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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.
Which brand whole wheat flour you.recommend?
I have tried and compared a few different Graham Cracker Recipes and this one is by far the most amazing and delicious! I planned to just make them for my toddler and they have now become mine and my husbands favorite thing to partner with our coffee.
Thank you, Hanna! So glad you and your husband love it! – Meggan
Super easy and yummy
Happy you loved it, Stephanie! Take care!
I haven’t tried the recipe yet, but have a question. Does it matter if the butter is salted or unsalted? I know that sometimes it does so want to make sure before hand. Thank you!
Hi Amanda! I personally don’t worry about salted vs. unsalted unless there is some specific reason, and then we would call out unsalted butter. And we didn’t here because I don’t think it matters. Hope this helps! Enjoy! – Meggan
The recipe states a 40 minute bake time, but the instructions state 10 – 12 minutes. Maybe that’s why so many people have soft crackers?
Hi Robert, thank you for pointing that out. I’ve updated the recipe card. Thank you again and have a nice day! – Meggan
Baking them rite now, is super easy to make i made them and im only 10 they smell amizing😌 Thank you !!!
You’re welcome, Lilly! I hope they were amazing! – Meggan
This recipe was amazing! And so easy! We wanted to make smores last night and did not have the graham crackers. On a whim, I looked online to see if there were any recipes. I had all the ingredients (including the whole wheat flour)! I would definitely suggest to roll out the thin cracker dough directly on the parchment paper you will be using to bake on. I can’t imagine trying to pry that thin of a layer of dough off a board. These were so tasty, we ate a couple before actually making the smores. Will never buy boxed graham crackers again!❤
Hi Jill, I’m so happy you love these! Great suggestion with the parchment paper! Take care! – Meggan
Holy Cracker Complainers! The sheer volume of grown adults whining about a recipe not working for them is mind boggling to me. The convenience of being able to easily access FREE recipes via the internet instead of purchasing cookbooks or asking multiple friends the way we used to has seemingly spoiled a lot of people. How about trying gratitude instead of grumbling and complaining about flat, chewy or whatever first world issues your graham crackers are ailing from?? So what if a recipe doesn’t work, quit blaming the recipe and the author and either find a new recipe or bake something else. Jeepers!
Rant over and I have a question 😊
Has anyone tried this with gf flour? I’m hoping to be able to create a gf cheesecake base and this recipe looks forgiving enough to try it with gf flour.
Call me crazy, but if it doesn’t work – who cares lol
I followed the recipe but my dough was much darker than yours and it spread significantly, making the score lines and dock marks disappear. I chilled it for several hours but noticed it was still quite soft when I rolled it out. The first batch never got crisp and although I baked the second batch for way longer, it was chewy as well. The texture is almost like a florentine and they seem super buttery, what am I doing wrong? They are so tasty, I want to get them right they’re my husband’s favorite!
I like the chewy texture.
Thanks Allan! – Meggan