Miette's Homemade Graham Crackers

How do homemade graham crackers sound?  Irresistible if you ask me.  That's why I ran straight to the kitchen to make them when I came across the recipe in the Miette Cookbook.   I had a lot of fun making them.  Flavor-wise they're scrumptious, although the original recipe calls for honey and the honey I used was very strong and a bit overpowering so the next time I made them, I substituted my favorite ingredient, Lyle's Golden Syrup, which adds a beautiful caramel flavor.  The dough can be made up to 2 days ahead and the baked cookies can be stored for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container.

*This post contains affiliate links.

Roll cookie dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper.  I find a ball-bearing rolling pin does the job best.  To ensure all the cookies turn out the same thickness and bake in the same amount of time, use 1/8-inch wooden dowels as a guide when rolling the dough.  

UPDATE:  Rolling guides work even better than dowels because they don't roll away from your work surface.    

Cut your cookies with your favorite cookie cutters.  I love my set of scalloped cutters and my message cookie cutters.

The message cutters are so fun to play with.

Transfer wax paper to a sheet pan and chill until dough is very firm.

When dough is firmly chilled, slide an offset spatula between the cookie dough and wax paper.

Transfer cookies to a parchment or silicone lined sheet pan OR…

After making several batches, I discovered I could speed the process along a bit faster if I chilled the cutouts in the freezer for about 5 minutes.

Partially freezing the dough firms it enough to peel the wax paper away easily.

And the partially frozen cutouts are easier to transfer to a prepared sheet pan for baking.

Keep cutouts chilled until it's time to bake them.  Before they go in the oven, sprinkle them with granulated sugar.

If cutting round shapes, use a skewer or toothpick to poke a few decorative holes - this will help the cookies bake evenly.  This step isn't necessary if you use the message cutters.

Eat 'em plain.

Or turn them into ice cream sammies.  Fun-fun!!

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• message cookie cutter set https://amzn.to/3yfyB2V

• Lyle’s golden syrup https://amzn.to/3EMJs6F

• heavy duty stand mixer https://amzn.to/3lRzeuz

• rolling guides https://amzn.to/3yh044d

• round dual-sided cookie cutter set https://amzn.to/3IHEzyf

• Miette: recipes from San Fran’s most charming pastry shop https://amzn.to/3h7ZOzQ

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Homemade Graham Crackers

makes two dozen 2.5-inch cookies

Printable Recipe 

Ingredients

• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (6 ounces)

• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (4 ounces)

• 2 tablespoons Lyle's Golden Syrup (or honey)

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (7 1/2 ounces)

• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour (1 1/2 ounces)

• 1/4 teaspoon table salt

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• granulated sugar for sprinkling

Directions

To make the dough:

1. Sift dry ingredients together; set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter, brown sugar, and golden syrup together for 5 minutes.

3. Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined.

4. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes, or up to 2 days.

To cut cookies:

1. Using a rolling pin, roll dough between layers of waxed paper to 1/8-inch thickness.

2. Use 1/8-inch wooden dowels as a guide.

3. Cut shapes from rolled dough and chill well before transferring to sheet pan.

4. I used these scalloped round cutters and these message cookie cutters.

To bake cookies:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Place chilled cookie cutouts on a cool parchment or silpat lined sheet pan and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

3. Bake in the center of a preheated oven for 10-13 minutes.

4. Cool completely.

5. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Note

• Measuring ingredients like flour and sugar by weight is much more accurate than measuring them by volume so weigh ingredients with a digital scale for the best results.

adapted from the cookbook Miette: Recipes from San Francisco's Most Charming Pastry Shop

(affiliate links)

Pains D'Amande - Very Thin French Almond Cookies

When I read about these cookies on David Lebovitz's blog, they were described as "the best tea cookies in the world" and I knew I had to try them.  Let me tell you, they do not disappoint!  They're extremely thin, extremely crisp, and extremely addictive!  I have a standing order from 2 sisters, a brother, and my mother for more, more, more!!

The cookie dough is a cinch to make, but it has to chill in the fridge for 4-6 hours to firm up enough to slice into papery thin planks.  As skilled as I am with a sharp knife, I couldn't cut the dough as thin as I wanted, but a mandoline made pretty easy work of it.  If you're lucky enough to own an electric meat slicer, all the better. 

