Graham Cracker Houses and Cookies!

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

Before baking……….

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!

Happy Holidays..

from my kitchen to yours!