Homemade Graham Crackers

My little boy loves crackers - LOVES them so I started looking for something a little more healthy than whole wheat Ritz. I stumbled on this recipe for Graham Crackers on Allrecipes.com and they seem to fit the bill for healthy crackers. I was pleasantly surprised after I made them and they were actually GOOD! Good enough that Hubby and I agree that we would even eat them ourselves if we were in the mood for a light, crispy cracker.

Below is the original recipe to which I added my changes in yellow. Or if you prefer, here is the link right to Allrecipes.

Graham Crackers

1/2 cup shortening (I used Earth Balance spread with good results)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I reduced to 1/2 c since I use the cinnamon/sugar topping)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat flour (I substituted 1/4 c ground flax seed, 1/4 c wheat germ and 1/2 c of oat bran for 1 c of the whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk (I increased to 1/2 c)
Cinnamon Sugar (1 T white sugar + 1/2 t cinnamon)

DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl cream together the shortening and brown sugar. Stir in the vanilla. Combine the whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, stir into the creamed mixture alternately with the milk. Cover and chill dough until firm.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

• Grease cookie sheets (or use a Silpat -which I highly recommend - or parchment paper and skip the greasing step).
• On a lightly floured surface (or right on the Silpat), roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thickness.
• Cut into rectangles (pizza cutter works great).
• Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over them (It helps if you have a kitchen elf for this step. Notice the flour around her mouth. She thought I didn't notice that she was eating the flour)
• Place 1/2 inch apart onto the prepared cookie sheets (not necessary if using a Silpat and rolling directly on it).
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until crisp. Edges will be golden brown. Remove from baking sheet to cool on wire racks (I let them cool right on the Silpat).
• After allowing them to cool I broke the crackers apart along the lines I made with the pizza cutter, which worked great and was really easy.

NOTE: If crackers aren't crispy enough after baking put them back in the oven (after turning it off) and allow to sit overnight. This will dry them out and you'll have crispy crackers by morning!