When exploring these community cookbooks I am always struck by how many recipes call for graham cracker crumbs. Cakes, cookies, bars, candy, muffins—so many uses for graham cracker crumbs. I’m familiar with a graham cracker crust but that’s really about it.
Maybe graham cracker crumbs were readily available? Were Graham crackers particularly affordable? In some recipes there is no or virtually no flour, just crumbs.
The recipe was pretty solid but I will say the measurements are very tight. There is just enough crumbs to cover the base of a 8×8 inch pan (I can’t imagine that it covered the called-for 9 inch square pan) and the filling, even stretched by using ground almonds instead of chopped, just coated the base. This is a recipe where you really want a good spatula to scrape the bowl and the beaters.
I had a feeling the filling might be skimpy and I don’t love the texture ofvchopped nuts so I did swap that with some almond flour (ground almonds, almond meal) to stretch it out which I liked quite a bit.
The final result was almost like blondie but not quite–it was chewy and the topping made an almost meringue on top. I really have never made or had anything like it before.
I was worried it would be bland so I put vanilla in both the topping and the base which I think helped. I also used dark brown sugar for a richer flavor.
I agree with her tip to refrigerate the bars especially if it is really hot out. We were under a heat advisory when I was making this and they took a long time to cool and set up. We don’t have central air conditioning so the kitchen stays warm overnight so I refrigerated them and they were a lot easier to cut in the morning. They really are chewy and gooey
Sunny Graham Chewies
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 ⅓ cup Graham cracker crumbs I just whacked them against the kitchen counter in the sleeve they came in
- 2 tablespoons flour
- ½ cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
For the filling:
- ⅓ cup Graham cracker crumbs
- 1 ½ cups dark brown sugar
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup almond meal
- ¼ teaspoon baking power
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 8×8 inch pan, set aside.
- In medium bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix together the crust ingredients until a sort of paste forms.
- