The quest for Cheesecake, part 1

I've been craving cheesecake. I did a bunch of searches for GF cheesecake crust (you gotta have the crust), but I wasn't happy with any of them. The graham cracker crust is key! So, I switched directions and went looking for a GF graham cracker recipe.

I found a pretty simple looking one from here

I modified it a little bit, because the GF mix I use (Better Batter) already contains xanthan gum and I didn't want to add more.

The batter


Not surprisingly, this dough was fragile and it was difficult to keep the pieces in tact. Only 4 survived... the rest I just cooked as scraps. Not like it matters, they were going directly into the food processor later.

I think they tasted like graham crackers, but I couldn't decide for sure. It's been a while. But any which way, they tasted great and would do just fine for a cheesecake crust

GF Graham Crackers
Modified from livingwithout

2 ¼ cups gluten-free flour mix
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 ¾ teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons butter or margarine, cut into pieces
3 tablespoons cold water
3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Mix together gluten-free flour mix, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. Using your fingertips, work butter into dry ingredients. I just softened the butter and added it into the mixer. No butterfingers for me.
3. Stir in 3 tablespoons cold water, honey and vanilla. If dough is too dry, add a little more cold water, a teaspoon at a time. I added 2 extra tablespoons! I kept adding water until the dough formed a ball in the mixer. It started out way too crumbly.
4. Gather dough into a soft ball. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and line with parchment paper.
6. Cut two zip lock bags (gallon size) down each parallel side so that each opens out into one long sheet. Roll a piece of dough between the two sheets to about 1/8-inch thickness, depending on how thick you like your graham crackers. Cut into 2 x 3-inch pieces and prick lightly all over with a fork. Remove top zip lock sheet. Take remaining sheet with dough on it and turn it over. Lay it flat, rolled dough side down, onto prepared pan.
7. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. If cookies spread and bake together, re-cut while still warm and loosen them. Let cookies cool slightly before transferring to cooling rack.