Homemade "Honey Grahams" Graham Crackers

For those of you who may be unfamilar, below is a picture of a traditional Graham Cracker.  Don't let the word "cracker" fool you.  They are sweet and taste more similar to a biscuit, but have the crisp texture of a cracker.  I've heard lots of people compare them to Digestive Biscuits when it comes to baking.  Personally I think the only thing they have in common with a Digestive Biscuit is they are both commonly crushed up and used as a pie crust.  Graham Crackers have their own distinct and lovely flavour which is nothing like a Digestive.

This week I was given the task to produce some bakes for the my daughters School bakesale.  An obvious opportunity to try something different.  I decided to make some Smores Cupcakes.  More about that on another post, but in order to make them I first had to have some Graham Crackers.  Graham Crackers are not commonly sold in the UK unless you go to a specialist store that sells USA Grocery items, like Selfridges or the Stateside Candy Company.  

Rather than order them I decided to make them.  They came out so nice that I reserved a few (rather than crush them all up) to give to the bake sell in their own right.  

Fancy making your own homemade Honey Gram Graham Crackers?  Here's how.......

Ingredients:

340g (1 1/2 cups) all purpose flour

315g (1 1/3 cups) whole meal flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

250g (1 cup) unsalted butter at room temperature

157g (2/3 cup) dark brown sugar

5 tablespoons honey

water (approx 5 tablespoons) 

Method:

1. In a bowl, whisk together all purpose flour, whole meal flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt and set aside.

2.  In a bowl, combine butter, brown sugar and honey and beat until very light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Add the flour mixture and mix on low just until blended and mixture comes together.  Mixture should not be dry, it should come together into a ball of dough.  If needed add water a tablespoon at a time until the mixture is no longer dry and comes together.  Mine took approx 5 tablespoons of water, you may need more or less.  

3.  Cover dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 5 days.

4.  To bake.  Preheat oven to 175C /350F /Gas Mark 4.  Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to very thin, about 1/8 inch.  Traditionally these would be cut into rectangles or squares like the photo above, but I used a cookie cutter to cut mine.  Use your imagination, their your crackers :)   

5.  Bake for 8 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake approx 4 more minutes.  Keep an eye on them and take them out when they are golden and firm to the touch.  Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely before serving.  Can be stored in an airtight container for 5 days.