Homemade S'mores and Graham Crackers

Homemade graham crackers are easier than you think to make. They are perfect to snack on but ultimately the most ideal thing to make s’mores with. I have included my recipe for making s’mores in the oven below.

I have always wanted to share a homemade recipe for graham crackers on the blog but until this recipe I wasn’t happy with the ones I had tried. You see while living in the Caribbean  I often made things from scratch because things like graham crackers, nila wafers, or chocolate wafers, were not always consistently available. I actually had to make my own chocolate wafers for my Chocolate Banoffee Pie just to make the crust. They were so tasty it was almost a shame to have to make them into crumbs. But if I needed them I had to learn how to make them. I have scanned through many recipes for graham crackers but I always found that they weren’t worth making because half the time I didn’t have the ingredients to make them.  If I couldn’t find graham crackers, I most definitely wouldn’t be able to find graham flour; a coarse ground whole wheat flour specific to many graham cracker recipes.

I discovered a super simple recipe from Smitten Kitchen’s blog which she got from 101 Cookbooks and originally from Nancy Silverton. It’s the best one yet and there is no reason to look any further for the perfect graham cracker recipe. I made some very miner tweaks to the recipe overall - the biggest change I made was make them with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour . This was the easiest swap for all purpose flour in the recipe making them them the most perfect gluten free graham crackers.

That is what I love about their gluten free baking flour. You can easily transform any recipe into a gluten free one. No need to blend flours. It’s all pre-blended and ready to use in place of all purpose flour. Bob’s Red Mill has you covered when it comes to all of your baking needs while catering to those in your family who have specific food allergies. It also speak volumes for the recipe itself - one that is easily adapted and perfect everytime.

How to make homemade graham crackers?

They are as easy to make as shortbread cookies, possibly even easier. Butter gets cut into the dry ingredients. Then the liquid ingredients are added including the honey and vanilla which mixed with the brown sugar gives these crackers that spectacular sweet flavour with notes of molasses but without molasses in them. Once the dough is made,  it’s chilled then rolled out and sliced. Then chilled again before getting baked to perfection. Easy as that. You can get fancy with the cuts if you have a fluted pastry wheel. I happened to have misplaced mine when I made these which I was super disappointed about but I used a pizza cutter instead.  You can easily use a knife and you can use a ruler to get your cuts just right. If you have a steady hand feel free to make them free hand - I thought I did have a steady hand but as you can see not so steady after all or possibly the result of copious amounts of caffeine in my system. That has zero effect on how delicious these are. They don’t have to look perfect to enjoy. I love to snack on them with cheese - that sweet and savoury combo is unbeatable. The most popular way to enjoy them is making s’mores. If you do decide to use them to make s’mores (by the campfire or in the stove) they will be the very tastiest ones you have ever made.

I have partnered up with Bob’s Red Mill to bring you this fabulous recipe, but all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting Olive & Mango.

Recipe

Makes approx 30-40 approx 2 x 2inch square crackers

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes and frozen
• ⅓ cup honey
• 5 tablespoons cream
• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

Topping (optional)

• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
  

Directions

1. Place the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in the food processor. Pulse a few times until combined. Add the cold butter and pulse some more until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. (A bowl and pastry blender would work too)

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, cream, and vanilla. Pour into the flour mixture and pulse a few times until the dough starts to comes together. Dump out the dough onto a layer of plastic wrap, dust it lightly with flour, then turn the dough out onto it and pat it into a rectangle about 1-inch thick. Wrap it, and then refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

3. Once ready to roll out mix the topping ingredients in a small bowl if using and set aside. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Dust flour onto a clean work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Continue to dust with flour as needed. Trim all the edges so that you have clean straight edges to work with. Mark your cuts with a ruler or measuring tool then cut long strips and then cut them to size.  (I made my crackers square you can make them more rectangular shaped if your prefer or any size you like)

4. Carefully slide cut crackers onto parchment-lined baking sheets and sprinkle with the topping (I used a spatula to transfer them over) Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes of freezer for 15 minutes until firm. Repeat with the second batch of dough and collect all the scrap pieces and make more chilling and re-rolling.

5. Preheat oven to 350°F and set oven rack on the upper third of the oven. Using a toothpick or skewer prick the dough to form a pattern of dotted rows (optional).

6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown, and fragrant rotating the baking sheets halfway through. Do not over bake. Once out of the oven allow to cool 5 min in pan on cooling rack and then use a spatula to slide them off pan and onto cooling rack to fully cool.
   

Directions on making s’mores in the oven

• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• Lay ½ of the graham crackers on a cookie sheet. Top with chocolate pieces to cover. Top chocolate with marshmallows.
• Bake until the marshmallows are puffed and golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and top with the remaining graham crackers, pressing down slightly to make a sandwich. Serve immediately, while still warm.