Homemade Honey-Butter Graham Crackers

The Setting: A very overcast Monday.

The Soundtrack: Silence, interrupted only by the merry striking of computer keys.

Steaming up the Oven: Homemade Honey-Butter Graham Crackers.

The Scenario: I've got a tasty idea in the works, and it all starts with homemade graham crackers.

I'm betting you've got an idea where I'm going with this, but you'll have to wait for another post or two to know for sure!

Homemade Honey-Butter Graham Crackers
You can actually buy "graham flour," which is made by grinding the starchy wheat endosperm very finely, grinding the bran and germ more coarsely, and then recombining the parts (or you could make your own concoction of white flour, wheat germ, and wheat bran), but I just use a mixture of whole-wheat and unbleached all-purpose flours. These sweet crackers are richer and crispier than what you find in the supermarket, and they make amazing graham-cracker crumbs for pies!

11/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups whole-wheat flour
1 tsp kosher salt (or 1/2 tsp finely ground salt)
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened at room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1-3 tsp water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Whisk together the flours, salt, soda, and cinnamon, and set aside.

In an electric mixer cream together the butter, brown sugar, and honey on med-high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture. Add the water, 1 tsp at a time, just until a soft--but not sticky--dough comes together. If you are working in high humidity, you may need less water; in very low humidity you may need more.

Divide the dough in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into a fat rectangle and use a rolling pin to roll the dough out between two pieces of parchment paper until it is between 1/4- and 1/8-inch thick.

Transfer the dough (with the parchment) to a baking sheet. Carefully peel off the top layer of parchment.

Use a pizza cutter to trim off the jagged edges, making an even rectangle, and use it again to cut the rectangle into 12 (approximately 3x3-inch) squares. Leave the outside scraps and the cut squares in place. You can use a tape measure or ruler if you want to be precise, but I tend to wing it. With a fork, pierce three rows of holes in each square.

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or till crisp and golden. Let cool on sheet before carefully breaking into squares.

Store tightly wrapped in parchment or in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

Thanks for reading! Here's to Being the Secret Ingredient in your life.