I have this thing with graham crackers. They are not the tastiest cookie in all the world, but I love them. I love having them around the house. After Will was born and I was in the hospital, I requested that my husband bring me a Diet Coke and a box of graham crackers. When I’m stress eating in the middle of the night, 9 times out of 10, it’s graham crackers and milk. When I’m starving in the morning and my kids are late for school, I grab a couple graham crackers before we head out the door.
My Grandma Randle always had graham crackers around her house. She had lots of treats, too, but those were definitely a controlled substance. The graham crackers, however, were fair game. My parents also always had graham crackers, even if they didn’t keep a lot of treats around the house. So maybe it’s a comfort food thing. In times of duress and boredom, I turn to graham crackers.
Imagine my excitement when I found these graham crackers in Martha Stewart Living magazine. So one dreary, rainy, thundery day when it felt cooler than usual and my little girl was sick and sad on the couch, I finally made them. And we loved them. They don’t taste EXACTLY like graham crackers, especially if you roll them a little too thick *cough* like me *cough cough*. But they’re old-fashioned and comforting, kind of like a cross between gingerbread and shortbread, only with whole grains and no eggs.
You’ll need some all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, wheat germ, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, butter, honey, and brown sugar.
Measure out the flours by lightly spooning them into the measuring cups and leveling it off with the back of a knife. It’s important that you measure them this way because this dough has the potential to be VERY dry, so this will help keep the right consistency. Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl…
and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter, brown sugar, and honey.
Mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture.
Beat until combined.
Lightly flour a work surface (a silicone rolling mat or wax or parchment paper work great because you can transfer the dough directly into the fridge) and turn the dough onto the floured surface.
Roll the dough out until it’s 1/8″ (you may need to work in 2 batches).
Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350.
Cut the dough with your favorite cookie cutters or a fluted pastry wheel and place on a baking sheet.
Refrigerate or freeze for another 10-15 minutes or until the dough is very firm. If desired, use a fork to prick the dough to ensure even baking.
Bake for 10-14 minutes or until very lightly brown around the edges (it can be a little tricky to tell), being careful not to overbake. Makes about 2 dozen graham crackers, although it really varies on how thick your dough ends up and how large you cut the graham crackers.
Homemade Graham Crackers
Recipe lightly adapted from Martha Stewart
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (measured by lightly spooning the flour into the measuring cups and leveling with a flat surface), plus more for working
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar (you can use dark if you prefer a richer flavor)
2 tablespoons honey
Instructions:
Whisk together the flours, wheat germ, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter, brown sugar, and honey. Mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture. Beat until combined.
Lightly flour a work surface (a silicone rolling mat or wax or parchment paper work great because you can transfer the dough directly into the fridge) and turn the dough onto the floured surface. Roll the dough out until it’s 1/8″ (you may need to work in 2 batches). Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350.
Cut the dough with your favorite cookie cutters or a fluted pastry wheel and place on a baking sheet. Refrigerate or freeze for another 10-15 minutes or until the dough is very firm. If desired, use a fork to prick the dough to ensure even baking. Bake for 10-14 minutes or until very lightly brown around the edges (it can be a little tricky to tell), being careful not to overbake. Makes about 2 dozen graham crackers, although it really varies on how thick your dough ends up and how large you cut the graham crackers.
Questions & Reviews
Oh wow, these are adorable. So much better looking than the boxed!
So I am not the only one whose go to snack is graham crackers. It is not that they taste extraordinary or anything, they are just quick easy, and handy on your way out the do when you are hungary, or pretty great with milk when you have no other delicious cookie around the house for a snack option. Totally will have to give these a whirl.
I just want to thank you for this post today…it was screaming my name. I ran home from work excited to make these sweet little things and oh are they wonderful! I am a chocolate fan (okay, fanatic), so I added about 2T of cocoa and a few drops of vanilla…YUM!!! The last of them are still baking and I couldn’t wait to tell you how excited I am about them! Now I just want to try to figure out how to make them a little more healthy, maybe without so much butter…I’ll work on that!
Funny because I was just googling “homemade graham crackers” the other day.
I love this! We don’t have Graham crackers where I live, but I love using them for cooking, smores etc. Now I can make my own!
Now all we need is homemade marshmallows and some chocolate to make s’mores.
homemade marshmallows are the bomb diggity! and so easy too! I made my first ever batch last year at Christmas and I had to make more because they were a HUGE hit!
Oh my goodness YUM!!! Never even thought of making my OWN graham crackers-how totally cool! :)) I too, am a HUGE fan of those delicious little things even though they aren’t overly sweet (and I have a huge sweet-tooth!). I don’t know what it is but they are amazing. 🙂 Can’t wait to try these!
who would have thought you could make your own graham crackers. thanks for sharing.
Lol, I wrote ‘wheat flower’…spell check doesn’t fix it when you accidentally put in a correctly spelled, but misused, word!
Count me in as one of the ones who thought graham crackers had to have special “graham flour”. Your recipe made me Google it, and it was quite educational 🙂 I didn’t realize that graham flour is basically just taking the entire wheat kernel and grinding it all up. You can supposedly get a rough facsimile by combining unbleached white flour, wheat germ, and a tiny bit of wheat bran (or apparently mixing only whole wheat flower and wheat germ, as in this recipe). So interesting that I MUST try it. Mmmmm, warm from the oven with whole milk…nom nom nom. Thanks for sharing!