Homemade Graham Crackers

I have been wanting to make homemade graham crackers for a while now.  My toddler loves them and since they are one of the few things she will eat, I don't usually stop her from eating them.  I just don't like all the preservatives in them.  A box of store-bought grahams has what, 20 ingredients?  Obviously, there has to be a better solution.  We're going on a road trip this weekend and will need snacks, so I decided now was the perfect time.  These were incredibly easy, and delicious, and I made them milk-free with no problem.

The original recipe called for two tablespoons of molasses, which I used, but next time I think I would change that to honey, so the recipe would use 4 Tbsp. honey all together - I have reflected this below.  I'm just not a huge molasses fan, unless it's in barbecue sauce.  Also, these would be delicious topped with a sugar & cinnamon mixture.  Enjoy!

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
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into approx. 16 cubes  (or Earth Balance vegan butter)
4 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt & cinnamon.  Pulse until the mixture is evenly distributed.  Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly, about 30 seconds.  Add the honey, water and vanilla and pulse until the dough comes together as a ball, around 30-60 seconds.

Place the dough between two sheets of wax paper and roll until it is 1/8" thick.  Chill for at least 1 hour while still between the wax paper.  (I chilled mine for about 2.5 hours and it was nice and firm, which made it easy to deal with).

Preheat oven to 350.  Take dough out of fridge and roll over one more time just to be sure it is evenly spread.  Use desired shape to cut out crackers.  Of course, you can just do traditional squares, but I wanted to do shapes that would be fun for my daughter (and, she likes anything that resembles a cookie).  Once the shapes are cut, use a toothpick to poke several holes in the crackers.  Place crackers on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Since the crackers are fairly thin, you may need to use a greased rubber spatula to lift them off the paper and move to the cookie sheet (or, you can roll the dough out on parchment paper and simply pull away the scraps so you don't have to transfer the crackers at all).  Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes until edges begin to brown.  I found I needed between 10 & 12 minutes, but I know my oven tends to run hot.  Just watch them closely.  Makes around forty 2-inch crackers.   

Note:  If you do a second roll-out of the dough, place those cut-out shapes back in the fridge while the first batch is baking.


Source: Adapted from Baking Bites.