DIY: Graham Crackers

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Catherine McCord

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Catherine McCord, Weelicious:

It’s not that I make everything our family eats from scratch, but I do try to make as many of the sweet treats my kids eat as possible. I recently realized that Kenya had never eaten a graham cracker before. How is that possible?! Graham crackers are like a total cookie rite of passage for kids! When I was Kenya’s age, I think I ate them every day of my life. So, my next recipe challenge was born.

It’s not that I’m against pre-packaged cookies or crackers (I’ve definitely bought a few boxes in the past two years), but it’s so much more fun to make them with your kids. I have to say this is one of my favorite new sweet treat recipes, especially when it comes to school lunch. Not only does the recipe make a TON of cookies, but you can cut them out and freeze them to bake as you need them. It takes no time for me to make the dough, roll it out and then let Kenya take over, using mini cookie cutters to pop out the sweetest, crispiest graham crackers I’ve ever tasted. They reminded me of the ones I used to eat as a kid, but even better!

Homemade Graham Crackers (Makes A LOT, depending on the shape you cut them in)

1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar, packed
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Cup Butter, chilled & cubed
1/4 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a food processor or mixer combine the first 6 ingredients.
Add cubed and chilled butter to the mix and pulse/mix until it resembles coarse meal.
Add honey and water and continue to mix until it all combines.
Remove and shape the dough into a flat disk and place between two pieces of parchment paper.
Roll dough out until 1/4 inch thick. Cut into crackers or shapes.*
Place cookies on a Silpat or parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
Cool and serve.

*To Freeze: After step 6, place the cut out cookie shapes on a baking sheet and freeze for 20 minutes. Remove, place in a Ziploc bag, label and freeze for up to 4 months. When ready to bake, follow steps 7-8.

** If you have no Whole Wheat, you can use 1 Cup Oat Bran to 2 Cups AP Flour instead of what the recipe calls for and it works perfect!

Want to find more recipes from Catherine McCord and other fabulous Healthy Eating Experts? Check out Eat Healthy!

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The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and not necessarily those of
Healthy Child Healthy World.

Posted by Johanna on 10/07/2010 at 05:37 PM

Amber, have you considered coconut oil to replace the butter? It too is solid at room temp (perfect for baked goods), but so much better for you than hydrogenated products. Nutiva, Spectrum, Tropical Traditions and Nature’s Way are good brands. You can even use the less expensive, refined form (since it’ll be baked anyway)! Good luck!

Posted by Dawn on 09/22/2010 at 05:08 AM

When I saw this link this morning, I immediately got to work making them for a play date we have later today. Easy, tasty, and too cute! Some of my smaller shaped cookies only took about 11-12 minutes to bake. The full 15 would have left them overdone. Also, after the first batch of cut outs, my dough got too soft to work with, so I just popped it in the fridge to harden up before making my next batch, with made it much easier to work with. For me, this didn’t make any more cookies than a normal batch of dough would. Oh, and they totally end up crunchy, just like other graham crackers. A definite keeper in this house! :

Posted by Amber on 09/22/2010 at 04:38 AM

Do you think this would work with margarine instead of butter? We have numerous food allergies and have yet to find graham crackers that we can eat as they all have either dairy or soy in them. It would be nice to be able to make my own.

Posted by Summer on 09/21/2010 at 08:03 PM

Yum! Thanks for this recipe! I’ve been trying (and failing) to make my own graham crackers for a bit now. I finally got regular crackers down, now I’m going to give these a try.

Posted by Jody Delaplane on 09/21/2010 at 06:55 PM

I avoid white flour - have you tried it without the all-purpose to know how that turns out? Can I just substitute all whole wheat? I know whole wheat is usually 7/8 cup for every cup used of all-purpose, but wondered if you knew how they turned out if made that way? Otherwise, sounds delicious and can’t wait to try!

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