Please pass the peas

Homemade Graham Crackers

December 3, 2014 Leave a Comment

Homemade Graham Crackers from https://test.pleasepassthepeas.com

When we bought our house, one of the things that really sold me on it was the backyard.

It’s sort of an average-sized yard, surrounded by a chain link fence and, at the moment, blanketed with dry, brown leaves. But it’s bordered by mature azaleas and there’s a big camellia loaded with buds just outside the kitchen window. This pleases me to no end.

There’s enough room for a picnic table and maybe, at some point, a swing set. There are sunny spots and shady spots and two big magnolia trees reaching across the fence from the next-door neighbor’s yard.

There’s also a funny little space for building backyard fires. I don’t really know what to call it. A fire pit isn’t quite right but calling it an outdoor fireplace makes it sound pretty fancy, which it’s not. It’s just a little bricked-in area with a chimney at the back.

As soon as I saw it, I started imagining evenings filled with slightly scorched marshmallows, melty chocolate and graham crackers.

Unbaked Graham Crackers from https://test.pleasepassthepeas.com

Just Baked Graham Crackers from https://test.pleasepassthepeas.com

We finally got around to building a fire out there several weeks ago and I dug up a bag of marshmallows and some chocolate squares for the occasion.

We didn’t have any graham crackers, though, so we resorted to using a few hunks of leftover bread instead. Our makeshift s’mores were still pretty delicious, but Paul didn’t grow up with s’mores and I couldn’t get over the fact that his introduction to them was incomplete.

I don’t really think Paul gave any of this a second thought, but I couldn’t get our need for graham crackers off my mind. At the grocery store, however, I could never quite convince myself to pick up a box.

The thing is, outside of s’mores, I have never been the biggest fan of graham crackers. They start out a little crunchy but end up soggy and they look disconcertingly like cardboard.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands.

S'mores from https://test.pleasepassthepeas.com

These homemade graham crackers are crisp, buttery and so much better than the packaged version, it’s unbelievable. I kind of can’t believe I’m saying this, but they are almost too good for s’mores, stealing the show from the marshmallows and chocolate.

Having said that, the flavor is subtle, coming mostly from the butter and whole grain flours — no vanilla, spices or other flavorings in sight. You could certainly add a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar before baking, but I think they’re pretty near perfect as is.

I like these graham crackers best with a mug of tea as an afternoon snack, but I am already thinking up other ways to use them: perhaps dressed up with a coating of white chocolate and a sprinkle of dried cranberries for a holiday cookie platter; or broken into pieces and stirred into ice cream; or spread with chocolate ganache and turned into a sandwich cookie.

I have a feeling they’d make for a sturdy — and delicious — take on a gingerbread house too.

These are easy to make, require little time in the oven, and both the dough and the finished cookies store well.  Mix up an extra batch and you’ll always have something around to offer unexpected guests. Or tie a stack of them together with a pretty ribbon for a nice little hostess gift, that is, assuming you can bear to part with any.

S'mores from https://test.pleasepassthepeas.com

A housekeeping note: Thank you to everyone who has signed up to have Please Pass the Peas posts delivered directly to your inboxes. Unfortunately, I recently realized that some of the email updates have been landing in junk folders, which kind of defeats the whole point. I changed email subscription services and everything should be fixed now. For those of you who are already signed up, there’s no need to sign up again.

If you’re not signed up for email updates and you’d like to be, just enter your email address in the box in the top right-hand corner of this page. No spam, I promise, just each and every Please Pass the Peas post sent to you via email.

And if you’re signed up and you aren’t getting updates in your inbox, please let me know, so I can try to sort that out. Thanks.

Print
Homemade Graham Crackers

Yield: My cookies were all different sizes, but if you stick to 3" squares you should get a batch of about 20.

Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker, where it was adapted from the book "Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones."

There are no fancy ingredients here. Graham flour can be hard to find, so I used a mixture of rye flour and regular whole-wheat flour in its place. I also added a little wheat germ for texture. If you don't have rye flour, all whole wheat is fine. I was just using up what I had around. And if you don't have wheat germ on hand, it's OK to leave it out.

The original recipe called for a total of 16-18 minutes baking time but I found that they needed just 10 minutes in my oven.

  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole-wheat flour
  • 1/3 cup rye flour
  • 2 tablespoons wheat germ
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon table salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
  • 3 tablespoons honey

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, wheat germ, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar and honey. With an electric mixer, beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until combined. Flatten the dough into a large disk, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least two hours and up to five days.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your baking sheets with parchment. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a thickness of about 1/8 inch.

Cut out your cookies. I used a bench scraper to cut mine into squares, but you can cut them into other shapes if you prefer. I also used the tip of my candy thermometer to poke a pattern of holes in the tops of the cookies, but this is entirely optional.

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes (see headnote), rotating the baking sheets at the halfway point. The finished cookies should be a deep, golden brown. Transfer them to a wire rack to cool. Cookies will keep in an airtight container for several days.

3.1
https://pleasepassthepeas.com/homemade-graham-crackers/
All content and photos copyright Please Pass the Peas ~ pleasepassthepeas.com

You may also like -

  • Pumpkin Whoopie PiesPumpkin Whoopie Pies
  • The Only Pie Crust Recipe You’ll Ever NeedThe Only Pie Crust Recipe You’ll Ever Need
  • Itty-bitty lentil crackersItty-bitty lentil crackers

Filed Under: Cookies, Dessert, Snack, Vegetarian Tagged With: graham crackers

« The Only Pie Crust Recipe You’ll Ever Need
Preserved Lemons »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Welcome

I'm Lindsay, a home cook based in Wilmington, NC. Please Pass the Peas is where I share recipes and stories about the food I feed my family. More about me...

  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

SUBSCRIBE BY EMAIL

Find a recipe

  • Recipe Index

Browse by category

  • Accompaniments
  • Breakfast
  • Brunch
  • Cookies
  • Dessert
  • Drinks
  • Entree
  • Fall
  • Gestational Diabetes
  • Quick breads
  • Salad
  • Sides
  • Snack
  • Soup
  • Spring
  • Summer
  • The Kitchen is Closed
  • Uncategorized
  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
  • Winter

Browse by date

  • February 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014

Copyright © 2019 Please pass the peas