These gluten free chocolate graham crackers have a perfectly crisp texture and deep chocolate and honey flavor. They're better than any packaged cookie you can buy, and easy to make.
What makes these chocolate graham crackers special?
These chocolate graham crackers are way better than any packaged graham cracker. They have a deep chocolate flavor, a delightfully crisp texture and they don't stick in your teeth when you eat them (just me?)
Plus, they're naturally dairy free. And they're the perfect crunchy cookie for crushing and making into a gluten free graham cracker crust (baked or no bake).
How to handle this dough when raw
The dough rolls out really easily. Just be mindful not to roll it too thin (no less than 1/4-inch) or they will burn a bit in the oven, and then crumble. The dough should not be refrigerated at all, which is likely to dry it out.
If you want to bake some of it later, then by all means refrigerate the dough (there's an egg in it after all), and when you're getting ready to use it let it sit out until it comes to room temperature. It won't take long to soften up enough to be workable.
Docking the raw dough
What I refer to as “docking” the shaped, raw graham cracker dough has two steps. One is creating a seam in the center of each rectangle that goes about halfway through. The other is making holes that go all the way through the dough.
The seam in the center is mostly for authenticity, like “real” graham crackers have. It's clearly not necessary, but does make it easier to break the crackers in half neatly.
I use a pastry wheel, but you can use a knife or pizza wheel. Just don't cut all the way through or you'll have two smaller rectangles of dough.
The holes in the dough are different. They're helpful in allowing steam to escape during baking so the crackers don't puff up, but rather dry out and become crispy as they cool.
Ingredients and substitutions
Shortening
This recipe is naturally dairy free, since it calls for either virgin coconut oil or non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening. I like Spectrum brand shortening best.
If you don't have vegetable shortening or don't want to use it, use virgin coconut oil that is solid at room temperature. Since there is a strong chocolate flavor in this recipe, you won't be able to detect any faint coconut aroma the oil might have.
If you're particularly sensitive to coconut flavor, try using triple filtered coconut oil. I buy mine at my local Trader Joe's, and it has absolutely no coconut flavor or aroma at all.
Egg
Since there's only one egg in this recipe, you should be able to replace it with a “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds + 1 to 2 tablespoons lukewarm water mixed and allowed to gel).
Cocoa powder
Dutch-processed cocoa powder is richer than natural unsweetened cocoa powder, so I really prefer it in this recipe. But you can use natural unsweetened cocoa powder instead without modifying the recipe any further. If you'd prefer a graham cracker without cocoa powder, our classic gluten free graham crackers are the way to go.