Sunday, April 17, 2011

Homemade Graham crackers without added fat

Well, in my quest to make a chocolate cream pie without dairy products, the hardest part has been the pie crust. Store bought Graham crackers and pre-made Graham cracker pie crusts have too much fat. Alton Brown offers a recipe for homemade Graham crackers but it includes 3 ounces of BUTTER and WHOLE milk. Can homemade Graham crackers made without butter, whole milk and white flour be good enough to crush into a nice crumb pie crust? Let's find out to the music of The Cranberries!

Ingredients:
8 3/8 ounces whole wheat flour (or Graham flour if you have it)
1 7/8 ounces oat flour
3 ounces dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 ounces applesauce
2 1/4 ounces molasses
1 1/2 ounces almond milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Place all dry ingredients in food processor and pulse to break up any lumps in the brown sugar. With the food processor turned on, add wet ingredients in a steady stream. Don't over mix, turn machine off just as soon as dough is combined. Turn out onto plastic wrap, form into a disk and wrap and chill for 30 minutes (this was probably because of the butter, which I removed, so this step may not be necessary).
Preheat the oven to 350 f.
Unwrap the chilled dough and roll it between two sheets of parchment paper until 1/8" thick.  (Cash 'N Carry sells a large pad of flat parchment paper --1000 sheets--for about $35.00 and it will last forever--each sheet covers two home jelly roll pans so that's really 2000 sheets for you and I).
Slide the rolled dough onto a cookie sheet and cut into 2" squares, poke holes all over and bake on middle rack for 25 minutes or until edges just start to darken.  Cool completely before breaking apart.  If any crackers are still soft, place back into warm oven to continue drying or place them in a food dehydrator until dry.
These crackers can be crushed and used to make a fat free crumb crust for a pie.  They are a little too hard for just snacking.  Unless you are marooned and starving.

1 comment:

  1. Have you ever tried the crust in Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease using Grape Nuts? If so, how did you like it? I made a pumpkin pie using Susan Voisin's oatmeal cookie pie crust. I liked the crust, but it just didn't seem to suit pumpkin pie. I thought I'd try your graham cracker crust recipe, but I am curious about the Grape Nuts idea. Thanks!

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