I’ve been in denial about this whole “November” thing. And this whole dark-at-5pm-thing. Ouch. The fall season is passing before my eyes. Suddenly, the nights feel super long and I’m going a bit stir crazy. Instead of resisting it, I’ve taken up evening hot yoga a few times a week. It just feels so good to have a deep stretch this time of the year and it’s a great reason to get off the couch at night. My sleep has felt a bit more restorative, so that’s always a plus too!
If there’s any ingredient that makes me set aside my November denial and embrace the cool weather, it’s blackstrap molasses. It’s been a long time since I did any baking with it and it always feels special when I dig it out from the back of the cupboard. A powerhouse sweetener filled with iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, vitamin B6, and more, it also lends a seasonal baking flair to baked goods. Plus, your entire kitchen fills with that delicious aroma of the holidays. It’s really something magical.
Today, I’m sharing another reader request recipe. Jessie recently wrote in saying:
“Hi Angela, I have a special favor to ask you. As a Vancouver girl, I am DYING to make your vegan Nanaimo bars but I can’t find gluten free and vegan graham crumbs to swap for the regular ones. I can’t eat any gluten. Any ideas?”
Jessie is right, I do have a handful of recipes that call for graham cracker crumbs. A few of them:
- Classic Nanaimo Bars
- PB & Jelly Nanaimo Bars
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
- Mini Peanut Butter Cups in a Jar
It’s true that there aren’t many vegan and gluten-free crackers on the market. At least, I haven’t been able to find any in my local grocery stores. And if there are any, do they even taste good? So, I took matters into my own hands and came up with a go-to graham cracker for the holidays! And dare I say, they are respectable enough for a mid-morning snack. Dipped in a little Lightened Up Raw Pecan Pumpkin Butter…wow, just wow. I can’t get enough.
After several trials, I’m happy to report that these crackers are authentic and crispy, made with wholesome flours, and are free of gums and strange ingredients commonly found in gluten-free baked goods. They have such a wonderful crumb to them. And when I say crispy, I really do mean crispy! These are not soft, doughy graham cracker imposters here…no way.
You know how store-bought gluten-free baked goods can have that funky taste and texture thing going on? Well, it is possible to do gluten-free and vegan right. It’s just a matter of using the right combination of flours and other ingredients. A strong will (read: stubbornness) and patience (read: sweet tooth) never hurts either. Luckily, I have both. And now my freezer is stocked with grahams for many weeks to come.
Vegan and Gluten-Free Graham Crackers
Yield
25 (2-inch) crackers
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Crispy, authentic graham crackers made gluten-free and vegan! Now you can make them in the comfort of your own home. When rolling the dough, I suggest using a non-stick baking mat and a non-stick rolling pin, if you have them. It really makes rolling a breeze. If you don't have those, not to worry; a floured counter and rolling pin will do just fine. I used gluten-free all-purpose flour to flour the mat and pin. It's normal for the dough to crack slightly when rolling, so if this happens simply mend the crack with your fingers and forge on! Don't worry about getting them perfect. When the crackers come out of the oven they will be a bit soft, but within 15 minutes on the cooling rack they will firm up into crispy delights! I know I'm going to get questions about a nut-free recipe, and I don't have one to share yet, but I will try my best to come up with one. In the meantime, check out the Vegan Graham Crackers recipe from 2010 (you can sub the almond milk for a nut-free milk to make it nut-free).
Ingredients
wet ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil (melt before using) or grapeseed oil
- 3 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
- 2 tablespoons almond milk
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1/2 tablespoon ground flax
dry ingredients:
- 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons almond flour (not almond meal)
- 1/2 cup raw buckwheat groats, processed into a flour
- 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats, processed into a flour
- 5 tablespoons arrowroot flour
- 2 tablespoons Sucanat (or other granulated sweetener)
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients.
- Add the buckwheat groats and rolled oats into a high-speed blender and blend on high until a fine flour forms.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir well with a spoon until it comes together and there are no dry patches of flour left.
