Making Graham Crackers & Pie

After I figured out how to make Chevre - soft goat cheese - I made a cheesecake out of it. I knew that Frank likes a graham cracker crust, and we don't buy graham crackers or pre-made pie crusts. So, I made some.

How do you make graham crackers so you can crush them up and make pie crust? I didn't find any recipes in any of my cookbooks, so off to the internet I went. Isn't it wonderful to have so much information right at your finger tips? I found a recipe that had ingredients that I was willing to use and had on hand. There are many recipes that I just won't use because I don't buy special items that aren't part of my staples. If I can't make it with some pretty basic ingredients, it either doesn't get made or gets revamped to fit my tastes.

The crackers are pretty simple to make. Mix:
1 cup white flour
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
5 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
(I used 2 tbsp. sugar)

Cut in: 3 tbsp. butter and 1/4 cup shortening until it is fine and crumbly.
Mix in: 2 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. molasses
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. vanilla
(We have great local honey that is very dark and strong, so I used 3 tbsp. of it and no molasses.)
Form dough into a ball, cover and chill for 2 to 3 hours.

 

Take the dough out of the frig, divide it in half and let it sit for 15 minutes. Well, about this time, I had to do a few other things so the dough sat out longer than this. I think in the long run, it would have worked better if I had stuck to the 15 minute time frame.

 

Coat wax paper with flour to prevent sticking. Roll out the dough to a 7 by 15 rectangle. This dough is fairly moist. A good coating of flour is needed to keep it from sticking to the waxed paper. The first few kind of wrinkled up instead of letting me slide the spatula underneath them. I ended up turning the spatula over to release each cracker instead of sliding them off of it. Next time, I will add a little more flour so the dough won't be so sticky.

 






Poke holes with a fork in 1/2 to 1 inch intervals, then cut into 2 1/2 inch squares. The directions say it doesn't matter if the cracker edges are touching because the edges will brown up first anyway. Use a spatula to move the crackers to an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until lightly browned on the edges. That's it. They are very simple.

 





 


Just as I was rolling out the second half of the dough, Frank had an idea. You see, I made these crackers just so I could make a graham cracker crust for a Winter Squash Pie, per Frank's request. To fill that request I needed to make graham crackers and cook our small harvest of Cushaw winter squash for the filling. But, instead of cutting up the second half of the dough and making crackers, we just used it as a pie crust. Since there is more liquid/moisture in the cracker dough than a standard pie crust, I baked the crust for 10 minutes before I put in the filling. Since the cracker recipe has baking powder, it did puff up a bit while it was baking, but for the most part, it did fine.

 

 
While the crust was baking, I started peeling, seeding and cutting up the squash. Frank got out our small stock pot, I added water and started adding squash. After I peeled most of one squash, I had another idea. Since I had the oven going, I thought I could bake the squash and spoon it out of the shell, instead of peeling, cutting and boiling. So, I changed the process in mid stream, and was glad I did. Baking the squash and scooping out the meat with a spoon is much easier than peeling it beforehand. The thing I would do different next year, is cover the squash with foil while it bakes. It dried out a little more than I liked this time. After I had enough squash baked and scooped, I mixed up the pie and got it in the oven.

 

I realized when the pie was just about done that the crackers take 15 minutes to bake and the pie takes 60 minutes. The crust around the edge of the pie plate was a little browner than I would like for it to be, so I could have covered with a little strip of foil. I just didn't think of it during the baking time.

I ended up with enough squash for four pies this year, so we will have to ration them out over the year until the next crop is producing. I saved the seeds out of the largest squash, it will be interesting to see if they are viable.

 

 

The crust turned out fine, it tasted good, but it really wasn't very noticeable since the flavors of the pie and crust were very similar. It didn't have the contrasting flavors a cheesecake and graham cracker crust do. Good, but not noteworthy. So, next time, I'll go back to a standard pie crust for this pie.

 
One of the reasons I really like cooking from scratch is that I can control the content of our food so much more than if I let someone else make it for us. Don't get me wrong, there are so many conveniences that I truly enjoy and would hate to be without. Take air conditioning for instance. It is not unusual in the summer for Frank to hear, "I really love air conditioning!" when we come in from a chore that leaves us hot and soaked with sweat. But knowing how to find information, about anything you are trying to do for yourself, is such an important skill. If you have the gumption to try, and the ability to find the information you need and put it to use, you can do just about anything. And if at first you don't succeed.......(what is the old saying?).......try, try again. Just ask Frank how many loaves of heavy, flat bread he had to endure before I finally started making some pretty good bread. Well, on the other hand, maybe you shouldn't ask him.......

Until next time, Fern

Making Chevre Cheesecake

This is one of those yummy desserts that takes years to make. Well, maybe not years, but....... first I had to buy a goat.....and milk it..... and make the chevre cheese, which is a soft cheese.....and make the graham crackers. But this is really a simple recipe that can be made with any milk, butter and eggs. I am just happy to be able to make it from some of the things we produce here at home. The ingredients that were bought at the store include wheat, flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and vanilla. So, when I think about the things I need to stock up on to be prepared, these are the items I get. Basic staples that can be used in a wide variety of ways. This is definitely one of the more tasty ways to use them.

I have shown how I made Chevre cheese. I also made the graham crackers. I will show you how on another post. They are both fairly simple to make and don't take a lot of attention and direct time. Once they are both made, it is very quick and easy to make a cheesecake.

I used my old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (copyright 1978) for the graham cracker crust recipe. It is very simple. Combine 1 1/4 cup fine graham cracker crumbs with 1/4 cup sugar and 6 tbsp. melted butter. Mix and press firmly into a 9 inch pie plate.

To crush the crackers, I put them in a Ziplock bag and beat them up with my rolling pin. 


This very effective and doesn't take long. Just don't do this when someone is trying to take a nap. It's noisy. 

I find it easy enough to put the cracker crumbs directly into the pie pan.

This is some of our butter, made from the cream from our goat milk.  I melted it in the microwave.

I skipped the sugar for the crust. The graham crackers are sweet enough on their own, so I only added the butter. Pour the butter into the crumbs, mix well, then press the crumbs smoothly into the pie plate.
 

Next I used my 500 Treasured Country Recipes for the cheesecake recipe. This is definitely my kind of recipe. Cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla. That's it! 

So... mix:
3 cups Chevre
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Fill the crust. My crust is very loose and crumbly and the cheese is very stiff. It doesn't spread well so it's kind of a pressing motion to fill the crust. 

But it's very pretty isn't it? The cheese that started out white is now a pale yellow due to the rich yolks of the eggs.





Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until the cheesecake is firm.

Those two finger prints are how you test to see if it is done. Of course, they weren't supposed to show up in the picture!

 

Now for the hard part. Waiting until it is cool enough to eat. Frank just asked, "How long does that have to cool?" "I don't know. I have never eaten hot cheesecake before."





We have been wanting to try out our canned peaches to see how they turned out and I think this is the perfect opportunity. We used an ultra light syrup on the peaches so they aren't very sweet. But knowing that we canned them made them a good compliment to the cheesecake.

I have said this before. I cannot begin to describe the satisfaction that comes from producing, processing, preserving and serving our own food. We are truly blessed.

Until next time - Fern