Yes you can make tasty gluten free graham crackers.
Gluten Free honey cinnamon graham crackers - makes about 15 x 2+1/2” crackers. Roughly 8 oz total baked weight to use in other recipes or equivalent to half wheat flour pack of graham crackers.
Egg free, yeast free, can be dairy free.
After Christmas this year I wanted gf grahams or shortbreads for a Lithuanian cooking demo I was giving. In hands on wheat flour cooking classes as well as now with gfd, I am practical and realistic, while I might cook from scratch not everyone has time or skill, so I buy graham crackers etc. I couldn’t find the brands I wanted so I had to buy another brand of gf graham crackers – but this is the list of ingredients.
Pea starch, non-hydrogenated shortening (palm oil), brown rice flour, potato starch, brown sugar, sweet rice flour, tapioca starch, water, cane sugar, tapioca syrup, rice bran, molasses, salt, sodium bicarbonate, pea protein, natural flavor, pea fiber, inulin, sunflower lecithin, mono calcium phosphate, modified cellulose, guar gum.
The graham crackers were so hard I couldn’t even break them by bashing with a rolling pin, they had a very strong taste of molasses, plus very floury texture, and three different forms of pea.
Compare them with my ingredients.
My gf blend -arrowroot or potato starch, tapioca starch, millet, sorghum plus almond flour, butter, light brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, real vanilla, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder. All common ingredients in gf baking.
I found that if I rolled dough as thin as traditional recipes said, with the amount of sugar, they overcooked easily and tasted burnt and were far too brittle. Plus they were a pain to roll thin. I reduced sugar, left some of the honey for flavor and just some cinnamon. Add more cinnamon if you want. I made dough and immediately just scooped it onto baking sheet and baked it. Quicker than chilling, then rolling out and cutting.
¾ c (3oz) my gf flour mix - below
¼ c (1oz) almond meal/flour - Trader Joe’s at $5/lb, Costco 3 lbs for $12, Bob’s Red Mill and King Arthur $10-12/lb. All labeled gluten free.
½ tsp (3ml) xanthan gum
¼-1/2 tsp salt - decide on how much you want after first time of baking
1+1/2 tsp (8ml) gf baking powder
¾ tsp cinnamon - or more after first baking (2 tsp of ground ginger for ginger snaps.)
2 oz (60 ml) half a stick of really soft butter - (Earth Balance instead of butter, coconut oil has so little flavor for this cookie, but up to you)
2 tbsp (30ml) honey or 1 tbsp honey and 1 tbsp corn syrup if honey flavor is too strong.
1 tsp (5ml) gf vanilla extract
3 tbsp (1+1/4 oz, 45 ml) light brown sugar - 4 tbsp (1/4 c, 60 ml) was too sweet for me, so I reduced light brown sugar but kept honey for flavor and liquid content in making dough.
1. Preheat oven to 350*. Always mix dry ingredients (gf flour, almond, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder, cinnamon) together first and whisk or stir to get rid of any lumps.
2. Beat really soft butter, honey, vanilla and light brown sugar together until light and creamy. 1-2 minutes.
3. Add dry ingredients and slowly mix until it becomes a soft dough that is only scoopable not rollable.
4. I used a #60, 1 tbsp scoop (mine is pampered chef-Home Goods often carry stainless steel scoops at good price) to evenly scoop out dough onto lined baking sheet. Don’t use black pan. Don’t have dough over flowing in scoop. Place scoops of dough at least 2 inches apart on baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar. . Use the bottom of a glass or similar flat surface (decorative cookie mold might also leave a nice impression) to flatten scoops to a little over 2” across. I used the white plastic food pusher tube insert from my food processor. They will spread to about 2+1/2” on baking.
5. Place in preheated oven and bake for 12 minutes to start. I cooked mine for 15 minutes total and they were just starting to over brown and taste burnt. They will still be softly firm to the touch as they crisp up on cooling, they will have barely changed color due to cinnamon coloring dough. Lift up a cookie to see if base is over browned and therefore nasty tasting. You will have to adjust times according to your oven, the pan -stoneware tends not to burn on the bottom, and size of scoop. Grahams that I flattened cool to crisp, if you don’t flatten they are chewier.
Store in airtight tin.
gluten free white chocolate raspberry no bake cheesecake
I use for one cup of GF mix. Rice free. I have slowly been remaking my gf recipes with arrowroot instead of potato starch. It’s basically trial and error, some recipes arrowroot just isn’t a good enough substitute as it’s more floury, but still tasty.
½ cup potato starch or arrowroot starch for those with nightshade problems.
¼ c tapioca starch – note there is a difference in tapioca starch from different brands.
2 tbsp amaranth or millet flour: Bob’s Red Mill (millet is roughly one third the price of amaranth, is not so nutritious, but is more readily available.)
2 tbsp sorghum flour: Bob’s Red Mill.
Larger quantity:
1 x 14 oz bag potato starch, which is 3+1/2 cups - that's the size I can buy. Or 14 oz arrowroot by weight.
1+3/4 c of Tapioca Starch is 7 oz
Just under 1 cup of Amaranth or Millet (actually ¾ c plus 2 Tbsps is 4 oz)
Just under 1 cup of Sorghum (actually ¾ c plus 2 Tbsps is 4 oz)
