Graham Crackers
So a few weeks ago, I thought it would be a good idea to make a cheesecake.
To make a cheesecake, you need a few things. One is a large amount of cream cheese. Or other fresh delicious cheeses...mascarpone can do quite nicely too.
Another thing you might like is a crust. Unless you are making a crustless cheesecake. In that case, I recommend the following: Make graham crackers anyway.Then eat them while waiting for the cake to be done.
Today I’m talking about graham crackers though. The first set I made was a chocolate graham recipe, and it was quite good. I think I doubled the salt by mistake, but who knows, that may have helped them as a crust.
The second set I decided to make the chocolate graham crackers again, since everyone liked them the first time. Not a bad plan, until I misread the temperature at which you should bake them. 375°F and 325°F do produce different results. Surprise?
I wouldn’t recommend doing this - the cookies were rather moist and chewy instead of dryer and crispy. Not bad, but not really what you want in a graham cracker. The crust they produced was...chewy. Again, not terrible, but not the crumbly cookie experience you really want to go with a cheesecake. But if you want a chewy cookie, this variant may be just the thing for you.
Since not everyone likes chocolate, I tried another recipe - regular graham crackers (Why yes, I do have such original ideas!). As I only tried these once, it’s possible I did something wrong, but somehow the crackers I wound up with tasted mostly of the oil I used. If I try these again maybe I should use a nice olive oil, reduce the sugar and sprinkle with a little coarse salt... Is anyone else distracted?
The texture was also a little off, less crispy and airy than crunchy and heavy. I ate some of them out of sheer stubbornness, but it was not the most pleasant experience.
In the end I could not bring myself to put those crackers into a crust, so we will never know how that would have tasted. (My guess: like crunchy vegetable oil. That is why I didn’t try it out.)
The next time I tried regular graham crackers, I thought I would give the chocolate graham cracker recipe another chance. Instead of adding chocolate, I added a little more of the two flours and some spices.
It worked I think.
Let me know if you try these out, and how it goes. I haven’t tried, but I imagine covering them in a layer of chocolate chips and marshmallows right after baking could also be delicious.
Graham crackers
In a large bowl, mix:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
½ tsp salt
1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
Cut in (using a fork, a pastry cutter or a food processor):
½ cup (1 stick) butter
Combine
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp milk
Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones until the dough forms a ball. Add extra milk if you need it.
Divide the dough in half. Gently fold each half 10-12 times on a floured surface, until it forms a smooth ball. It will be a bit sticky.
Roll the dough out on parchment, use as much flour as you need to get it to not stick to your rolling pin. The dough should come to the edges of your cookie sheet, that is to say, cover most of your parchment sheet. (Assuming you are using regular cookie sheets, not industrial sized ones. Then just roll the dough out til it’s 3mm or so thin.). Prick with a fork.
Bake at 325°F for 15-25 minutes, until the crackers look a little browner around the edges.
Cut into squares using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter as soon as you remove them from the oven. Cool the squares on a rack. (You can just slide the whole sheet of parchment onto the rack so nothing breaks apart)
Enjoy with tea. Or chocolate and marshmallows. Or frosting. Or peanut butter. Or cheesecake...I’m sure you can come up with something fun. If you do, I’d love to hear about it!
Here is the recipe without the photos:
(It was)
To make a cheesecake, you need a few things. One is a large amount of cream cheese. Or other fresh delicious cheeses...mascarpone can do quite nicely too.
Another thing you might like is a crust. Unless you are making a crustless cheesecake. In that case, I recommend the following: Make graham crackers anyway.Then eat them while waiting for the cake to be done.
This will take a while...
These don't take quite as much time
They also might not last very long.
It seems the classic crust is one made of graham cracker crumbs, butter and a bit of sugar. You might be able to leave the sugar out, I’ll try that sometime. It does mean another cheesecake or key lime pie. It’ll be difficult, but I might be able to manage..somehow.
Today I’m talking about graham crackers though. The first set I made was a chocolate graham recipe, and it was quite good. I think I doubled the salt by mistake, but who knows, that may have helped them as a crust.
The second set I decided to make the chocolate graham crackers again, since everyone liked them the first time. Not a bad plan, until I misread the temperature at which you should bake them. 375°F and 325°F do produce different results. Surprise?
