Magical Graham Crackers!
Having built 78 Graham Cracker Houses which will be decorated……by children and their adult companions, moms, grand-moms, aunts, big sisters, and yes, dads, grandfathers and uncles, during my ……
Gingerbread House Decorating Afternoons that end with a ………
Candlelight Christmas Tea in December………………
Decorating Graham Cracker Houses and transforming them into Gingerbread Houses, like the witch in the Hansel and Gretel Fairy Tale..
After having finished making the Graham Cracker Houses, there were so many broken crackers which I collected in a bowl during the process of building them and, for which I thought I had no use. I was just about to throw them out, when some thoughts started to dance around in my head…..I went to bed and dreamed about broken Graham Crackers, and woke up with an idea….and here it is:
Graham Cracker Cookies
Original Recipe from Maria Springer
Warm the oven to 375 F
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
Process the Graham Crackers from a 14.4 oz box
to finely grind the Graham Cracker
Transfer to a bowl or container –
you will have some left after measuring only 2 cups
Into the Food Processor place the following:
2 cups finely ground Graham Crackers and add …..
½ cup of flour
½ cup Light Brown sugar…..or Dark Brown sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp gated fresh Ginger
½ tsp ground Cloves
½ tsp ground Cinnamon
Zest of 1 Lemon …..or of 1 Orange
Mix and process all these ingredients with a few quick pulses
Now add…..
½ cup UNSALTED butter warmed to room temperature
Process with a few quick pulses to incorporate the butter,
but not completely
Add 5 egg yolks from JUMBO size eggs
(Keep the egg whites for next days breakfast for a white omelet)
1 Tbsp Rum or Rum Flavoring
Now process until it forms a ball……..
It should take just a few pulses…….do not over process
Transfer dough to a bowl
You can store this dough in the refrigerator if you cannot bake the cookies right away……but, before starting to bake them…….
let the dough sit for about 15 to 30 minutes at room temperature to become more playable.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and proceed making the little balls with the dough…
Bake at 375F for about 15 minutes
After baking…………
Here are the variations
that I made…..all from one recipe and one dough!
Rolled some chocolate chips into the balls
Rolled the balls in chopped nuts…. or crystallized sugar
Add anything else you wish to make them interesting
Plain baked cookies can be dipped in Chocolate Ganache –
or decorated with lemon or orange flavored Royal icing.
Plate them on a pretty platter and,
share them with a friend and a cup of tea!
This must really be a busy time for you during the holidays! Your cookies look delicious and the graham cracker houses turned out beautifully. I know it’s an experience that mothers and daughters will always remember!
Ingenuity at her best! I can imagine all the fun you are generating for all your little bakers.
From Nancy Kluhe
Maria,
I love the idea of the Graham Cracker Cookies! I love anything with graham crackers.
Sound wonderful!
Nancy
from: Sheila Crye
Okay, I need to run out to the grocery store right now and buy some graham crackers to try Maria’s recipe.
Great way to incorporate whole grains in dessert!
From: Deborah Balint……….
Maria, you are brilliant! This recipe looks so good and what a wonderful way to use up the graham crackers as well. The houses are adorable! Looking forward to making these…I actually think I have all but one of the ingredients currently in my pantry!
From: Patricia Rain …………….
Just sent this to my daughter. My youngest grandson, who recently changed his name from Zane to Jet Runway, wants to do cookie houses for all his birthday parties. He was born December 18th so it works.
from – Caterina Borg………..What a great idea, Maria…..
I love things that families can do together…
Wow! quite an assembly line you had at your Pre-fab Gingerbread House manufacturing facility. The children had to have been filled with glee.
Have you ever thought of branching out into gingerbread garages and carports? I didn’t mention barns as I am afraid that the farm animals would eat you out of house and home.
Merry Christmas!
Walt
Walt……….actually the bigger children do build carports, overhand porches, stacks of wood, slays and trees and, and…. lots of imaginary things around the houses.
Boys especially like to build things rather than decorate, where the girls do the decorating on the houses.
Boys also just paste the houses with candy that they like to eat…in any order no designs……girls go for themes, color coordination etc…….
Tomorrow, Sat. Dec. 11th is the first session……and I am still at work getting things together.
Thank you for your comment……..I loved it……you are so funny!
Have a very Merry Christmas……..and one of these day we will get together………
This is three times now that i’ve happened upon on your website in the last 4 days when searching google for absolutely unrelated stuff. Kinda weird. Keep up the good articles!
Thank you for your nice comment……it is so nice to receive a note from someone who happens to come to my blog by chance…..
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and all the best for a great New Year…………
Nice article! Do you mind if I translate this into Italian for my site?
Thank you for your kind comment….and – yes, I would be delighted if you would share this story with you Italian family……
Thank you for finding it worthwhile and interesting…..
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and hope you have a wonderful New Year as well………
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