Recipe: Gluten-Free Graham Crackers...and they're vegan, too!

I was never one of those tots easily mollified by graham crackers and apple juice. I don't even think I liked graham crackers. There were more enticing choices. There were always more enticing choices. Except when in combination with chocolate and marshmallow. I've always had a soft spot for the s'more.

Sometime in my 20s I began to appreciate the simplicity of a graham cracker. They were slightly sweet and crunchy and versatile. When paired with coffee or tea, they were a pleasant - and dunkable! - counterpoint. I bought a box of organic graham crackers from time to time but almost never finished them.

When I started making my own I developed a genuine love for the graham cracker. I didn't have cravings, but when a still-soft graham worked its way into a s'more, I became aware of its subtle pleasures.

During the summer I lived on a goat dairy, I'd make goat cheese cheesecakes and sell them at the local farmers market for a couple dollars a slice. The crusts were always made with graham crackers. Nothing beats a graham cracker crust for cheesecake. I've had nut crusts before but they never met my expectations for texture and sweetness.

Now that I'm gluten-free, I decided to convert a graham cracker recipe I developed about 11 years ago. I removed the butter from the original recipe as well as the honey. It is now completely vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, corn-free and potato-free. It is also packed with good ingredients (organic extra virgin coconut oil, whole grains, brown rice bran, rapadura - evaporated cane juice). I wanted the recipe to be delicious, made in the spirit of the original graham cracker, and crunchy enough to be easily ground down into crumbs that I could use in a crust. I think I've accomplished that.

Graham crackers may be one of the easier recipes to convert - an ideal graham cracker has little to no gluten development and is made with whole grains. There's virtually no need for starches and almost any flour combination will work.

A few notes about this recipe:

1. You'll need a scale to make this properly.
2. Although I recommend specific flours (which tasted great), if you have a favorite blend you like, feel free to use it UNLESS it has a leavener in it.  You'll need 12 ounces total.
3. If you like a slightly less leavened cracker, omit 1/4 t Baking Powder and 1/4 t Baking Soda

Cake & Commerce's Gluten-free Graham Crackers...and they're vegan, too!

Dry Ingredients:

6 oz Light Buckwheat Flour
2 oz Teff Flour
2 oz Sweet Brown Rice Flour
2 oz Rice Bran Flour
2 oz Rapadura Sugar (or Brown Sugar)
1/2 t Baking Powder
1 t Baking Soda
1 t Salt, fine

Wet Ingredients

3 oz Virgin Coconut Oil, melted and slightly cooled
1/3 C Amber Agave Syrup (Honey or Maple Syrup will also work)
1/3 C Water, slightly warm
1 T Vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 (if convection, preheat to 300)

Combine Dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor or mixer. Combine wet ingredients together and mix until blended. Pour wet ingredients in food processor over dry ingredients. Pulse until well combined. The dough will be a slightly sticky mass.

Allow to sit for at least 30 minutes for the flour to absorb some of the liquid.

If the dough is still wet, knead in a little more teff or buckwheat flour. It should NOT be wet to the touch.

Roll out to about 1/8th of an inch on a sheet of parchment. With a knife, score dough into a graham-cracker-sized grid (or cut with round cutters if looking for another look). Dock dough (make holes in dough) with a fork or docker (if you happen to have one). Transfer to a sheet pan.

Brush surface with water and sprinkle with rapadura or sugar. Allow to sit for 5 minutes.

Bake in a 325 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until dry. Do not burn - it gets VERY bitter if overcooked.

If you suddenly realize you want to cut it into shapes, when it is still hot, cut with a shaped cutter or with a knife.

Cool. And turn off oven. For drier grahams (you'll use them to make crumbs), place back in oven when it is cool and allow to dry out.

Eat, use for s'mores, grind and use for graham cracker crusts etc.

Store in an airtight container in a cool place. They will keep for a long time, several weeks, but if stored in a warm place the fat may oxidize over time and make it taste slightly 'off'.

If they get stale, place in 250 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes.

If you want to see how I do it, watch this video made by my friends at How2Heroes.com:

Comments

[FoodRenegade]

I'm sold! My kids LOVE graham crackers, but I haven't tried to make any since switching to "Real Food." These look easy to make, and I'm imagining them spread with almond butter and a think layer of creme fraiche. YUM!

[Cake and Commerce]

Oh wow, Kristin, I want to eat at your house. I hope your kids like them. To switch back to a gluten recipe, just sub in your favorite sprouted flour - but be very careful when mixing to avoid gluten development.

[Singing Horse]

Great recipe you invented here! I love the look of these crackers. I'll surely try to make them. Just one little question: is sweet brown rice flour the same as brown rice flour?

