Graham Crackers
Graham crackers are crisp, toasty, delicious cookies not unlike gingerbread cookies. My recipe here uses a mixture of honey and molasses, and whole wheat flour for that nutty, hearty taste. You can use graham flour if you can find it, but whole wheat flour is practically the same thing and it's much cheaper and easier to find. Pair these scrumptious cookies with Homemade Marshmallows and your favorite chocolate bar, and my friend, you've got yourself the best gosh-darn s'mores you'll ever eat.
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Ingredients
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2 cups whole wheat flour
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1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
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1 1/2 cups brown sugar
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10 tablespoons softened butter (1 stick + 2 tablespoons)
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1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp milk
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1/4 cup honey
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1/4 cup molasses
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1 tablespoon vanilla
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1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
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1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
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1 1/4 teaspoons salt
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Instructions
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Cream together the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients: whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
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In a small bowl, combine the milk, honey, and molasses. Add the dry mixture to the butter mixture. Mix with a spoon, then use your hands until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add in the honey mixture, and stir until a sticky dough forms. If the dough is too sticky and wet, add in another 1/4 cup all-purpose flour.
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Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap, then stash each cookies dough disk in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
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Preheat the oven 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 180 degrees Celsius. Line three baking sheets with baking parchment.
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Take the dough out of the fridge, and roll it out on a very generously floured work surface. This dough is pretty sticky. Use a pizza cutter (or just a knife) to cut the dough into equal squares or rectangles. I went with squares, which isn't the "classic" look, but it makes them easier to eat. Place them on the baking sheets, and poke holes using a fork.
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Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, rotating halfway through. This will ensure that your cookies bake evenly.
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Remove, and allow to cool completely before eating. Serve with peanut butter, dipped in tea, or, of course, with marshmallows and chocolate! I had a bunch or friends over, and they all loved the graham crackers on their own and in s'mores. These cookies are infinitely better than anything out of a box!
Graham Crackers: A Strange Origin
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Graham crackers were invented in the early 1800's by a man named Sylvester Graham. They weren't the sweet, cinnamon-y cookies we know today, however. Instead, they were unflavored biscuits made primarily of wheat flour and water. Graham believed that a bland diet would discourage "self-pleasure", which he believed could cause blindness. Some genius must have had the idea to add sugar at some point, and now we've got delicious graham crackers!