Martha's Graham Crackers

Yes, that Martha. You know you love her. Or hate her. I don't think there's really any in between when it comes to Martha. I'm definitely a Martha lover. I remember coming across her tv show when I was very young, maybe around 10 years old or so. I was so intrigued; she was like the mother or distant aunt I always wished I had. I was in awe as I saw her baking and crafting, making it all look so easy and effortless. Everything turned out beautiful and I was so inspired. Of course, being ten years old and having parents whose answer to everything was always a predictable "No." I didn't get a chance to do anything I ever saw on her programs, but I loved to watch.

It wasn't until recently that I bought my first Martha Stewart cookbook. Her Baking Handbook caught my eye during a trip to the craft store. After browsing through it, I decided to snatch it up with one of those 50% off coupons (gotta love Michaels, eh?). There are a lot of recipes I'd like to try, but the first thing I made out of the book was a batch of graham crackers. To be honest, I actually didn't want to use that particular recipe, but I needed graham crackers, and I had all the ingredients for Martha's recipe, so that's the one I went with.



I was a little turned off by the amount of butter called for in the recipe (2 sticks!) and worried they might turn out too greasy. Luckily, that was not the case with the final product. They turned out great, perfectly crunchy and sweet, but not overly so. They also have a slight hint of caramel, which comes from the brown sugar. The recipe calls for light brown, but I used dark and I'm very happy with the result. While great for snacking, I actually made these to use as a pie crust. More on that to come!



GRAHAM CRACKERS
adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups graham flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey

method
Whisk together both flours, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter, brown sugar and honey on medium speed until light and fluffy.
Turn the mixer down to low and slowly add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture. Mix just until combined.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and cut into 4 equal pieces. Roll each piece between parchment into a rectangle about 9 x 6 inches and 1/8 inch thick.
Trim edges to make them even (if you care about that sort of thing) and cut into smaller rectangles (6 x 3 inches if you're going for the same shape/size of the boxed kind) and score each in half lenghtwise and crosswise (you'll then have four 3 x 1/2 inch crackers).
Stack the parchment covered dough on top of each other and freeze until firm, about 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Remove two sheets of dough from the freezer and using a fork, score each cracker a few times.
Bake until crackers are golden brown, rotating pans halfway through, about 15-18 minutes.

click for printable recipe