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Graham Crackers

A whole wheat cookie made with powdered milk, brown sugar, honey, and lemon juice, baked until lightly browned.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 11 ingredients
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Graham Crackers

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Graham Crackers

Oven375°F
Timeabout 15 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Mix the powdered milk and water together, then add the lemon juice and mix.

  2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until light, then add the brown sugar, honey, oil, and vanilla extract.

  3. Stir the salt and baking soda into 3 cups of the flour and combine with the egg mixture.

  4. Continue to add flour until the dough is very stiff.

  5. Divide the dough into 4 parts.

Roll and bake

  1. Lightly grease a cookie sheet with shortening and dust it with flour.

  2. Roll one part of the dough out on the cookie sheet until it is about ⅛ inch thick.

  3. Lightly mark out squares with a blunt knife and use a fork to prick the squares every inch or so.

  4. Bake at 375°F for about 15 minutes until lightly browned.

  5. Cut into squares immediately and move to a cooling rack.

  6. Repeat with the other 3 parts of the dough.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

938Calories
28 gProtein
28 gFat
142 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Honey1 tbsp (21g)64
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Honey + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,262 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Honey + wheattop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together346 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Whole wheat flour
Forms the dough structure, and with stiffness from added flour, gives the crackers their firm, crisp body.
Eggs
Bind the dough and add richness and moisture to the mixture.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and promotes browning during baking.
Honey
Adds sweetness and moisture, helping the crackers brown and stay tender.
Baking soda
Reacts to lighten the dough and helps the crackers brown.
Mild vegetable oil
Adds fat, tenderness, and moisture to the dough.

The step that matters

Adding flour until the dough is very stiff. Flour absorbs liquid and builds gluten and starch structure. Adding too little leaves the dough sticky and hard to roll, while the stiff dough holds its shape and bakes into a crisp cracker.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, sugar, honey, vanilla, wheat, flour):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Blueberryfits better
  3. Peachfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, sugar, honey, vanilla, wheat, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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