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If you have the time and the energy, Homemade Graham Crackers are truly something special. As a classically-trained chef with lots of experience in baking and pastries, I tested and perfected this recipe so it’s ready for your next weekend baking project.
Soul Warming Graham Crackers At Home
If you are trying to minimize processed ingredients or avoid things like palm oil and high fructose corn syrup, these are an easy yes. But even that’s not on your radar, you can make graham crackers at home because they are simply delicious and smell wonderful.
Be sure to consider the measurements in the recipe and to roll out your dough to the correct thickness. Otherwise, your crackers might end up too thin or too thick. I love graham crackers for quick snacks (especially spread with cream cheese frosting, just like mom used to do), s’mores, and dessert crusts.
Table of Contents
Graham Cracker Ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
- Whole wheat flour: Do not substitute stone ground or white whole wheat flour.
Step-by-step instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a stand mixer fit with the paddle attachment, or with an electric hand mixer, cream butter and sugar together.
- Increase speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture until incorporated well and a soft dough forms, about 2 minutes.
- Add the milk, honey, and vanilla extract. Mix until incorporated. The dough should be sticky and soft.
- Divide the dough into two discs, wrap both in plastic, and chill for at least one hour.
- Adjust oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously flour your counter or a piece of parchment paper and place one ball of dough in the center.
- Pat into a 5-by-6-inch rectangle, sprinkle with flour, flip, and dust again.
- Working from the center out and adding more flour as needed, roll the dough with a rolling pin until roughly 15-by-11 inches and very thin, about 1/8-inch thick.
- Slide the parchment paper on to a baking sheet and brush away excess flour. Repeat with the remaining dough. For grocery store look-alike, score each sheet of dough into twelve 2 1/4-by-4 3/4-inch rectangles and dock with a bamboo skewer, fork, or the narrow end of a chopstick (feel free to use a ruler). Otherwise, leave the dough uncut.
- Bake until crackers and firm and darkened, about 10-12 minutes. Immediately cut along the pre-scored lines with a knife, or cut into free-form shapes using a pizza cutter. Cool to room temperature directly on the baking sheets.
Where to buy a rolling pin
I got the J.K. Adams French Rolling Pin at Amazon for $18. It’s my favorite rolling pin because features tapered edges instead of handles, so you can change the position of your hands right on the dowel instead of using specific handles. I use it for all my parties and baked goods!
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes 24 graham crackers.
- Storage: The graham crackers can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks at room temperature or frozen for up to 3 months.
- Make ahead: The dough may be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 1 week. Bring to room temperature for 30 minutes before using.
- Pie Crust: Use leftover graham cracker crumbs in a delicious Graham Cracker Crust made with crackers, melted butter, and sugar. It’s the base of many desserts including Vanilla Cheesecake, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Cheesecake Bars, and Key Lime Pie.
Frequently Asked Questions
The closest cracker to a graham cracker in the UK and Australia is called a digestive biscuit.
Graham crackers are never healthy in that they are mostly empty carbohydrates. But, not all food needs to be consumed for health purposes. By making homemade graham crackers which contain whole wheat flour and honey instead of refined sugar, you can close the gap between “snack” and “health food.”
These crackers are named after Sylvester Graham, a Presbyterian minister who lived in the 19th century. Graham believed that in order to live in the way God wanted, people should resist all pleasures. This included eating a vegetarian diet. He created graham crackers, then an unsweetened biscuit, as an example of the pleasureless food he wanted his congregation to eat.
We don’t think so. Graham flour is extremely hard to track down even with the resources we have here. So, we developed a graham cracker recipe without it, and we think it tastes great. Your kids will love them!
More homemade snacks
Chocolate Recipes
Puppychow
Appetizer Recipes
Ranch Oyster Crackers
Appetizer Recipes
Chex Mix Recipe
Candy Recipes
Candied Pecans
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Graham Cracker
Equipment
- Stand mixer (I LOVE my KitchenAid Professional mixer!)
- Pizza Wheel (This makes it easier to cut the crackers)
- Bamboo skewers (For scoring the crackers!)