Gather all the ingredients and equipment.

Cook the sugar syrup.

Stir in almonds.

Add flour mixture.

Stir, stir, stir.

Press into loaf pan.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill.

Unmold and slice very, very thin.

Bake.

Enjoy!

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• silicone loaf pan https://amzn.to/3T3EdGd

• sliced almonds https://amzn.to/3Ukv2lH

• turbinado sugar https://amzn.to/3NzmFkk

• serrated knife https://amzn.to/3SXxYnf

• mondoline slicer https://amzn.to/3DxVnpF

• electric slicer https://amzn.to/3zEJNrC

• half sheet pan https://amzn.to/3gWNDpy

• flat parchment sheets https://amzn.to/3UiH0MI

• silicone pan liner https://amzn.to/3SZP7gg

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Pains D'Amande (thin, French almond cookies)

Printable Recipe

makes 100-120 paper thin cookies 

Ingredients

• 113g unsalted butter (4 ounces)

• 75g water (1/3 cup)

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• a pinch or two of salt

• 280g turbinado sugar

• (1 1/3 cups) 85g sliced almonds, not slivered (1 cup or 3 ounces)

• 325g all-purpose flour

• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside.

2. In a medium heavy bottomed, preferably non-stick, saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, water, cinnamon, and salt until butter is completely melted without allowing the mixture to boil.

3. Add the sugar and stir until the sugar is not quite completely dissolved (not letting the sugar melt completely adds wonderful texture); again, don't let the mixture boil.

4. Using a silicone spatula, stir in the sliced almonds and remove from the heat.

5. Stir in flour/baking soda mixture and stir until combined.

6. Pack dough into a lightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch silicone loaf pan (or a glass or metal cake pan lined with plastic wrap).

7. Chill for at least 4-6 hours until very firm.

8. Place oven rack in lower third and preheat oven to 325F.

9. Prepare at least 2 half sheet pans with parchment paper or silpat liners.

10. Remove brick of cookie dough from loaf pan and slice cookies as thin as you can get them using a serrated knife, mandoline, or electric meat slicer (1/16-inch thick).

11. Place cookies on cookie sheet pan leaving about 1/4-inch between each cookie.

12. Bake, one sheet at a time, for 8 minutes, remove from oven and carefully turn cookies over, return to the oven and bake for another 4 minutes until they're crisp and honey colored.

13. Remove sheet pan from oven and immediately transfer cookies to a rack to cool completely.

14. Store cookies in an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 10 days.

Notes

• I've made these cookies quite a few times now.  Here are some helpful suggestions I've learned along the way.

• These cookies puff a bit when baked.  If you’re not able to slice the dough paper thin, don’t allow the cookie to bake as long as the recipe states so they stay a little chewy rather than getting too crisp (thick, crisp planks are difficult to eat and can injure the roof of your mouth - trust me, I know!).

• The dough can be made in advance, wrapped well in several layers of plastic wrap, and stored in the freezer for later use.  Cookies can be sliced and baked directly out of the freezer.

• Don't throw away the crumbled bits of dough that accumulate as you slice the cookies - just bake them off and enjoy as a tasty nibble, or toss them with a few mini chocolate chips and sprinkle over ice cream (really, really, really good).

• When unmolding the dough, I find a flexible silicone loaf pan is very easy to peel away from the hard brick of chilled dough. If you only have a metal loaf pan, be sure to line it with plastic wrap before pressing the cookie dough into it.  And if you have trouble coaxing the chilled dough out of the metal pan, wrap a warm towel around the base for a few minutes. 

• This recipe is available on several sites with differing sugar amounts listed - some say 280g of sugar, some say 300g.  I made made both and couldn't tell a difference so I save a few calories by going with 280g.

• Turbinado Sugar (aka Sugar in the Raw) is sold in 2-pound bags at most grocery stores.   Turbinado can be substituted with Demerara sugar.  David prefers to bake these cookies on pre-cut flat sheets of parchment paper, but I got great results using a Silpat liner.  I baked batches on both surfaces and couldn't tell a difference between the two.

• Flo Braker's original recipe doesn't call for salt, but I always add a pinch to sweet things.  Also, I made a batch with 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract which was an excellent addition.

adapted from Flo Braker, via David Lebovitz