- Form the dough into 2-3 balls and place one at a time on a lightly floured non-stick mat. Lightly flour a rolling pin (if necessary) and begin rolling out the dough until you have a rectangle that is about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will crack a bit, but this is totally normal.
- Cut the crackers into the shapes of your choice using cookie cutters, a pizza slicer/pastry slicer, or a knife to cut the shapes you want. I used a 2-inch square cutter with a beveled edge. Place each piece onto the baking sheet, leaving 1/2-inch between each. Poke a few fork holes into each cracker. Repeat with the remaining dough.
- Bake for 10 minutes and then remove from oven and carefully flip each cracker with a spatula. Rotate the pan and return to the oven for 6-7 minutes longer, until golden. Carefully, transfer crackers to a cooling rack for 15 minutes.
- Store crackers in a glass jar or container on the counter or wrap up and freeze for later.
Tip:
- 1 batch of graham crackers will make about 3 cups graham cracker crumbs. To make the crumbs, add the crackers into a food processor and process until a fine crumb forms.
- I haven't tested these crackers with almond meal yet, so I suggest using almond flour for best results. You can find almond flour in the natural food section of most grocery stores or you can make it yourself by blending whole blanched almonds until a flour forms. Sift before using.
- If you aren't looking for a gluten-free graham cracker, see my vegan graham cracker recipe and my PB & J graham cracker sandwiches.
- If you prefer a less crispy cracker, bake for a few minutes less time.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
By the way, a huge thank you for your lovely comments on my Canadian cover reveal post! I’m so touched by your excitement. Thanks to your pre-orders, The Oh She Glows Cookbook has been dancing around the #1 spot in the vegan cookbook category on Amazon.ca this weekend. Big, big smiles. Thanks again for all your support!
Hi. I was really glad to find this recipe until I saw that it includes almond flour. =( I am allergic to Soy and Tree nuts.
Any good ideas for a substitute flour for the Almond Flour?
Honey instead of molasses. About half of the maple syrup and no spices made for a perfect graham cracker taste!!!
Angela!
I made these and had to grab my phone just to message you! These are amazing. I was looking for a honey graham cracker so i swapped out maple syrup for unpasteurized honey and the recipe turned out bang on (sorry my recreation isnt vegan). However i did have to lessen the first baking time to 8 minutes. Honey treats burn easily! The dough texture was perefect! I made them just to use them as crumbs. It was sad to destroy them after i made them look so pretty! Thank you for the recipe!!
Mandy
So glad these worked for you Mandy!
Can I make them with 4 tbsp. of regular molasses instead of blackstrap and maple syrup? I really like molasses and would like to taste it in the crackers.
Can I substitute buckwheat and oat flour for the buckwheat groats and rolled oats? How I figure out the measurements?
Buckwheat has gluten in it. Fyi.
Hi Rachel,
Not sure where you get your information from, but I suggest checking out this. It is gluten free, just have to make sure it comes from a source that is not cross contaminated.
I actually got the information from my child’s doctor but apparently you know more than she does. Perhaps you can cut the attitude when replying to someone. Just saying.
Oh my god I am an epic asshole. I apologize. I was thinking of barley. My sincere apologies!
I apologize if there was attitude in my reply – that wasn’t my intention at all. I suppose I could have worded it better. Anyway, not to worry about the mix up! :)
There are a couple of recipes of yours I’d like to try including your Gluten-Free Graham Crackers but I’m allergic to almonds and coconut. I can have cashews, pistachios and macadamia nuts. Do you think any of those could replace the almond flour?
Thanks.
I loved them, just what I was looking for, I just found out that I’m allergic to soy. The store bought brands have soy… Thank you for sharing your recipe Angela. These crackers are 5 stars! Mine were a little thick, I’ll fix that next weekend :)
So glad they worked out for you Laura!
Hi Angela!
I just made this recipe and it’s delicious! I had a lot of fun baking the squares. The only change I made was to use almond meal because that’s all I had on hand. I I accidentally made the squares a bit thick so I baked it for 4 minutes extra. Thank you!!
