Gluten Free Graham Crackers (+GF Key Lime Pie Bars)

Since Christmas, my family has had so many limes in the fridge. And every time I would comment on our lime supply my dad would say "shouldn't you make a key lime pie?" Christmas always brings a wave of way too many sweets into our house, so I waited for the wave to subside and the first thing on my list to bake was key lime pie bars. I've actually shared key lime pie bars before on my blog. You can find them HERE. I just took a traditional key lime pie and made the recipe in a bar dish.

This time, there was a challenge - the bars needed to be gluten free. Technically, the only part of a key lime pie that is not gluten free is the crust. Or more specifically, the graham crackers in the crust! So, I made some gluten free graham crackers then made the rest of the key lime pie following the regular recipe.

Today, I'm sharing the recipe for the gluten free graham crackers, but then I'll direct you to my previous blog post for the key lime filling. This recipe is from a blog called Gluten Free on a Shoestring. How cute is that!? You can find the original recipe HERE.

Start by combining 2 cups of gluten free flour (I used the ATK flour blend), 1 teaspoon of xantham gum (skip this if your flour blend has xantham gum in it), 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/8 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 cup of granulated sugar and 1/3 cup of brown sugar in a medium mixing bowl.

When the dry ingredients are well combined form a well in the center.

Add 6 Tablespoons of melted butter, 2 Tablespoons of honey and 2 Tablespoons of molasses to the center of the well and stir to combine.

I created another well in the center of the dough - I don't know if this was mandatory but I thought it might be best to continue how the recipe started. Add one lightly beaten egg and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla to the center of the well and stir to combine again.

Finally, mix in 2-4 Tablespoons of milk - I only used 2, but depending on the consistency of your dough, you might need 4. Mix the dough together until it forms a ball.

I strayed from the recipe here. I didn't need uniformly cut graham crackers because I was going to be crumbling them up. The original recipe asks you to roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper. Instead, I used a Tablespoon to section out pieces of dough and flattened the dough to be about 1/4 inch thick.

I distributed the cookies across a baking sheet about 1/2 inch apart - the graham crackers hardly spread at all so you don't need to worry about spacing them too far.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, then bake the graham crackers for 15-17 minutes. They should be golden brown and crisp.

Transfer the graham crackers to a wire rack to cool completely before using them to make s'mores or crumbling them up to make a pie crust - either way, they are delicious!

These are some pictures of my end product. if you are also interested in making Key Lime Bars, you can head over to the recipe HERE for all of the detailed instructions :)

GLUTEN FREE GRAHAM CRACKERS
yield 32-35 biscuits

ingredients
2 cups gluten free flour blend
1 teaspoon xanthum gum (omit if your GF flour blend has xanthum gum in it)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
6 Tablespoons butter, melted & cooled
2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons molasses
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-4 Tablespoons milk

directions
1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the GF flour, xanthum gum, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, granulated sugar and brown sugar.
2. Once the dry ingredients are well combined, form a well int he center of the bowl and add the melted butter, honey and molasses to the well. Stir to combine.
3. Form another well in the center of the bowl and add the egg and the vanilla to the well. Again, stir to combine.
4. Finally mix in the milk. Start with 2 Tablespoons and add more depending on the consistency of your dough.
5. Once the dough is well combined and holding together, use a Tablespoon to section out portions of dough. Roll each Tablespoon into a ball and flatten the ball to be about 1/4 of an inch thick.
6. Distribute the flattened cookies along a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The cookies hardly spread so you do not need to worry about spacing them too far apart.
7. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and bake the cookies for 15-17 minutes until they are slightly darkened and crisp.
8. Transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before eating them or using them for s'mores & other recipes!

Enjoy!