Step-by-step tutorial
Step 1
The recipe Smitten Kitchen adapted hers from used all white flour, so you can certainly do that if you don't have / don't like whole wheat. I thought they turned out great - kind of like a nutty-tasting cheese straw, and most importantly, my kids liked them - so I will stick with the slightly healthier version. Dump everything into a food processor (bonus: you can use it to grate your cheese first, if you don't buy it already shredded.)
Step 2
Let it run for about 2 minutes - until your ingredients magically turn into a ball of dough.
Step 3
Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and roll your dough to about 1/8 inch thick.
Step 4
Then you & your pint-sized helper can go to town with your cookie cutters. This was the fun part...
Step 5
If you like, you can poke holes with a toothpick-type tool for eyes. Place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Check out our crowded school of fish...
Final result!
Bake in a 350F oven for 12-15 minutes, until the edges just start to brown.These were a total hit in my house. The lone sea horse was devoured almost as soon as it came out of the oven and all the sea animals soon after. My 4-year old gave it an enthusiastic two thumbs up and declared "Mom, you've gotta taste these!" I'm certainly not swearing off the Pepperidge Farms originals (what busy mom could??), but I'll happily make these again and feel good about putting a handful in my kids' lunch boxes (alongside a sea-horse shaped turkey sandwich, of course!)
