Within the Kitchen: Homemade Graham Crackers!

Have you ever thought about making graham crackers from scratch? Me neither, I assumed they grew in a box. With this recipe you will get amazing tasting graham crackers as long as you make them thin, if you make them thicker they are more like graham cookies - which is also a good thing (they are softer and great in milk!) This recipe is the base for the nanaimo recipe found here.

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

I recommend trying this treat - it's fun to say you've made graham crackers from scratch because I can guarantee not many others have!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons frozen unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/3 cup mild-flavored honey
5 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

For the topping:

3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

What to do:
Adjust the oven rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in a food processor with steel blade . Pulse or mix on low to mix. Add the butter and pulse on and off until the butter mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal.
In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, milk, and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture in the processor and pulse until the dough barely comes together into a sticky ball. It will be very soft and sticky.

Take half of dough and turn the dough out onto a plastic wrap. Gently fold over wrap and shape into rectangle. Repeat with other half of dough. Chill until firm, about 2 hours or overnight.
To prepare the topping: In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon, and set aside.

Take one wrapped portion of dough. Sift an even layer of flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle about 1/8 inch thick (approx 16 inches long). Trim the edges of the rectangle to 4 inches wide. Working with the shorter side of the rectangle parallel to the work surface, cut the strip every 4 inches to make 4 crackers.

Mark a vertical line down the middle of each cracker, being careful not to cut through the dough. Using a fork, prick the dough to form two dotted rows on each side of the dividing line. Place the crackers on parchment-lined baking sheets and sprinkle with the topping.

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.

Within the kitchen BIG Tip: This is much easier if you use a silpat. You can flour and roll the dough on the silpat. Carefully divide the dough into squares as described – be careful with knife – do not cut through the silpat! Using silpat method you can then just move entire silpat onto baking sheet and move to fridge.

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the tough, rotating the sheets halfway through to ensure even baking.

Yield: 8 large crackers (original recipe says 10 – I didn’t bother keeping scraps as dough is not easy to work with).