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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.
My family loves when I use this recipe 😋
Thank you for taking the time to write, Joseph! I’m glad they love them! – Meggan
Can I use this for a cheesecake crust? Or do I have to do the recipe to make the crackers and then follow a separate recipe?
Hi Roxy, these graham crackers tend to be a little more chewy and soft than the brittle, dry store-bought ones. A reader shared that they were good for a crust, but soft. I haven’t tried it myself, so I don’t know for sure and don’t want to steer you incorrectly. If you do happen to try it, I have a recipe for how to make a graham cracker crust you can follow, if you like: https://cash-surge.live/how-to-make-a-graham-cracker-crust/%3C/a%3E Thank you and sorry! – Meggan
I’ve made these 3x now. My son refuses to eat store bought now. I was wondering, I doubled the recipe, so that I have some to just roll out and bake (my son is very impatient, so waiting for them to be mixed up, refrigerated, rolled out, baked, then cooled is too long lol) how long will the extra dough last in the fridge?
Hi Sally! I’m so glad he loves them! The dough may be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 1 week. Bring to room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling it out. Happy baking! – Meggan
I am professional pastry chef , working in Europe. Was looking for the graham crakers recipe, since they are unavailable in Europe. So, I Made these crackers today. Followed the recipe to the letter. Unfortunately they are very very sweet. Candy sweet. Not exactly the graham crackers I remember while living in Canada.
Hi Lilua, thanks for taking the time to write and try this recipe. I’m sorry you found it too sweet. Some readers perfer to adjust/reduce the sugar in this recipe. Thank you again and take care. – Meggan
What happens if you reduce the sugar in the recipe?
Hi Kiki, other readers have shared they reduced the sugar and enjoyed the results. I hope this helps! – Meggan
These are absolutely delicious. Mine weren’t crisp and dry like the store bought, but chewy and slightly crisp and had fantastic flavor. Thank you for this recipe I will make them often!
You’re so welcome, mim! Take care! – Meggan
I made these for the first time today. Everyone loved them. There are 6 of us so they were gone pretty quickly. I definitely will make again. I had to let them bake for 13 minutes and I made them the correct thickness. I measured to be sure. They were more chewy so next time I’ll bake a little longer for a more crispy cracker, but we loved them chewy. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome, Brooke! Thank you, too, and take care! – Meggan
I am 60 years old and have eaten grahammies my entire life. I raised my children on them. I have tried many recipes, but usually purchased them. This is the absolute best recipe I have ever used. Thank you. No more store bought graham crackers.
Wow! Thank you so much for the wonderful words! You made my day! -Meggan
Can you use cookie cutters to shape these? Or do they work best at rectangles?
Hi Tory, other readers have used cookie cutters to make round crackers and transferred them to the baking sheet. The dough is thin, so it may be challenging to work with and transfer intricate cutter designs. Please write again and let me know how they turned out! – Meggan
I made these with half the brown sugar and they turned out great! It’s the perfect amount of sweetness for us. Just thought I’d share! Thank you for the recipe. It’s my favorite evening snack!
You’re welcome, Holly! Thanks for taking the time to write! – Meggan