Homemade Graham Crackers

So I’m just going to throw it out there. I’m not a super huge fan of graham crackers. However, this may have just changed that. I made these because I wanted a homemade graham cracker as a component of a deconstructed key lime pie that I’m making as a dessert special for my restaurant this week. I did a little research and found a recipe on smitten kitchen (one of my favorite blogs, if you haven’t already, you should read it). The end result of these graham crackers was delightful; they have a distinct honey flavor, and a hint of molasses from the dark brown sugar. Let me just tell you, these would make the best smores EVER.

On to the recipe for homemade graham crackers, from Smitten Kitchen.

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups plus 2 tbs all purpose flour

1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed

1 tsp baking soda

¾ tsp kosher salt

1/3 cup mild-flavored honey, such as clover (I used local Colorado honey)

5 tbs milk (full fat is recommended, but I used 1%)

2 tbs pure vanilla extract

Topping:

3 tbs sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Method:

Dough: Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off until the mixture is the consistency of coarse meal.  I do not have a food processor big enough to accommodate the amount of ingredients, so I used a pastry blender (like the one in the picture below). I strongly urge you to use a pastry blender or a food processor; other alternatives just will not work as well.  Be sure to blend until they are well incorporated.

In a small bowl whisk together the honey, milk, and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture and pulse of and off until the dough barely comes together (or mix with the pastry blender). It will be very soft and sticky. Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap and dust it lightly with flour, then turn the dough out onto it. Pat it into a rectangular shape. Wrap it, then chill it until firm, about 2 hours or so, or overnight.

Roll out the crackers:

Divide the dough in half and return on half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of flour onto the work surface and roll out the dough into a long rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. The dough is pretty sticky, so use plenty of flour. Use a knife or a pizza slicer to cut the dough into the desired shape. I made mine into small rectangles.

Place the crackers on a parchment lined baking sheet and sprinkle with the topping. Make sure to leave about a ½ inch of space in between each because they do spread slightly. Use the blunt end of a bamboo skewer (or whatever you have that is like that) to put little dots into them (like the store bought brand have).

Bake for 10 min, watch them carefully- my first batch burned, and I actually found that 7 mins was the perfect amount. It really all depends on shape and thickness…so the lesson is watch the first batch and learn from there.

These are pretty much equivalent in effort to making sugar cookies. You know, make dough, chill dough, roll out dough, reform scraps, roll out dough again, and repeat. Easy but somewhat time consuming. Believe me though, these little things are tasty and worth it!

– Sue