Graham Cracker Crumbs

Before you can have graham cracker crumbs, you must have graham crackers... and I do love this recipe for graham crackers ever so much.

Surprisingly easy to make, these crunchy little crackers are delicious plain, or as the bookends for a healthy-er S'more. However, more often than not, these crackers end up being crumbs. And what delicious crumbs they make.


Graham Cracker Crumbs
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks
Makes about 20 crackers, or 5 cups of crumbs

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (or 12.5 oz Soft White wheat flour)
1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed (or honey (or molasses) sucanat)
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cubed and frozen
1/3 cup mild-flavored honey, such as clover
5 tablespoons whole milk
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

(These cookies can be made in a food processor using the steel blade, or in an electric mixer using the paddle attachment.) Combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer or food processor. Mix (or pulse) on low to incorporate. add butter and mix on low (or pulse on and off) until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Whisk together honey, milk, and vanilla in a small bowl. Add to flour mixture. Mix or pulse until dough barely comes together (It will be soft and sticky.)

Pour dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a 1-inch thick rectangle. Wrap and chill for about 2 hours (or overnight), until firm.

Once chilled, take half of the dough and roll out on a floured surface into a 1/8-inch thick rectangle.The dough will probably still be a little sticky, so flour as necessary. Trim rectangle to make it 4 inches wide. cut strips every 4 1/2 inches. Gather scraps, re-chill, and repeat. Place crackers on parchment-lined trays. Chill in freezer until firm (about 10 minutes). Repeat with other half of dough.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. If making actual crackers instead of crumbs, make a vertical line down middle of each cracker (but don't cut through the cracker), and using a toothpick, poke two rows of dots roughly 1/2-inch from each side of the dividing lines.

Bake crackers for 25 minutes, or until browned, and lightly firm to the touch. (You can rotate the sheets midway through the baking to help them cook evenly).

To make crumbs: Allow crackers to cool completely, then pulverize in a food processor. The crumbs can be frozen for a month or so, using as needed to make pie crusts, to sprinkle on top of ice cream, or anywhere else you would use graham cracker crumbs.

Enjoy!