From the Cookbook: Fancy, Homemade Graham Crackers

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"To cook for the pleasure of it, to devote a portion of our leisure to it, is to declare our independence from the corporations seeking to organize our every waking moment into yet another occasion for consumption. . . . It is to reject the debilitating notion that, at least while we’re at home, production is work best done by someone else, and the only legitimate form of leisure is consumption."

~ Michael Pollan, Cooked

I try not to buy into TV gimmicks.  I know that it is going to take more than a Swiffer to make my house immaculate, more than Grey Poupon to make me refined, and more than a bottle of beer to make me look good in a bikini.  (I'm afraid an entire distillery couldn't even manage that one.)  

Media is full of far-fetched ideas, and for the most part, I choose not to buy into them.  

Except for one.  

Until recently, I really wanted to believe that Keebler elves spent their days in a far off tree singing jingles and making fudge-striped cookies and graham crackers.  I mean, I realize that elves aren't real.  Everyone knows they haven't been around since the days of Hobbits.  But sometimes it's just easier to think that some products magically appear at the store.  It is how I avoid the responsibility, initiative, and hassle it would take to produce something on my own.  (I also like to believe that there are ground beef, Coca-Cola, and feminine product elves who are willing to produce these mysteries for me so I don't have to think more about these products than absolutely necessary.)

But then my friend Johanne introduced me to her homemade graham crackers and my "elf theory" came to a screeching halt.  She calls them "Fancy Grahams" because they are more than just graham crackers---they are lacy bits of delight that go uncommonly well with a glass of milk.  She was kind enough to let me in on the "magic" that goes into making these little darlings.

  

 

First, you mix up a batch of graham cracker dough and roll it into individual balls.

Then you place the graham cracker dough balls onto a heated mini pizelle iron.  (You can find these on Ebay or at Bed, Bath and Beyond during the holidays.)

After only a minute or so, you'll have golden and delicious graham crackers that are anything but the blase, dry versions you get at the store.  These have just a hint of chewiness that makes them all the more satisfying.

Johanne dolled up a batch of these for the 4th of July with white chocolate and sprinkles.  Just when I thought these couldn't get any better . . .

And all of a sudden, instead of going to bed at a decent time knowing that the elves will be hard at work creating the world's graham crackers, I find myself up into the wee hours of the night scouring the internet for pizelle irons so that I can make my own batches of these babies.  Can you say s'mores?!

I guess it just goes to show you that sometimes the things we see on TV aren't true, sometimes elves aren't the only ones who can cook, and sometimes homemade graham crackers are just plain better than those from a box.  Especially when they are "fancy."

Sorry, elves.  But there it is.   

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