How to make Homemade Graham Crackers - the perfect cookie for snacking, dipping or making s'mores with!
We are lucky enough to have travelled to the USA a couple of times and both times, I had a list a mile long of all the American food I wanted to try. Somewhere on that list was graham crackers. I had heard a whole lot about them, seen them in countless recipes and I needed to know what they were. Are they crackers? Are they cookies? So I tried them...and they were DELICIOUS! But the best thing about graham crackers is that they are the key ingredient in s'mores!
If you don't know what a s'more is, stay tuned - this week is all about s'mores and what you need to make them!
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I am still a bit stumped on what I can compare graham crackers to that you can buy in New Zealand but the closest I've got is digestive biscuits. They're definitely a sweet biscuit, but not over the top and they most definitely have a bit of substance to them. They're not just plain old biscuits, they have a nice flavour and they are often used crushed up to make cheesecake bases.
While you can buy graham crackers here from American candy stores, they are outrageously expensive and hard to find for us. So I set about making them! I found a couple of recipes that I tried and used a combination of the 2 of them to come up with the recipe that I liked best.
They have a combination of plain and wholemeal flour and brown sugar and honey, so even though they're not healthy by any means, they are definitely a better option than most cookies.
The trick with making cookies evenly sized is to roll out the dough and then use a ruler and pizza cutter to cut them out! You could definitely use a square or rectangle cookie cutter if you had them but I find this way just as easy.
The other thing that I like about these is that I score down the middle of them before baking. This way, they can be easily snapped in half which is perfect for a little snack for Sadie and for dipping in yoghurt cheesecake dip (recipe coming soon!)
Other cookie recipes that you will love:
The Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Easy Slice and Bake Cookies (with 9 flavour ideas!)
You will definitely want to get a batch of these homemade graham crackers going as coming this week is the recipe for homemade marshmallows and then how to put them together to make s'mores! Just in time for summer BBQ's and campfires!
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SHOP THE RECIPE
Here are some items I used to make this recipe:
Amazon
Silpat Baking Liner |Pizza cutter | Pyrex Mixing Bowls
Mighty Ape (New Zealand)
Silicone baking mat |Pizza cutter | Pyrex Mixing Bowls
Homemade Graham Crackers
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (210 grams) plain flour
- 1 cup (140 grams) wholemeal flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 150 grams butter (softened)
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- 1-2 Tablespoons water
Instructions
- Line 2 baking trays with silicone baking liners or baking paper and set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl whisk together both flours, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and set aside.
- Using a stand mixer or hand mixer cream the butter, sugar and honey at medium-high speed until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until the mixture starts to look like coarse sand. At this point, add as much water as you need (starting with 1 Tablespoon) until the dough comes together and forms a ball.
- Remove the dough from the bowl, split in half and flatten each piece into a round disc. Wrap in plastic wrap or baking paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- While the dough is chilling, heat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and on a lightly floured work surface, roll it out until it is about 5mm thick.
- Using square cookie cutters or a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into pieces (mine were 10cm x 7cm) and use a spatula to carefully transfer them to the prepared baking trays, making sure to leave a few centimeter gap between the cookies.
- Optional: score a line down the centre of each cookie and use a fork to prick holes down each side (see pictures for reference) This doesn't impact the cooking of the crackers but I think it adds to the authenticity of them and makes them easy to snap in 2 pieces once they are baked, for little hands!
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until they are lightly browned (if baking 2 trays at a time, you may need to swap them over halfway and possibly bake for an extra 2 or 3 minutes.)
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. The crackers will crisp up as they cool.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 10 days.
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If you tried and loved this recipe, please leave a comment and a rating below!
Caris says
As close as it gets to the store bought American ones!
Sophie Fox says
How many grams or crackers is one serving?
Laura says
It is calculated for 1 cracker
Alice says
Yum! Just made these, but may have used the wrong honey. What honey do you recommend?
Laura says
Hi Alice! I just use whatever honey I have on hand, it shouldn't make any difference!
Sarah says
Hi, I want to make this recipe but would like to ask you about an ingredient substitution. If avoiding honey for a low FODMAP diet, do you think golden syrup would work, or perhaps something else? I realise it will change the taste somewhat but it could make the recipe usable for me.
Laura says
I think golden syrup should work perfectly!
Andrew says
This is genuis!!!!
I have been trying to figure out to make these for ages. I loved them in the US.
Thank you!!!
Jamie Teo says
Hi Laura,
I have been wanting to try the real graham crackers for years from all the books I read! Now my teenage daughter wants to try them too from all the books she read too. Now we can try and make them together. Can I just use plain flour instead of mixing with wholemeal flour? Thank you.
Laura says
Hi Jamie! Yes you can definitely use plain flour. Laura
Jamie Teo says
Hi Laura,
I have been wanting to try the real graham crackers for years from all the books I read! Now my teenage daughter wants to them too from all the books she read too. Now we can try and make them together. Can I just plain flour instead of mixing with wholemeal flour? Thank you.
Laura says
Hi Jamie! Yes you absolutely can use plain flour instead. Laura
Liz says
hi - i was looking through your recipes and really want to try the gingerbread/gingernut icecream - is the gingerbread man dough uncooked??? would it make a difference if i cooked it??? - its just uncooked dough doesnt seem to be sitting well as i read it - my tummy is doing flip flops at the mere thought of it
thanks
Laura says
Hi Liz! Yes it is uncooked in my recipe (like cookie dough ice-cream) but it would definitely be fine if you cooked it first! You could even bake the biscuits and then crumble them up into the ice-cream (or on top!) - it would add a bit of crunch factor too which would be delicious!
Kirsty says
Oooh! I like the sounds of s'more week!!
Laura says
It's so fun! Marshmallows are up now, s'mores are coming tomorrow!