Graham Crackers

I know what you're thinking. 'Oh, she made homemade graham crackers for her child. How sweet, in an utterly control-freak-over-her-kid's-diet kind of way...'

I'm not that kind of Mom. Yes, I have those tendencies, buying local/organic, pureeing fresh vegetables, pooh-poohing puffed or processed stuff. But in reality, sometimes a handful of baby Cheetoes helps us all get through the day. In fact, last Friday baby had french fries and a KFC biscuit for dinner.

Bad mommy? It's not an everyday thing, so no apologies from me.

But these graham crackers...I should tell you that I made them for Ben. He is becoming quite the graham cracker connoisseur, you know. But I have to be honest. I made them for me. Just me.

I just really like graham crackers - the mild sweetness, the wheatiness, the texture, it's all just so right. When I saw Smitten Kitchen post about them, I was fascinated by the idea of making my own. Gourmet Today has a recipe that's mostly whole wheat flour, so I went with that one instead of SK's - so yummy. Almost like a crispy just-sweet-enough cinnamon cookie.

Of course, I still had to share them with my graham cracker expert. He approved.


Graham Crackers
Straight out of Gourmet Today. After Ben went to bed, I kicked back in my yoga pants with a glass of cold milk, a stack of these graham crackers, and a chick flick (don't you just want to live forever in Meryl Streep's kitchen/bathtub/garden/bakery in It's Complicated? But the scene where it was SO FUN to make chocolate croissants at 2 am with Steve Martin...that was pushing it). Highly recommeded - the crackers, I mean, not really the movie.

2 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 Tbls. cornmeal
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. packed light brown sugar
2 Tbls. molasses
2 Tbls. honey
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 stick (8 Tbls.) cold butter, cut into 1/2" pieces
1/4 c. cold water

In a food processor, combine all ingredients except butter and water, pulsing until combined. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Drizzle water over mixture and pulse until dough forms a ball, about 30 seconds.

Divide dough in half. Roll out one piece between two sheets of parchment paper into a 15x10" rectangle and put on a large baking sheet. Repeat with second piece of dough. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

Put racks in upper and lower thirds of over and preheat to 350 degrees.

Remove top sheets of parchment from dough. Using a knife or pizza cutter, trim edges of dough and cut into squares or rectangles (do not separate pieces). Prick each piece several times with a fork and bake, switching position of sheets halfway through, until edges are golden brown, 15-20 mins. Transfer crackers, on parchment paper, to a rack to cool completely.