More food

With fall just around the corner, I'm feeling more drawn to the kitchen and baking. One of my favorite comfort foods is graham crackers and milk...but I'm very particular. I will only eat the graham crackers I ate growing up - Keebler Honey Grahams. The bad news is that they are full of trans fats, or at least they were the last time I checked.

Since Lia is becoming a lover of graham crackers and milk too, I decided it was time to try making them myself. I want to be able to control what goes into my food and Lia's body. I found the recipe here and changed it a bit because 1) I'm not vegan and 2) I didn't have some of the ingredients. They turned out very tasty, with a faint cinnamony flavor and a more substantial texture than regular graham crackers. And they stand up well to the milk-dipping.

Graham Crackers

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 /2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla
cinnamon and sugar mixture for sprinkling on top (optional)

1. Place the flours, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt and cinnamon in a food processor and pulse a few times to blend.

2. Cut small cubes of the butter in with the flour mixture and pulse for about another 30 seconds until the mixture looks like a coarse meal.

3. In another bowl combine the wet ingredients and whisk until combined. Pour into the flour-butter mixture and process until the dough starts to clump. This should take less than a minute. *You may need to add a bit more water since i reduced the amount of butter in the original recipe from 1/2 cup to 1/3 cup (i added about 2 T. more water).

4. Remove dough from processor and divide into two balls.

5. Roll each ball out between two pieces of waxed paper until it is very thin (1/8") and chill until firm (30 min. in freezer).

6. With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the crackers into 2" squares and place on a parchment lined (or pan sprayed nonstick) baking sheet.
*You can also cut out cute shapes and re-roll the scraps to make more fun shapes (I wouldn't re-roll more than once).

7. Stab the dough with a fork or toothpick to give it that characteristic graham cracker look. sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture if using and bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Cool and store in an airtight container.

This is a great recipe to make with kids. I tried to let Lia cut out the cookies but I'm just not laid back enough to let her alternately tear the dough up and/or eat large chunks of it. The toothpicking was easier for her. For a while she was able to resist eating the cute little hearts, but as witnessed by the heart at the top of the tray, her willpower eventually failed her. As a bonus- dough contains no eggs so you don't need to worry about the kids (or yourself) pilfering a scrap or two. I think the more homemade they look the better!