PJ Trader

The Lish (my sister, who often posts here as Alicia, as opposed to “The Lush” which would be me) was whining on IM this morning about being bored, so I sent her on a scavenger hunt for this weekend’s kitchen experiment. I blinked twice at the recipe she picked because, well, why would anyone make homemade graham crackers when Nabisco does them so well?

A little research indicates the inventor of the graham cracker was probably a Presbyterian minister named Sylvester Graham. Graham was an avid vegetarian, who promoted the use of unsifted and coarsely ground wheat flour for its high fiber content. According to Snopes.com, he believed his strict diet would suppress carnal lust, which in turn caused a variety of physical problems such as consumption, spinal disease, epilepsy, headaches, and indigestion. And he also believed that ketchup and mustard caused insanity. (See what you learned today?)

So, Mr. Graham aside, the recipe uses whole wheat flour versus the Honey Maid refined white flour, so you get an extra fiber boost for your effort. Plus the idea of smearing some homemade chocolate fudge icing on those sounded pretty darned good.

Here’s what you need to make them:

Graham Crackers
makes about 2 dozen crackers, depending on size

1/2 cup white flour
2 cups cup whole wheat flour, or graham flour – found in some health food stores
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick cold butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon molasses
1/4 cup water

Click here for the entire graham cracker recipe from Apartment Therapy and follow this link for some decadent chocolate frosting.

Some notes I found indicate the dough might be crumbly and hard to roll out, so one suggestion is to roll it out between two sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap instead of just one. I also suspect you want to be a bit generous with your liquids and make sure to chill the dough sufficiently.

Apparently, the terms graham flour and whole wheat flour are used interchangeably, but there is a difference. Graham flour is a slightly coarser grind than whole wheat flour. (Need some good whole wheat flour? I really like this whole wheat pastry flour from King Arthur Flour!) Fun fact: Grape-Nuts cereal is made from graham flour.