I follow your exact recipe for ingredients. Only change I make is that I roll the dough a little thicker and cook them on one side only for 8-10 minutes. The end result is more of a gingerbread cookie that’s crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. I make them weekly so that we can have them as a snack throughout the week. Add a smear of raw honey or PB, and these are to die for!
I’m so glad you’ve been enjoying the recipe, Dragana!! Thanks for taking the time to let me know. :)
I’m writing this as I enjoy these freshly baked crackers – they came out perfectly crisp and deeply delicious. I have a cookie stamp with customisable letters so I used it instead of poking the crackers with a fork. And as a result, I’ve served my dad crackers with the name of his company written all over them… His reaction was priceless :)
And as to the the recipe, it’s hard to imagine that a combination of oats, almonds and buckwheat with a touch of a sweetener (apart from maple and molasses I used coconut sugar) could be something other that delicious.
Also, I might have eaten some raw dough before baking it… And I had a real struggle putting them in the oven later on, haha.
Hi,
My family and I are absolutely in love with these! My husband asks me to make these year round! I was hoping I could ask you a question about the almond flour. Its difficult to find organic almond flour, so I was thinking of making my own with my Vitamix flour container, however, I’m not sure how to achieve this so it’s not the consistency of almond meal. Do I need to run it through the Vitamix and then put it thru a fine strainer? Any advice would be greatly appreciated : ).
Thank you!
Hi Lisa, Happy to help! You can make homemade almond flour by blending blanched whole almonds on high speed until a fine flour forms (finer than meal-like consistency). Just be sure not to blend for too long, though, or the oils will release and the flour may clump together. Then, sift out any clumps or large almond pieces before using. :)
Hi me again! Loving looking thru your Thanksgiving recipes! I want to try this graham cracker one but we have a 2 yr old granddaughter with nut allergy so we will do different flour. My husband and I are both gluten free, oats, rice and dairy. We have eggs though. THat said, I will be using Manini’s All Purpose flour for the crackers. Have you heard of this? It uses Millet flour for the main ingredient. Also Im hoping we can get by with gluten free oats in the crust. We are only intolerant and not allergic. If you have any other suggestions for the oats please reply.
Thank you so much for such an incredible recipe!! I can barely stop eating the dough long enough to get them in the oven. I love that these are made with coconut oil instead of the typical oils that should never be heated, and it’s also low in sugar but high in flavor. Thank you Angela!!
Is there an easy way I can use this for a pie crust?! Looks so amazing!
Hey Mia, You probably can! I haven’t tried it so I don’t have specifics for you though. After baking and cooling the crackers, I would probably process them in a food processor until fine, and add some melted coconut oil and liquid sweetener until you have a lightly wet texture which can be pressed into a pie dish and baked.
I wish I could give it more stars! The recipe makes a lot of cookies and they are almost all gone…I made them yesterday!
For a pie crust, I was thinking you might just roll out the dough and place it directly into the pie plate then blind bake it. I’ll let you know how that works out.
These look so yummy! Do you have a suggestion for baking in bigger “sheets” if we’re trying to use this as a substitute for gingerbread house pieces? I’m assuming I can just shape them into rectangle walls and roof pieces, but how do I adjust the baking time?
Hey Katie, Oh that’s such a fun idea! I haven’t done this before, but I would think the baking times would be fairly similar, maybe a bit longer for the larger pieces though. I’d love to hear how it goes!
Using this recipe to make “ginger bread” house with the kids this Christmas. Thanks for such consistently great recipes!
I made these today and am pleased. I made them with the intention of using them as crumbs for a gf pie crust, so I didn’t worry about rolling it – I simply pressed the batter down with wet fingers on a cookie sheet. The cookies that weren’t used, my boys enjoyed eating. I would make these again. Thanks for the recipe.
For the buckwheat groats and the oats, is the amount you list the amount I would have after I have I process them into flour? If not, how much flour would each make as I already have the oats and buckwheat ground into flour. Thank you in advance for clarifying this.
Vivian