Graham Cracker Cookies from The Kitchn

Graham Cracker Cookies - made dough December 28, 2022 from The Kitchn

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, whisk together graham cracker crumbs, granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, baking soda and salt. 
2. Add melted butter, beaten egg and vanilla extract, stirring with wooden spoon or rubber spatula to combine into a soft dough. Portion into golf-ball-size or smaller dough balls. Cover and chill for an hour or more.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Evenly space chilled dough balls 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Let rest on hot baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

I have to confess I consider this one another baking fail. If you click on the post title and go to the original blog post from The Kitchn, you'll see immediately what I mean. Mine looks nothing like what they're supposed to. I mean, they do look like they have graham cracker crumbs in them but the similarity ends there.

I had misgivings as soon as I had mixed the dough. I used packaged graham cracker crumbs instead of processing graham cracker sheets into crumbs but other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. But I suspect that was the problem - using the packaged crumbs yielded too much and the resulting dough was dry. Heck, it couldn't even be called dough The texture was similar to what it would look like if you were making the graham cracker base for Magic Cookie Bars. Except even more dry than that.

It was challenging even to form the dough into balls. In hindsight, I should've added more butter to make a more liquid dough. But I (foolishly) hoped that baking would do its magic and transform them into a more cookie-like appearance instead of "I got a rock" cookies.

Flavor-wise, I confess I wasn't that impressed either. They just tasted like....graham cracker crumbs. Or more kindly, like graham crackers without the crunch. Ironically, I did like the texture as it was like a soft doughy cookie. Unfortunately, that was all I liked about it. Ah well, at least I tried something new.