Homemade Wheat Thins
By Tali Simon | November 29, 2011
Usually, when you make a homemade version of something you’d ordinarily buy, it tastes good but not exactly the same.
Take homemade Oreos, for example. They’re really delicious, and (with a group of friends) we finished them at an alarming rate, but you can’t really say they taste just like the originals. Same thing with homemade potato chips. Great snack, but if you had Ruffles in mind, you might be disappointed.
Which is why I still can’t get over the fact that these homemade Wheat Thins taste EXACTLY like what you get from the store. Let me repeat that: They are identical! They are cracker clones! It’s ridiculous!
In case you aren’t yet sold on these crackers, let me assure you that the recipe is simple and easy to put together. They bake pretty quickly, too, and since they don’t expand during baking, you can fit a lot on each tray.
They’re wonderful with chummus, white bean dip, or guacamole. Also cream cheese. Also olive dip (pictured). They’re delicious with soups, too. But never mind all of that. I could eat a whole batch plain, they’re so good.
Remind me to triple the recipe next time.
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Ingredients: Directions: 2. Combine flour, sugar, salt and paprika in a medium bowl. Using a pastry blender, mix the butter into the dry ingredients thoroughly. (Confession: Until about two minutes ago, I didn’t even know what a pastry blender looked like. I am here to tell you that a fork works just fine.) 3. Combine the water and vanilla in a measuring cup. Add to the butter/flour mixture and mix (use your hands!) until a smooth dough forms. If the dough is still dry, add a little more water. 3. Divide the dough into four pieces. Work with one piece at a time, keeping the others covered with a towel so they don’t dry out. Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll the dough into a large rectangle. Lift and turn it as you roll to make sure it isn’t sticking. Roll the dough as thinly as possible. 4. Trim the edges to get a nice rectangle with even sides, saving the scraps in the covered bowl as you work. Use a pizza cutter to cut the rectangle into small squares the size of Wheat Thins. (You can make them a bit bigger or smaller, the main thing is the thickness. Or thin-ness.) 5. Transfer the dough squares to the prepared baking sheets and sprinkle lightly with salt. Repeat the rolling and cutting process with the remaining three pieces of dough. Finally, re-roll your saved scraps all at once to create one last round of crackers. 6. Bake one sheet at a time until crisp and just browned, about 11 minutes. Keep a close eye on them starting at the 10-minute mark to make sure they don’t burn. Cool and store in an airtight container at room temperature. (A note on storage: We kept our batch in a container on top of the fridge for the first three days, then inside the fridge for three days after that. I’m not sure the fridge is really necessary, but it certainly didn’t alter the taste or texture.)
Tweaked from Two Peas & Their Pod
Yield: About 70 crackers
1. Preheat oven to 400 F/200 C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
8 Comments
Malka on December 1, 2011 at 11:39 am.
oh wow tali! you have made my day! cant wait to make these!
Tali Simon on December 1, 2011 at 2:25 pm.
Make sure to give ME one for each hand.
Laura on December 1, 2011 at 9:06 pm.
Oh, wow . . . I love DIY recipes. I have to try this.
BTW, I think the secret to recreating oreos is rolling them thin and using the right cocoa powder (double dutched black cocoa, like Hershey’s extra dark). Made with the right cocoa powder, the resemblance is uncanny.
Tali Simon on December 1, 2011 at 10:16 pm.
Do you mean roll the dough and cut out circles, then bake?
As far as the cocoa powder, that’s definitely not what I have in my kitchen…but maybe the next visiting relative from North America can bring some!
Laura on December 2, 2011 at 8:14 pm.
Yes, there is a Martha Stewart recipe that I like for this purpose:
http://pragmaticattic.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/midnight-mint-hamantaschen/
You can use the dough for recreating thin mints (which I have done before) and for oreos. The dough is not so sweet, so it is good paired with melted chocolate or oreo filling.
I think that you can find dutch process cocoa in Israel, even if you can’t find the extra black kind. The Nesquik is made from dutch process cocoa, I think (each cup of Nesquik is about half sugar, I think).
Tali Simon on December 4, 2011 at 9:55 am.
I’ve never made cookie dough with powdered sugar instead of regular, so I’m really curious to see what it does. No egg? Now I’m really intrigued.
Yiska Ben Avraham on August 9, 2012 at 2:16 am.
How necessary is the paprika? Is it for taste or only for color?
Tali Simon on August 9, 2012 at 11:16 am.
The degree to which you can taste the paprika probably depends on the quality (and freshness), as well as whether you use spicy/hot paprika vs a more mild version. But still, a 1/4 tsp in relation to 1 1/4 cups of flour is just that, and I would venture to guess that they’d be just fine without it. Let me know if you try it!