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Wednesday, November 19, 2014

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

10 comments:

  1. Just love that you're willing to make usually store bought items from scratch. At one time I had about 200 cookbooks and yes, I did use them but it took so much time to find a recipe. Now with the internet it's a breeze. Thinking maybe I should try graham crackers again - made them once about 30 years ago from a recipe in, I think, a Mother Earth News magazine.

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    1. I have quite a few cookbooks too, Bellen. But, years ago I started writing my favorite recipes on index cards. I keep them in a little box, made for index cards, with alphabetical dividers. It has kind of filled up over the years, and I still have to dig a little, but I don't have to try to remember which cookbook the recipe was in. It works well for me.

      I don't know if I have ever bought a mix for anything since we've been married (for over 30 years). It's just better with ingredients from scratch. We have gotten spoiled though, because now, if it's not from scratch, it's just not as good. Thank you for sharing.

      Fern

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  2. A few years back, I was making all of our bread and some crackers, etc. There was a really good book that I used, "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day". It was really easy to follow and the results were great. Then about a year and 1/2 ago, I developed a new allergy. Not sure whether it's gluten or wheat but I can't work with wheat at all now. Unfortunately, most of the recipes that I've found are pretty awful. The loaves are hard to work with and come out dry and taste funny. Hoping I'll have some extra time this winter to do some more experimenting.

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    1. I'm really sorry to hear about your difficulty with wheat, Mare. That would be very difficult for me, because I really like bread. Plain, old, whole wheat bread with fresh ground flour. I hope you have some success in your experimentation. Thank you for sharing.

      Fern

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    2. Mare, a friend of my husband's sent us an email yesterday with an article explaining why so many people are having trouble lately with wheat and gluten. It seems that in the U.S. it's legal to harvest wheat (and several other vegetable crops) by first drenching the field with RoundUp!

      It mentioned people who have medical problems when they eat wheat in America, but on vacation in Italy, for example, can eat pasta with no negative symptoms. If you'd like a copy of the article, let me know, and if it's allowed on Frank and Fern's blog, I'll give you a link.

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    3. C.M. I read the same article. Please share the link with us.

      I have also read that there are fields of GMO wheat showing up in the northwest that have not been approved for planting or growing. It is just speculation where it came from, but the concern is the contamination of the non-GMO crops.

      The health risks of modified foods has long been documented. Thank you for sharing this information.

      Fern

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  3. Regarding baking winter squash- instead of foil, we silly flip the halves upside down, and the squash essentially steams itself. You do have to keep an eye on it, as the juices can scorch and be hard to clean if you go too long. We just use one of our older cookie sheets ( one with sides!) This has worked out well for us.

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    1. This time I only covered the ones that I had already peeled and chopped up. The rest I cut in half, pulled out the seeds, and laid them cut side down on the cookie sheet. You're very right about the cookie sheet. I had to let it soak for a while to get the extra crispy brown spots off. Thank you for sharing, Steve.

      Fern

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  4. Your pie looks delicious and I love how you figured out how to make your crust. Don't you love the internet! Thanks for sharing your post on our thankful HomeAcre Hop, hope to see you again tomorrow for our regular HomeAcre Hop! - Nancy
    The Home Acre Hop

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    1. It is great to be able to find just about anything on the internet, Nancy. Thank you for sharing.

      Fern

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