Daring Bakers: Graham Wafers (and what was suppose to be Nanaimo Bars - oops!)

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Ok first of all, a thousand apologies, especially to the fabulous Lauren of Celiac Teen (our gracious host) for not giving this month's challenge the full attention it deserved. I so didn't realised how late in the month it really was so I failed to finish the second part of the challenge. BIG OOPS!

Allow me to fire off the excuses in quick succession: post-New-Year-mayhem, the lack of mood to use the oven due to constant scorching hot and humid days (my bad) and a month full of social engagements (double bad). And just my luck... on the final day that I could've churned out a complete Nanaimo Bar, it was a public holiday (Happy Australia Day!) and I happened to fall sick.

Forgive me?

What I did complete was part one of the challenge - Graham Wafers, which I did early in the month (see? I had good intentions!). Us down here in Oz are use to seeing these biscuits in a lot of North American and Canadian recipes but they don't exist here. So our usual alternative were always Digestives or any Armotts branded sweet, plain cookies. So I was happy that I was finally going to have my first taste of these much-loved cookies.

The challenge recipe was a gluten-free version but I chose to go with the wheat flour (recipe below is of both versions). I'll definitely give the gluten-free wafers a try in the near future just to see if there are any difference in texture and taste.

Either way, these crackers tasted damn good. But then again, it isn't very hard to get me happy if honey and brown sugar are involved! In any case, part 2 was suppose to be using these wafers to make the Canadian favourite Nanaimo Bars. Instead I found myself polishing off a whole tin of Graham Wafers all by my lonesome with a glass of milk, lamenting on what things could've been. Ah well, I'll do better next month, promise.


For Gluten-Free Graham Wafers

Ingredients

1 cup (138g) glutinous rice flour
3/4 cup (100g) tapioca flour
1/2 cup (65g) sorghum flour (can be replaced by brown rice flour or millet flour)
1 cup (200g) dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1 tsp of baking soda
3/4 tsp of kosher salt
100g unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch cubes and frozen
1/3 cup (80ml) mild-flavoured honey like clover
5 Tbl (75ml) whole milk
2 Tbl (30ml) pure vanilla extract

Directions

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.

In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.

Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.

Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.

Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).

Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.

Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.

Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.

When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

Notes:

(from Celiac Teen) If making the graham crackers with wheat, replace the gluten-free flours (tapioca starch, sweet rice flour, and sorghum flour) with 2 ½ cups plus 2 tbsp of all-purpose wheat flour, or wheat pastry flour. Watch the wheat-based graham wafers very closely in the oven, as they bake faster than the gluten-free ones, sometimes only 12 minutes.

(from me!) Rolling and making cookies out of the dough was tedious with this type of dough. So instead, I made a large sheet cookie seeing as it was going to be decimated into crumbs anyway (as in rolled it out into one large rectangle over the tray and baked). Of course that sheet cookie ended up in my mouth due to Nanaimo laziness! With the rest of the dough, I rolled it over a baking sheet, cut shapes out of it, then peeled away the excess. Far, far easier than cutting it out and trying to transfer the soft and sticky shapes onto a another tray.