[Cake and Commerce]

It is actually different - if you can't find it, you can sub brown rice flour. Or sweet white rice flour. Of course with the white rice flour you do miss out on some of the nutrients.

But - as I note, you can come up with your own blend of flours. What I have above is what worked for me, feel free to change things up to match what you can easily find.

[Carolyn]

Oh these are terrific! I will have to try them, just made a cheesecake for Easter and substituted GF gingersnaps for the crust.. as I didn't have any GF Graham crackers.

Thanks!!

[Cake and Commerce]

Let me know how they work out for you, Carolyn. I'd love to see your results!

[AmandaonMaui]

Can I use a different oil?

[Cake and Commerce]

It shouldn't be a problem for you to use an oil you have on hand since it is poured in liquid form. Post your results! I've only ever done this with butter or coconut oil, so I can't tell you how it will come out. I think it should be fine.

[Jeanine]

Wow...those look fantastic! I never really enjoyed graham crackers plain either, but now that I can't have, I want. lol

[Jess]

Leave it to you to make a humble stack of graham crackers look so enticing! I love the picture of the graham crackers in "profile" with the blurry flowers in the background.

[H.Peter]

Perfect for a GF Cheesecake bottom, these look amazing.

A must try!

[Deanna]

Thanks for posting this, Linsey! I will definitely have to attempt to make them.

[Cake and Commerce]

Thanks Jess! Just trying to step up my game a bit.

[Cake and Commerce]

Let me know how they work out for you!

[Cake and Commerce]

If you make these, I want pictures!

[Kristen Fischer]

delicious! I am wheat, dairy & egg intolerant. These fit the bill and my little boys will love them! Thanks!

[Christine]

This recipe looks great! Thanks.

[Christina]

Can't wait to try! One of my boys can't have coconut so I will try subbing the oil with olive oil... we'll see! Also, my husband doesn't do cane sugar but can do honey, maple syrup, agave. Any thoughts on how to swap out the brown sugar?

[Cake and Commerce]

originally I used butter in this recipe (melted) so you should be able to replace the oil with little problem. As far as the sugars go, I've never tried swapping anything out, so let me know how yours turn out.

[Sherry]

Thanks for the recipe!
I subbed out a couple of the flours but used the weight measurements (I love using weight measured recipes!!).
I used amaranth for the buckwheat and cocoa powder for the rice bran flour.
I made a turtle cheesecake (GF/DF) so wanted a chocolate-graham cracker crust... turned out great!! Even the non GF/DF college kids liked it.

[Cake and Commerce]

That's great, Sherry! I bet it was delicious. Mmmm, chocolate grahams!

[Ann]

Hi Linsey. Thank you so much for sharing your recipes. I have tried the graham crackers, gingerbread and chocolate cake - all with great success. Any chance you have come up with an eggless brownie recipe? I have tried about a dozen times and none of my substitutions seem to work. Ann

[Linsey]

Ann -

Can you tell me a little about the recipes you used? I certainly need to develop an egg-free brownie, but before I do I'd love to hear what you did and what didn't work!

-Linsey

[Ann]

Thanks for taking an interest. On the web, I found and used katharine hepburn brownie recipe. It was easy to make gluten free - she only uses 1/4 cup of flour! To get the egg out - I tried 1. egg replacer 2. sunflower butter (Peanut allergy) to add the missing egg protein back in. They tasted good, but the consistency was all wrong. I also tried 3. quiona flour in my GF blend since i thought it had more protein. I tried these versions all with different amounts but clearly i have no idea what I'm doing. My last attempt was a Chia egg. I think I used the same ratio as you did for the chocolate cake. I'd be happy to experiment with any suggestions you have. Thanks again.

[Linsey]

OK Ann, I have it. Your gluten-free, egg-free brownies. I just made them, but they do require some special ingredients (namely agar powder - this is a VITAL ingredient).

2.5 oz Palm Shortening
6 oz Semi-sweet chocolate
0.75 C Rapadura
1 T Vanilla
0.33 C Baking Mix (I use my own GF Mix)
0.66 C Pumpkin Puree
0.5 t Agar

Notice how little flour there is in this recipe - flour is a binder, nothing more. This is about fudginess - hence the pumpkin puree (you can also use squash puree or maybe, just maybe, sweet potato puree).

Bake for 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

allow to cool completely before eating.

[Ann]

Thank you. Your Great. Thank you. I'm making it today. I was going to use the pumpkin for your cupcakes, but that will have to wait. My kids love the cupcakes by the way.

[Cake and Commerce]

Ann, I'm so glad to hear that your kids the cupcakes! Is everyone GF/CF?