graham cracker mayhem
/Hi there! I’m quite tired from swimming + the rock gym today…yikes! Lot’s of graham cracker talk…I’ll get to it!
Oats + 2 of the granolas I made yesterday. Not only is granola easy to make, it honestly tastes better than any I’ve ever bought in the store. I love being able to control the ingredients I put into it.
Applesauce + Chia + Cinnamon + Banana Oats
It is dangerous to have all this delicious granola sitting in the pantry.
Hellloooo graham cracker mess. Again, this looks intimidating but it’s SUCH an easy clean up. A lot of ingredients to put away, but really it’s only 1 bowl and measuring cups/spoons plus a utensil or 2. No messy pan cleanup because it’s covered in parchment.
I was following my recipe from when I made them a few weeks ago :)
Mix all the dry ingredients, then make a well and add in all the wet. Then mash together with a fork + then with your hands until a ball forms.
You want a fairly stiff dough. Stick a fork in it ;) to test it.
Cut the lines with a pizza cutter.
Apparently I have a hot spot in my oven :( At least I don’t own it!
Something I did differently than last time: So this will add about 5min but it was worth it.
- Line the pan with parchment.
- After cutting the lines w/the pizza cutter, transfer each graham separately to the pan.
This is instead of transferring the whole sheet of grahams to the pan at once. It really helped them crisp up on all 4 edges. You can see the difference from the last time I made them.
New batch: [after baking]
Old batch: [pre-baking] It made for cleaner grahams, but they just didn’t bake as well when you left them all together like this.
Crunchy graham goodness!
Another thing I realized. Poke the grahams with the fork AFTER transferring them to the pan.
I made THREE batches. On the last one I got creative…I should have stopped with 2. I thought I would test out coconut flour. Yipes! I need to do a LOT more research and experimenting with coconut flour. They are edible, but the texture is off. No coconut flavor, if you’re wondering. I urge you to look into coconut flour…super interesting ingredient!
Crunchy grahams. Batch 1 + 2 are almost exactly the same. I don’t think I could tell a difference. I think I’m happy with the recipe now!
1 – whole wheat pastry flour 2 – whole wheat pastry flour + oat flour 3 – whole wheat pastry flour + coconut flour
3 Trials: All VEGAN [adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World]
| Trial 1 | Trial 2 | Trial 3 | |
| whole wheat flour | 1.5c + 1T | 1c | 1c |
| coconut flour | .5c | ||
| oat flour | 1c | ||
| sucanat | 2T | 2T | 2T |
| baking soda | 1/2t | 1/2t | 1/2t |
| nutmeg | 1/8t | 1/8t | 1/8t |
| cinnamon | 2t | 2t | 2t |
| salt | 1/2t | 1/4t | 1/4t |
| safflower oil | 3T | 3T | 3T |
| unsweetened applesauce | 1T | 1T | 1T |
| molasses | 3T | 3T | 3T |
| vanilla | 1t | 1t | 1t |
| unsweet. almond milk | 3T | 3T | 1/2c + 1T |
| maple syrup | 2T | 2T | 2T |
*Updated Notes 3/17* All of the recipes are Vegan. I tried to keep out AS much sugar as possible, so just know that when making them. They are NOT as sugary and sweet as the ones you get out of the box. If you want to add more sweetness I would say to add more sucanat, but then you also will need to increase the amount of liquid you add. Just add things slowly to make sure you get the right consistency dough.
Trials 1 + 2: I didn’t vary much between trial 1+2. It was mostly the change in flour. I think the oat flour must not absorb as much liquid as whole wheat pastry flour because I had to add 1/2c more flour to absorb the same amount of liquid as in recipe 1.
Trial ONE is definitely the keeper. Trial 2 just seemed a bit off w/the liquid + flour issue, although it tasted about the same. Trial 3 was a fun try, but not successful. For my next coconut flour recipe, I’ll start with an actual recipe that someone has tried before ;)
Notes comparing the trial a few weeks ago: I realized the perfect amount of oil/applesauce is 3T of oil + 1T of applesauce. I added 1T extra molasses and 1T extra maple syrup for a more pronounced flavor. Last time they were a bit bland. The 1/8t of added nutmeg helped as well. I reduced the sucanat from 3T to 2T and sprinkled some on top before baking. If you have any questions let me know!
Process: preheat oven to 350*
- Start adding the dry ingredients into a large bowl. You only need ONE bowl for this!
- Whisk dry ingredients together with a fork until evenly distributed.
- Create a well with your hands, in the middle of the dry mixture.
- Pour all wet ingredients into the well [except the milk].
- Whisk together with a fork, until well combined.
- Stream in the milk and then get to mixin’ with your HANDS!
- Stop mixing when a ball has formed.
- Tape down a piece of parchment paper to your counter. Believe me you must tape it down!
- Spread a little flour on the parchment and then use your hands to get the dough into a basic rectangular shape.
- Use a rolling pin to roll it out 1/8” thick. You want it thin!!
- Use a knife or pizza cutter to trim the edges.
- Cut them into any shapes + sizes you want.
- Line a pan with parchment paper.
- Transfer each cut graham to the pan. You don’t need much space in between them at all.
- Bake at 350* for about 14min. You will see the edges start to brown but they still might seem soft. They will stiffen once out of the oven.
- Set on a cooling wrack and they will be crispy in no time.
Remember you can check the last time I made these for more of a step by step process. A few things changed but not a whole lot.
Another package from the parents came today. This one was quite evil!
Malley’s dark chocolate shamrocks filled with MINT creme….ahhhhhhhh. A serving of these is FOUR but I think they are pretty big..and ONE works perfectly to make my sweet tooth happy! Thanks M+D!!
After making three batches of graham crackers, Chris and I went to the rock gym :) I was kind of tired on the way over, but really wanted to go. There was a bouldering problem we both were eager to tackle…and we both got it! Tomorrow is definitely a REST day, from exercise at least!
Solving the problem, as they are called. :) With the walls going every which way it’s hard to tell how I’m positioned. Basically my body is parallel with the ground.
Here, I’m at the same spot Chris is at, in the picture of him above.
SO much fun and it actually helped wake me up!
HAPPY ST.PATTY’S DAY!!!! This holiday reminds me of our honeymoon to Ireland!! I have some pics from that up in the “fast fwd” tab under My Story. Such an amazing + adventurous trip!
Night!
Ashley
I had an extra post yesterday, check it out! Lentil burgers…mmmm
