Graham Crackers

I have seen recipes, pictures, and more about homemade graham crackers, but every time I needed it I would run to the store and buy a box of them, and always trying to make sure I would get a reasonably healthy cracker, without much fat or sugars in it (that meant a lot of experimentation with healthy brands of the stuff – some were good, some not so great).
Last weekend though, I decided to try making my own Graham Crackers, and boy was it worth it!
Did it look like the boxed stuff? Not much, and I actually didn’t try to make it look like that in appearance either. Did it taste like the store bough ones? No…. it was MUCH BETTER and superior in taste than the boxed stuff. It was easy to make, used simple ingredients, but the end result was amazingly good. Definitely and for sure the best Graham Crackers I have had! And I do like graham crackers a lot, so that is where my enthusiasm about it comes from.
I actually tried two different recipes on that weekend, and it was a consensus that this one was the best. The other recipe I made used oil, as opposed to this one, which has butter in it, and the end result was simply “not a graham cracker” at all.
This recipe in the other hand was just right, it tasted great, and the texture was perfect, plus the dough really easy to work with. It did score a perfect 10 with Matheus and I, the official cracker’s consumers of the house!
If I have the time, I will certainly make these over and over again, when I need them for a recipe, or simply to eat with milk, which is how we ate almost our entire batch in two days… Really, I loved the crackers, and knowing it doesn’t have any of the HFCS, colorings, and added stuff of the commercial variety, is the best thing ever. I now can enjoy my crackers and feed them to my son without feeling guilty about it.
It is worth a try! And I am making more today, as both Matheus and I are already craving them again!!
Ana

Note: I changed the recipe slightly (with more than good results!), but you can find the original recipe here.

Homemade Graham Crackers

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into pea-size bits
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the cold butter and with a pastry blender, two knifes, or your fingers (as I did) work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the honey, water, and vanilla. Mix until the dough comes together in a ball.
Between 2 sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap, roll the dough 1/2-inch thick. Chill for 1 hour, until firm. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Lightly flour the dough and roll 1/8-inch thick. With a sharp knife or cookie cutter, cut into 2-inch squares. Arrange the crackers on nonstick or parchment lined cookie sheets. With a fork, prick several holes in each cracker. Bake for 15 minutes, until lightly browned at the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan.
Yield: 48 crackers