I wouldn’t recommend doing this - the cookies were rather moist and chewy instead of dryer and crispy. Not bad, but not really what you want in a graham cracker. The crust they produced was...chewy. Again, not terrible, but not the crumbly cookie experience you really want to go with a cheesecake. But if you want a chewy cookie, this variant may be just the thing for you.
Since not everyone likes chocolate, I tried another recipe - regular graham crackers (Why yes, I do have such original ideas!). As I only tried these once, it’s possible I did something wrong, but somehow the crackers I wound up with tasted mostly of the oil I used. If I try these again maybe I should use a nice olive oil, reduce the sugar and sprinkle with a little coarse salt... Is anyone else distracted?
The texture was also a little off, less crispy and airy than crunchy and heavy. I ate some of them out of sheer stubbornness, but it was not the most pleasant experience.
In the end I could not bring myself to put those crackers into a crust, so we will never know how that would have tasted. (My guess: like crunchy vegetable oil. That is why I didn’t try it out.)
The next time I tried regular graham crackers, I thought I would give the chocolate graham cracker recipe another chance. Instead of adding chocolate, I added a little more of the two flours and some spices.
It worked I think.
Let me know if you try these out, and how it goes. I haven’t tried, but I imagine covering them in a layer of chocolate chips and marshmallows right after baking could also be delicious.
Graham crackers
In a large bowl, mix:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
½ tsp salt
1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
Cut in (using a fork, a pastry cutter or a food processor):
½ cup (1 stick) butter
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp milk
Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones until the dough forms a ball. Add extra milk if you need it.
Divide the dough in half. Gently fold each half 10-12 times on a floured surface, until it forms a smooth ball. It will be a bit sticky.
Roll the dough out on parchment, use as much flour as you need to get it to not stick to your rolling pin. The dough should come to the edges of your cookie sheet, that is to say, cover most of your parchment sheet. (Assuming you are using regular cookie sheets, not industrial sized ones. Then just roll the dough out til it’s 3mm or so thin.). Prick with a fork.
Bake at 325°F for 15-25 minutes, until the crackers look a little browner around the edges.
Cut into squares using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter as soon as you remove them from the oven. Cool the squares on a rack. (You can just slide the whole sheet of parchment onto the rack so nothing breaks apart)
Enjoy with tea. Or chocolate and marshmallows. Or frosting. Or peanut butter. Or cheesecake...I’m sure you can come up with something fun. If you do, I’d love to hear about it!
Just a thought.
Here is the recipe without the photos:
Graham crackers
In a large bowl, mix:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
½ tsp salt
1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
Cut in (using a fork, a pastry cutter or a food processor):
½ cup (1 stick) butter
In a large bowl, mix:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
½ tsp salt
1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
Cut in (using a fork, a pastry cutter or a food processor):
½ cup (1 stick) butter
Combine
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp milk
Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones until the dough forms a ball. Add extra milk if you need it.
Divide the dough in half. Gently fold each half 10-12 times on a floured surface, until it forms a smooth ball. It will be a bit sticky.
Roll the dough out on parchment, use as much flour as you need to get it to not stick to your rolling pin. The dough should come to the edges of your cookie sheet, that is to say, cover most of your parchment sheet. (Assuming you are using regular cookie sheets, not industrial sized ones. Then just roll the dough out til it’s 3mm or so thin.). Prick the dough evenly with a fork.
Bake at 325°F for 15-25 minutes, until the crackers look a little browner around the edges.
Cut into squares using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter as soon as you remove them from the oven. Cool the squares on a rack. (You can just slide the whole sheet of parchment onto the rack so nothing breaks apart)
Enjoy with tea.
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp milk
Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones until the dough forms a ball. Add extra milk if you need it.
Divide the dough in half. Gently fold each half 10-12 times on a floured surface, until it forms a smooth ball. It will be a bit sticky.
Roll the dough out on parchment, use as much flour as you need to get it to not stick to your rolling pin. The dough should come to the edges of your cookie sheet, that is to say, cover most of your parchment sheet. (Assuming you are using regular cookie sheets, not industrial sized ones. Then just roll the dough out til it’s 3mm or so thin.). Prick the dough evenly with a fork.
Bake at 325°F for 15-25 minutes, until the crackers look a little browner around the edges.
Cut into squares using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter as soon as you remove them from the oven. Cool the squares on a rack. (You can just slide the whole sheet of parchment onto the rack so nothing breaks apart)
Enjoy with tea.
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