Graham Crackers

My son is a graham cracker fiend.  We usually buy the Nabisco classic red box, but I decided that this might be something easy enough to make instead.  I searched for a while, and ended up coming up with a recipe based off a few that I found:

All the ingredients, except (mysteriously) the butter

1 Stick organic salted butter ($4.79/ 4 sticks = $1.19)

¾ cup brown sugar ($1.77 per 2 lb, $1.77/ 18.917 ¼ cups in bag = $.094 x 3 = $.28)

1 tsp vanilla ($5.65 per 2 oz, $5.65/ 11.98 tsp per bottle = $.47)

2 cups stone ground organic wheat flour ($1.39 per lb, $1.39 x .75lb = $1.04)

1 cup organic all purpose flour ($1.39 per lb, $1.39 x .34 lb = $.47)

1 tsp baking powder ($1.59 per 10 oz, $1.59/ 59.06 tsp per box = $.03)

½ tsp baking soda ($.67 per lb, $.67/ 188.75 ½ tsp in box = $.004)

½ cup organic milk ($5.99 per gallon, $5.99/ 32 ½ cups in gallon = $.19)

Preheat the oven to 350.  Butter a few cookie sheets, set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar, then add vanilla.  In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients.

 

Mixing the dry ingredients

Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the milk to the sugar mixture. On a floured surface, roll the dough out about 1/8 of an inch, and cut into whatever shape you want (I went with the standard graham cracker rectangle).  Put your crackers on the cookie sheets, and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

 
Well mixed and ready for rolling

 

Fresh out of the oven.  I didn't pay too much attention to the shapes, but in retrospect the regular rectangles are more even and better tasting than the crazy edged ones.

These are better if you don’t let them get too thin or too dark since it is a sweet cracker.  They should be lightly brown and shouldn’t be springy if you press on them.  And they taste FANTASTIC.  They are sweeter than commercial graham crackers, so you could tone down the sugar if you want.  They have a light buttery taste that I can’t resist, and my son gobbled his up.

 

Enjoying the fruits of his labor

Time: 30 minutes, start to finish, even with your kid’s “help”.

Try It:

A batch came to $3.67 for about 21 oz (I can’t tell exactly because my son ate a chunk of the dough and we ate 2 before I could weigh them!), or $.17/oz.

Buy It:

The red Nabisco box is $4.29, or $.30/oz.

Verdict:

Try It, they’re really good!  I’m not sure that I’d use them for a s’more, though, because they might be a little too dense and crunchy.