Homemade Crackers

Have you noticed the price of packaged food going up lately?  Yeah, I know you have.  Everything's up but WOW I really had to stop and think twice before paying 5 bucks for a package of crackers. 

So I've been experimenting with making my own.  What I've found is that it's really a labor of love.  Fun to make but I sure won't be doing it every week.  I tried some cheddar cheese crackers that were very yummy, but I really love these peanut butter flaxseed crackers.  They're really a cross between a cracker and a cookie. 

The recipe is from a very old Martha Stewart magazine- so old that it's not even on the website database.  Here's the recipe, with a few adaptations, if you want to give it a try.  (and if you're looking for more cracker ideas, go to Martha's site and do a search on crackers - you'll get a ton of ideas!)

Peanut Butter Flax Snack Crackers

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or substitute white whole wheat, organic if you can)

2 T toasted wheat germ

2 T flaxseed

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar (substitute raw cane sugar if you want)

1/2 tsp. salt

6 T chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup peanut butter (they say smooth, I used chunky)

1/4 cup milk.

Combine flour, wheat germ, flaxseed, oats, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to mix.  Add butter and pulse until crumbly.  Add peanut butter and milk.  Pulse a few more times until mixture just holds together.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface.  Divide in half and make each piece into a log.  Wrap in unbleached parchment paper (they say plastic wrap) and freeze until firm.  (I left them overnight.) 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Remove logs from freezer and let stand about 5 minutes to soften.  Slice into 1/4 inch rounds.  Bake about 12-15 minutes, until just starting to brown.  (they say to turn the crackers over during baking but I skipped that step). 

Yum!