enjoy, enjoy!

Furikake animal crackers in a bowl, ready for snacking. — *Furikake animal crackers, ready to eat!*

Why This Recipe Works

You can't go wrong with this recipe. It starts with animal crackers...a lot of animal crackers (feel free to halve or double the recipe).

We make a syrup with butter, sugar, sea salt, corn syrup (can substitute other syrups), and oil. We drizzle the syrup over the animal crackers and toss, toss, toss. This gives the crackers a nice and sticky, sweet and salty coating.

Then we sprinkle the furikake (be generous with furikake!) over the crackers and gently mix so that the furikake lightly coats all the crackers. So nice.

Then bake, cool, and eat! That's it! It's easy and makes for an immensely satisfying snack.

Furikake

Furikake is a seasoning mix that we use for MANY things in Hawaii. Most common use is to sprinkle it over rice, but furikake is also a key ingredient in many recipes, both sweet and salty. Furikake animal crackers are considered a sweet furikake treat. This is our go-to furikake brand:

Furikake

Photo Credit: amazon.com

Furikake is a savory Japanese seasoning made of nori (seaweed), dried bonito, and sesame seeds.

This specific furikake is the most popular around town. Costco Hawaii even sells a giant container of it!

We like to use furikake to make Furikake Salmon, Furikake Chex Mix, Spam Musubi, and Hurricane Popcorn!

You can also just sprinkle it on a bowl of rice for a simple and tasty snack.

We load up on furikake bottles when they go on sale...you can never have too many!

Pro Tip: One jar Nori Komi Furikake equals ⅔ cup furikake. This recipe calls for ⅔ cup furikake so you need exactly one jar.

Recipes in Hawaii

Much like furikake chex mix, everyone seems to have a recipe for furikake animal crackers. Ask anyone where their recipe came from, and odds are that they got it from their aunty, cousin, grandma, teacher, friend.

And chances will be that that person jotted the recipe down on an index card or notebook paper. Sometimes the index card gets passed around or these days photographed and scanned (with your phone camera of course lol)!

If you look at all these recipes you'll see that they have almost the same ingredients with slight differences in measurements. That's something that Betty Shimabukuro mentions in her Honolulu Star Advertiser article, “Snackers roar over furikake animal crackers” (published January 9, 2018). Many popular local recipes are almost the same with slight ingredient or measurement differences tailored to that person/family's taste.

Today's recipe is adapted from the recipe that Betty published. And Betty's recipe was based on many other recipes that she received from other local readers! Suffice it to say that we love making and sharing recipes in Hawaii ^_^

Ingredients

See below for the ingredients:

Animal crackers - Barnum's is the "gold standard" heheh. But we also love the big 4 pound container one from Sam's Club.
Furikake - Our go-to furikake brand in Hawaii is this Nori Fume Furikake. You can find it at the local drugstore, and in a big portion at Costco Hawaii.
Butter
Sugar
Sea salt
Light corn syrup - Or any other type of syrup sweetener. See FAQ section for more details.
Vegetable oil

Baking the furikake animal crackers in the oven. — *Furikake animal crackers baking in the oven.*

Step by Step Directions

Let's start making the furikake crackers!

Preheat and prep.
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Divide the animal crackers into 2-3 large rimmed sheet pans or roasting pans. Set aside.

Make the syrup.
Next, make the syrup! In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the sugar and salt. Stir until dissolved. Remove from heat, then add the light corn syrup and oil. Stir to mix well.

Mix syrup with the animal crackers.
Drizzle the syrup evenly over the animal crackers. Stir gently to mix, try to lightly coat each of the crackers with a bit of the syrup.

Add the furikake.
Sprinkle the furikake all over the crackers. Stir so that the crackers are evenly coated with the furikake.

Bake.
Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Let cool, stir every few minutes until completely cool.

Pro Tip: Stirring the crackers every few minutes is very important! This is what helps to keep the animal crackers from sticking to each other as they cool.

Eat and enjoy!
Note: the crackers may seem moist and soft but will get hard as they cool. Store in an airtight container. Eat and enjoy!

Three trays of animal crackers tossed with syrup mixture and furikake. — *Furikake animal crackers just out of the oven.*

FAQs and Tips

Do you love furikake?

You've come to the right place! Check out our other furikake recipes:
- Furikake Chex Mix
- Furikake Salmon
- Spam Musubi
- Hurricane Popcorn.

Does it have to be corn syrup?

No. You can use any other type of syrup sweetener or honey (honey won't be quite as silky/shiny as corn syrup, but will still be delicious).

Cut the recipe in half or double it.

Feel free to cut the recipe in half...double it...or even triple it! It all depends how many people you want to share it with ^_^ Just make sure to keep the same proportions.

How long do furikake animal crackers keep?

They never last more than a few days in our house, but I'm pretty sure they'll be good for up to two weeks. Store them at room temperature in an airtight container so that they don't get soft.