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour plus more for dusting (see note 1)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 7 tablespoons butter softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 3 tablespoons whole milk
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the dough:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fit with the paddle attachment, or with an electric hand mixer, cream butter and sugar together.
- Increase speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture until incorporated well and a soft dough forms, about 2 minutes.
- Add the milk, honey, and vanilla extract. Mix until incorporated. The dough should be sticky and soft.
- Divide the dough in two discs and wrap both in plastic and chill for at least one hour.
To roll and bake the dough:
- Adjust oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously flour your counter or a piece of parchment paper and place one ball of dough in the center.
- Pat into a 5-by-6-inch rectangle, sprinkle with flour, flip, and dust again. Working from the center out and adding more flour as needed, roll the dough until roughly 15-by-11 inches and very thin, about 1/8-inch thick. Slide the parchment paper onto a baking sheet and brush away excess flour. Repeat with remaining dough.
- For grocery store look-alike, score each sheet of dough into twelve 2 1/4-by-4 3/4-inch rectangles and dock with a bamboo skewer or the narrow end of a chopstick. Otherwise, leave the dough uncut.
- Bake until crackers and firm and darkened, about 10-12 minutes. Immediately cut along the pre-scored lines with a knife, or cut into free-form shapes using a pizza wheel. Cool to room temperature directly on the baking sheets.
- The graham crackers can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks at room temperature or frozen for up to 3 months.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Whole wheat flour: Do not substitute stone ground or white whole-wheat flour.
- Yield: This recipe makes 24 graham crackers.
- Storage: The graham crackers can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks at room temperature or frozen for up to 3 months.
I followed the recipe exactly, and these were delicious. They are so much better than store bought; we used them to make s’mores in the oven. They need a little cool off period when using them for that purpose so they don’t fall apart.
So glad you loved them, Gina! I bet the s’mores were amazing! – Meggan
Can I substitute honey for sugar?
Hi Vickie, I haven’t tried using honey instead of the light brown sugar. Other readers have substituted out the honey and used molasses or maple syrup instead, but I didn’t see anyone that shared they used more honey instead of sugar. I don’t think it would work well without adjusting the recipe, since it would be adding in more liquid to the dough. Sorry about that! – Meggan
Would these work with whole wheat pastry flour? So excited to try!
Hi Allison, thanks for writing! Because there is less protein in whole wheat pastry flour, the crackers may come out softer and more tender than if you used whole wheat flour. – Meggan
Fantastic! So much better than store bought!
So glad you enjoyed them, Christina! – Meggan
First time making homemade graham crackers and they were a hit- even my pickiest of eaters (who tells me all my homemade treats are nothing like the “real” store bought kind) LOVED them! Thanks for a fun recipe.
Wow! So glad they were a hit! – Meggan
Amazing recipe! I never thought that I would be making homemade graham crackers, but I ended up with too much whole wheat flour and needed to find a recipe to use some of the flour. Since I make all my own bread products, I did not need any bread. I am so happy that I found your recipe. The crackers came out great and I like that they are made with all whole wheat flour. Thank you!
You’re so welcome, Paula! I’m glad you enjoyed them! – Meggan
Hi, can I use almond milk?
Thanks!
Hi Rae, I haven’t tried this with almond milk. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work, but I can’t say for sure. Sorry about that! – Meggan
Why is the video different from the recipe? Hands vs stand mixer, one dough ball vs 2 discs in the recipe….
Hi Shelley, thanks for your comment and sorry about that. The recipe was updated. I’ll work on getting the video updated to match. Sorry again and I hope you try this recipe. – Meggan
Should the butter be salted or unsalted?
Hi Alison, for this recipe you can use whatever you have on hand. I don’t think it matters for this specific recipe. Hope this helps! Enjoy! – Meggan
Hi, I wanted to ask if I can cut out the cookies and freeze the dough and bake it when I am ready to bake them
Hi Sana, I’m not sure the dough will hold up to cutting the shapes out first, transferring, then freezing before baking. It might if you were to freeze it flat first on the tray then transfer it frozen. I haven’t tried, so I can’t say for sure. Sorry about that. They do freeze well after baking, up to 3 months. Sorry about that! Hope this was helpful. – Meggan