Gluten Free Graham Crackers

Gluten Free S'mores!

   The latest recipe challenge came in the form of a campfire for the boys at church.  They were going to be roasting marshmallows and making smores.  This sounds like a lovely chocolaty, sticky fun time for a hoard of boys.  To this mom it brought nervousness, and a challenge.  I could take the easy route and buy the store bought "graham crackers" that frankly taste nothing like real graham crackers and are thick as a fig newton (gluten filled one of course), or I could 'whip up' a homemade graham cracker the boys could take with them.  Easy as pie.....er, or not. 

   Because of the rice-free requirement, I have to tweak even gluten free recipes so I keep a binder to chronicle my recipe 'tweaks'.  I had a failed graham cracker recipe in my binder and knew I at least had a jumping off point.  I decided against a trip to the store, because I had all the ingredients on hand to give it a try (all the while being thankful that there was a back-up option if this recipe tweak was an epic fail). 

  Fortunately, this recipe 'tweak' turned out really well!  It brought back memories of eating those wonderful rectangle shaped cracker cookies out of the plastic wrappers.  The taste and smell were there!  After letting the boys try them, it hit me again that they didn't know what "real" graham crackers taste like.  (moments like that bring pangs of sadness at what they are missing out on by not eating traditional "gluten" foods, quickly replaced by relief that they don't have to eat something that makes them sick.)

  In the end, with the graham crackers from this recipe, my boys were able to join in the fun of marshmallow melted goodness on graham crackers with their friends...burned marshmallow torches and all. :)

aka. stacks of memories

Graham Crackers

 

3/4 cup My Flour Mix (Rice free and Gluten free)

1/4 cup Potato Starch

1 tsp Cinnamon

3 Tbs Brown Sugar

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

2 1/2 Tbs Butter (or non-dairy butter substitute like Earth Balance)

 

1- 1 1/2 Tbs Milk (I used SoDelicious Vanilla Coconut Milk)

2 Tbs Honey

 

Blend dry ingredients and grate butter into dry ingredients.  Add milk and honey and stir until combined.  Form ball, flatten slightly and wrap in plastic wrap.  Place dough into freezer for 1 hr, until chilled.  After 1 hr, roll dough to about 1/8" thick.  (thin is best and most authentic, so remember they will get thicker as they bake.)

*Tip: Line baking sheet with parchment paper, and cover dough with saran wrap for easy rolling. 

Don't they look "real"!

After dough is rolled out, bake at 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes.  The pan may need to be rotated for even browning.  Bake until just lightly browned.  After removing from oven use a chopping knife to square off the edges, and cut the lines for the rectangle shapes.  Use a bread knife to score the lines on the crackers dividing each larger rectangle into four smaller rectangles (with this, just rest the knife down where you want it but don't cut all the way through...think about what the "real" ones look like).  Use a thick cake tester or toothpick to poke two holes in each smaller rectangle (if you want them to look authentic!). :)  When completely cool, gently break along lines resulting in traditional rectangle crackers.  This makes one cookie sheet of crackers, number of crackers depend on size (pictures show one batch).

Other notes:
-Any gluten free flour blend would probably work for this recipe, but I have not tested that.
-Xanthan gum has already been added to my flour mix, so no additional xanthan gum is needed.