In Praise of Parchment Paper for Baking

I never used parchment paper until recently. I first used it when baking pizza, to facilitate sliding the pizza onto the baking stone in the oven.

Even more recently, I found that lining the baking pan with parchment paper made it easier to slide cinnamon rolls out of the pan and into a box or onto a plate.

I resisted using parchment paper when baking cookies, because I've been baking cookies forever. Why should I change what works?

Except every once in a while it isn't working. Sometimes, when using butter instead of shortening--I'm trying to lessen my use of shortening--the cookies stick to the pan. Especially if I use flour ground from soft white whole-wheat or from oat groats.

The other day I wanted to bake some cookies to take to an event. I had some flour in the refrigerator that I had ground a few days previously. It was mostly from soft white whole-wheat, but I had mistakenly ground some oat groats into it, which is why I hadn't used it.

But this flour would be perfect for Oatmeal Raisin cookies. That's what I baked.

I lined the baking pans with parchment paper.

The cookies came off the paper perfectly!

By the way, here's the cookie recipe:

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Cream together:

1 C butter, softened

1 C brown sugar

1 C granulated sugar

Add and beat together:

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Dissolve

1 tsp. baking soda

in 1/3 C hot water;

Add to mixture.

Stir together, then add to above:

2½ C (10.7 oz.) flour (flour ground from oat groats, soft white wheat, hard white wheat, hard red wheat, or any combination)

3 C oatmeal (old-fashioned rolled oats)

½ tsp. salt

2 – 3 C raisins

optional:

1 – 2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 – 2 C chopped nuts, such as walnuts or pecans

Drop onto baking sheet. Bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes.

Cinnamon Graham Crackers!

"Now to combine the cinnamon with the homemade graham crackers."

Good idea, Martha!

I waited for a day when some taste-testers (grandchildren) could come over.  Also, that would keep me from eating all of the graham crackers by myself.

I made them like I had before, except I sprinkled cinnamon sugar on them. I used the double-strength mixture, like I use for cinnamon bread: 3/4 C sugar and 1/4 C cinnamon, a 3:1 ratio. On half of the dough I used Ceylon cinnamon. On the other half of the dough I used Saigon cinnamon.

Before baking: Ceylon to the left and Saigon to the right

After Baking

Disappointment! They were okay, but not amazing like I thought they would be. I did prefer the Saigon cinnamon ones. I like that sharp, pungent flavor.

 Cinnamon rolls were the requested snack for Libby and Ty's checkers game.

I decided the graham cracker itself needed to be crisper.

So today I baked cinnamon graham crackers again. This time I rolled out the dough on parchment paper. After sprinkling with the cinnamon and sugar mixtures--I used Ceylon and Saigon again--and pricking with a fork and scoring with a pizza cutter, I used my pizza peel to transfer the dough onto the preheated baking stone in the oven.

10 minutes was a little too long, with the preheated baking stone!

But, other than the easily-discarded burnt edges, these cinnamon graham crackers were amazing!

Unfortunately, there was only one other taste tester and I have no will-power, so I ate way too many.

Graham Crackers In Our Bakery--Updated

When my granddaughters walked into the house and saw the toy kitchen set, Katie declared, "It's our bakery!"

I baked some graham crackers for them in my bakery. Which they ate in their bakery.

Homemade graham crackers? Easy and tasty!

Honey Graham Crackers

2 C whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 C butter, softened
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. milk

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar. Cut in butter. Mix in honey and milk, forming a ball. [Note--I'm guessing that a good pastry cutter or a food processor would work well. Since I have neither, I just mix everything with my hands.] Roll out the dough on a lightly greased large cookie sheet or baking stone, 1/8" to 1/4" thick. Prick with a fork and score with a pizza cutter. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned.

Update: If you use a baking stone, preheat it. Roll the dough onto parchment paper, and, after pricking and scoring, transfer it to the pizza stone. Either use a pizza peel or the back of a baking pan. Reduce the baking time by a few minutes.

Before baking.

After baking.