Homemade Graham Crackers
Homemade Graham Crackers are quite easy to make with ingredients you probably already have in your pantry.
One of my go-to after school snacks in grade school was graham crackers. In particular, graham crackers spread with peanut butter and topped with raisins.
It was the perfect sweet, salty, nutty and crunchy treat.
It kind of blew my mind when I first saw a recipe for homemade graham crackers. But then, there was a downfall.
What was graham flour? And, where the heck did you find it?
What is Graham Flour?
Turns out graham flour is a type of whole wheat flour where the three parts of the wheat berry (the germ, the bran and the endosperm), that would typically be ground together, are ground separately with the germ and bran ground fairly coarse and the endosperm ground very fine. The three parts are then mixed back together, resulting in a coarse textured, whole wheat flour.
So, basically graham flour is just a whole wheat flour.
What!?
All those years they made me think I needed something special, different, and expensive to make such a simple comfort food. And the answer has been on my shelf the whole time!
Making Homemade Graham Crackers
Flavor wise, by using whole wheat flour, particularly a coarser ground whole wheat flour, you will find that graham cracker taste.
The texture depends on personal preference. Whole wheat flour by nature is a bit coarser, so by using a mixture of whole wheat and white whole wheat, we were able to give these crackers the perfect flavor with a texture that was both smooth and slightly grainy like the store-bought crackers.
If you don't have white whole wheat flour, you could substitute unbleached all purpose flour, however we would suggest using ½ c all purpose with 1 ½ c whole wheat, just to keep the flavors and textures as close as possible.
Homemade Graham Crackers
Ingredients
- 1 c white whole wheat flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 c whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter, cold
- ¼ c brown sugar
- ¼ c honey
- ¼ c skim milk
Instructions
- Mix flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of your food processor. Add butter and pulse until the mixture looks like wet sand.*
- Add brown sugar, honey and milk. Pulse to mix, until the dough comes together.
- Divide the dough into four even pieces. Place one section of dough onto a piece of parchment paper and shape it into a rectangle. Cover the dough with another piece of parchment paper and roll the dough out to a 7 ½ x 9 ½ inch rectangle. (It should be about ⅛ inch thick.) Place the rolled out (and still covered) dough into the freezer on a flat surface. Repeat with the remaining three sections of dough.
- Chill the dough in the freezer for 20-30 min.
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Remove the dough from the freezer, one section at a time. Remove the top layer of parchment paper and cut each rectangle into 8 individual cookies (being careful not to cut through the parchment paper). Decorate each cookie as desired using a skewer or a fork.
- Place the cut cookies, on their parchment paper, onto a baking sheet.
- Repeat with the remaining three sections of dough.
- Once all the cookies have been cut, place them into the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes, until the top begins to darken. (Check often towards the end of the cooking time. They darken quite quickly towards the end.)
- Remove the cookies from the pan to cool on a wire rack. (These cookies will be quite crisp as they are cooling, but they will soften up a bit as they stand. So, don't worry if you think you have over baked them. They will soften.)
Notes
Nutrition
Sarah founded Curious in 2010 as a way to save her recipe creations and share culinary experiences. Her love for cultural cuisines was instilled early by her French Canadian Grandmother. Her experience in the kitchen and in recipe development comes from over 10 years working in professional kitchens. She has traveled extensively and enjoys bringing the flavors of her travels back to create easy-to-make recipes.
Your cracker look perfect! I'd love some with a cold glass of milk!
Thank you, Sarah, for sharing this recipe...My inner child thanks you too =) Your recipe appears completely doable and I am hoping to replicate this childhood fave soon!
Wonderful! We hope you enjoy it!
Now I want to go make s'mores...
Your graham crackers look perfect! So thin too. I know my daughter will want me to make these for her.
Great idea, never thought of making these. You can put in all healthy ingredients!! Thanks for the recipe!!
So weird! My graham flour looks different than my whole wheat, but good to know what it really is!
Wow! I have never thought to make my own graham crackers, what a great idea!
What a great after school treat!!!
We love graham crackers! I never thought to make my own, but I'm looking forward to it for sure! Thanks for sharing!
I'd forgotten that I used to love graham crackers as an after school snack! But I bet this homemade version is SO much better than what's in the box!
I have always wanted to try my hand at making homemade graham crackers - yours turned out beautifully!
Who knew that one could, actually, make graham crackers? I bet these taste sooooo much better than any store bought variety.
Your graham crackers look amazing! It's like they came right out of the box but I know they taste so much better.