Homemade Graham Crackers

So these aren't technically graham crackers since they don't use graham flour, but they are 100% whole wheat and 100% delicious! I've been making them for several months now, ever since I found the original recipe on Heavenly Homemakers. Mostly square shapes, but I also cut out umpteen dozen little leaf and pumpkin shapes in November and in December decided to give them a Christmas kick by dipping in almond bark and letting the girls decorate them with sprinkles. That was a VERY good idea. :)

INGREDIENTS:

2 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
½ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
4 Tablespoons honey
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
3. Add the liquids: honey, water, vanilla and melted butter.
4. Stir well until a nice ball of dough is formed.
5. Lay one Silpat (or parchment paper) on a cookie sheet.
6. Place the ball of dough on the parchment paper. Lay a second Silpat (or another piece of parchment paper) on top of the ball of dough.  Squish dough down a little with your fist.
7. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough between the pieces of parchment paper.  Roll until the dough covers the whole cookie sheet.
8. Peel off the top Silpat and cut rolled dough into 2 inch squares, or cut shapes with cookie cutters, being sure to separate the shapes from the surrounding dough a little. (I use a pizza cutter *very gently* to make the cuts)
9. Bake in oven for 18 minutes.
10. Turn oven off, but leave crackers in the oven to get crisp for about 30 minutes.
11. Break cooled graham crackers apart and store in an air tight container.

To decorate them, I melted almond bark in a large coffee mug. Then I scrapped some bark on one side of the cookie and set it on wax paper where my assistants could decorate them with colored sugar and sprinkles. This, obviously, makes them not very healthy, but fun for a special treat.