Graham Cookies

I picked up a fun little cookbook at a yard sale called, "Make Your Own Groceries". It was published in the late 1970's, but so far almost everything in there is still quite relevant: homemade cleaners, freezer meals, instant oatmeal, and so on. Anyway, I decided to try a recipe for graham crackers to see if we couldn't save a few bucks and have fun while we're at it. The result wasn't really a cracker. Maybe it would have been closer to a cracker if I'd rolled them thinner and cooked them longer. I'm not sure. But the end result that I got from my oven was a wonderful, soft, not-too-sweet, whole wheat cookie. Call it graham if whole wheat makes you think of saw dust. Either way, they're great. You can roll them out and use cookie cutters just like sugar cookies. You could frost them, do whatever you like. I prefer them plain. I just wouldn't call them whole wheat sugar cookies, that might garner suspicion in the less adventurous.

Graham Crackers (cookies)
1 cup graham flour (a type of whole wheat flour you can find at a health foods store or some place with a good assortment of baking products. If you don't have it, just substitute with whole wheat flour like I did.)
1 cup whole wheat flour
8 tbsp (1/2 cup) butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup honey
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 to 3 tbsp warm water

Sift flours into a mixing bowl; thoroughly cut in half the butter before cutting in the rest. Mix in sugar and baking powder; stir in honey, followed by the egg and mix well. Gradually add teaspoons of the water, tossing and mixing well before adding more; stop adding water when the dough is moist enough - but not sticky - to form a ball. Knead on a well-floured surface for 1 minute or until the dough holds together enough to be rolled. Roll to a thickness midway between 1/8 and 1/4 inch then cut into 3-inch squares (I used cookie cutters instead once I decided they were going to be cookies and not crackers). Space the squares slightly apart on an ungreased cookie sheet; prick tops with a fork. Bake at 350°F for about 15 minutes.

Side Note: If you have a food processor, this recipe is super easy. Just do everything in there. Food processors are excellent sifters, pastry cutters, and mixers. A few pulses and you're cherry. I did knead outside of the processor, although I probably didn't have to.

Rosemary