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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.
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.
Hi!
I will try to make them….the recipe is very easy….I hope they will come out good…I will let you know soon..
I live in Greece and we do not have Graham cookies here at all…the stores don’t sell.
I’m allergic to honey. Is there a substitution I can use?
Wow, these crackers are so delicious and easy to make. I actually made these because I needed a graham cracker crust for a cheesecake and I’m trying very hard to stay away from processed foods. Thank you for sharing this with us.
is it possible to use molasses instead of honey? i want to veganize this recipe : )
Hi Vanessa, it may be possible to use molasses instead of honey, but it may not work as well. – Meggan
Had to add a splash of milk to get it to come together at the end , but looks like it will be great recipe !
Can i shape it to make gingerbread house instead?
Hi Milly, I haven’t tried it myself so I’m not sure if they could support the weight of icing and decorations, but another reader did, though, and they said it worked! – Meggan
Greetings ~
I am making a pie that calls for a graham cracker crust but the person I am making it for is on a low sodium diet. I cannot find a low sodium crust or crackers anywhere so I thought I would make crackers from scratch and go from there. Can I use this recipe with unsalted butter and then remove the salt? Would that effect the results at all? I know flavor wise it won’t be the same (ahh, the magic of salt) but I would rather sacrifice the flavor a bit if it means she can have her favorite pie.
Hi Lesley, that’s so thoughtful of you! If you leave out the salt, the crackers will not rise. The salt is needed to interact with the baking soda. I haven’t tried this recipe without salt, so I can’t say it won’t work out for sure. I’m sorry about that! – Meggan
This dough had too much liquid for the amount of flour used.
Hi. I’m going camping with friends in a few days, so hoping you see this question sooner than that. Must I absolutely use whole milk? This recipe only calls for three tablespoons of it, but I can’t find any container smaller than a quart around here, and for some reason I can’t find whole powdered milk, unless I want a giant vat of it, which I will never use. I don’t drink milk. I really don’t want to end up with a lot of it leftover when I dislike the taste of it so much. Are there any other suggestions? Maybe a lower-fat milk? I have nonfat milk power which I use to bake bread. Will that do? Or can I substitute a rich almond milk, which I’ve noticed behaves exactly the same as regular milk when used in cooking? Then I can share it with my dairy-free friends. Is the fat content ultra-important, or is it just for flavor?
Hi Jennifer, I unfortunately haven’t tried this with any other milks. I have tried several graham cracker recipes, though, and they tend to be super finicky and touchy and prone to disasters. You are welcome to test the recipe with other milks, but I cannot promise what will happen. I’m so sorry about that! I completely understand the dilemma, I can only say that I learned during quarantine that milk can be frozen. Which is not really super helpful since you don’t like it. Sorry about that! -Meggan
Could I roll this dough out into a pie crust shell for a graham cracker pie crust?
Hi Amy, I’m not really sure. Graham cracker crusts usually have extra butter and sugar added. I’m not sure how just plain graham crackers would taste or if it would perform the way you want to. You could definitely try it, but only if you feel adventurous and won’t have your day ruined if it fails! Ha ha! I’d hate for your day to be worse because of one of my recipes. Thanks. -Meggan