Not Quite a Cracker …..

Today the sun has decided to play hide and seek with me while I’m trying to take pictures. I’ve been running around the house trying to find the best light during the process of making today’s recipe. (I know, making a recipe, photographing it, and posting it all in the same day is a recipe for disaster.) In a single sentence tutorial I will tell you this about making pictures of any kind appealing, “It is all about the light”. You can tell in some of them where the light totally disappeared, so my apologies.

One of my kids, and my, favorite crackers is graham crackers. I have been trying over the last year to find, or create, a recipe that resembles boxed grahams. The last one I made was a lot of work without a great result. 😦 I don’t remember who the author was, but I was less than pleased. I can say that the recipe I made to day I am MUCH happier with. Now let me warn you, I am not going to call these guys crackers, because they are not crispy. The edges have a slight crispiness, but the main part of the graham is soft like a cookie, or almost like a snack cake, or brownie.

 

 

 

I nailed the flavor, I couldn’t be happier with that. At first I tried them warm and was pretty disappointed and thought I had another fail, but after they cooled, triumph. They are yummy plain, but one of my favorite ways to eat grahams is with peanut butter on them. (I think I may have mentioned somewhere that I have a sort of love affair with peanut butter.) In all honesty these would also be great for s’mores. I wished that I had some homemade marshmallow fluff left because under the broiler these would have been a home run!

 

 

 

My kids have yet to try them because they were to hot when I laid them down for their nap, but we will see if they are kid approved very shortly. As everyone knows my kids are picky about the funniest things, so if they don’t like them it doesn’t really mean anything, but if they DO like them it must mean that they are some of the best in the world. 😉 I have to admit that these were super easy, very few ingredients, and while the calories are slightly higher than the boxed, you don’t have to worry about all the stuff you can’t pronounce. I call that a win any day. In saying that, whether you eat them plain, slather them with your favorite nut butter, or make them into s’mores, sit back, relax, and enjoy!

 

How do you like to eat your grahams?

Honey Graham Squares

By Angie Gouchenour

16 squares

Ingredients

¾ cup wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 Tablespoons butter – cold

3 Tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring, or extract

1 Tablespoon water – cold

*Cinnamon – optional

Directions

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and the butter with a pastry cutter (You could use a food processor, but that is so messy)

Keep cutting, and scraping the cutter, until there aren’t any butter chunks left

Stir in the honey, vanilla, and water until fully mixed

Wrap the dough in wax paper and chill in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes

Preheat the oven to 325’f

Remove the dough and place it on parchment paper and cover with the wax paper

Roll the dough out between 1/8 and ¼ inch thick (Thinner will be crispier, thicker will be chewier)

Remove the wax paper (the dough will be a little sticky)

If you want, you can cut the round edges off the dough and place it around the dough to make it more square before cutting

Cut the rolled dough into squares and prick the tops with a fork

*If you want this is where you can sprinkle a little cinnamon over the top

Move the parchment paper to a cookie sheet and cook for 20-23 minutes

Remove the cookie sheet from the oven, and slide the parchment paper onto the counter until the squares cool

Cut, or break them apart and store in a sealed container

1 serving (2 squares) = 98 calories

Modified from The Frugal Farm Wife