Growing up, graham crackers weren’t a typical snack. I mean, sure. We always had the box of Honey Maid lying around. But, my dad and I didn’t mess around with dunking single rectangles in cups of tea… NO WAY JOSE! Rather, we would roll out of bed (or off the couch to make a snack), rip open an entire sleeve and WITHOUT A SHRED OF DIGNITY, crush the whole graham cracker brick between our strong hands into a cereal bowl, top with milk and eat. I’d usually wait for it to get soggy first – that was the key. We called it Graham Cracker Mush and as inappropriate as it was, it tasted really, really awesome. Anyhow, now that I’m a civilized adult, I do in fact dunk single crackers into cups of tea. The following recipe makes grahams so good, you will gladly eat them on their own – I recommend eating them at about ten minutes out of the oven, when they’re still warm and tender. They will also make your house smell AMAZING!
Cinnamon Sugar Graham Crackers
Adapted from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar
1 1/2 cups graham flour (or whole wheat flour)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup non dairy milk (I used hazelnut)
I apologize for the following over-simplified instructions but… I’m tired. You ain’t no dummy… you’ll figure it out!
Mix the dry in a large bowl, make a well, and pour in the wet ingredients except the milk. Give the wet ingredients a quick stir in the well, and then incorporate until a crumbly mixture is formed. Slowly add the milk substitute and blend well. Knead the dough for a few turns and form into a soft ball. It needs to hold together well enough to remain in a smooth ball – if it doesn’t, add a tiny touch more milk.
Place the ball on a sheet of parchment on your work surface. Using your hands, shape into a rectangle and flatten with your hands. Sprinkle the dough with flour. Trying to maintain the rectangle shape, roll out the dough until you achieve approximately 10 x 14 inches – the book recommends an 1/8th of an inch. Keep in mind that the thinner you roll them, the crisper they will be. Mine ended up being probably 9 X 12 and I didn’t trim, and cut them into 8. This produced a cracker that doesn’t get extremely crisp when cooled – I like it that way. I used a pastry scraper to straighten up the outer edges, or you can just trim them off if they bother you (and you can reshape these or roll into new crackers). Then, cut the rectangle into 8 – 12 crackers (I used a pizza cutter). You can use the pastry cutter to define the individual crackers to ensure they’ll separate easily after baking – they don’t spread much at all. Sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar, and poke holes in two columns using a fork. I also used the fork tines to pretty up the cracker edges.
Lift the parchment onto a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 12 minutes for softer crackers and 14-15 minutes for crisp crackers.
Ok dudes, eat up and stuff. I love you.
