Animal cracker

The most common variety is light-colored and slightly sweet, but darker chocolate-flavored and colorful frosted varieties are also sold. Although animal crackers are made with a layered dough like crackers, they are sweet like cookies.

Other animal-shaped crackers and cookies are popular, such as Teddy Grahams, Goldfish, Hello Panda, and Koala's March. These differ from traditional animal crackers in flavor and assortment, and though not usually called animal crackers, are still considered animal crackers.

History

In the late 19th century, animal-shaped cookies (or "biscuits" in British terminology) called "Animals" were imported from England to the United States. The demand for these crackers grew to the point that bakers began to produce them domestically. Stauffer's Biscuit Company produced their first batch of animal crackers sometime around the start of the 20th century in York, Pennsylvania. Other domestic bakeries, including the Dozier-Weyl Cracker Company of St. Louis and the Holmes and Coutts Company of New York City, were the predecessors of the National Biscuit Company, today's "Nabisco Brands".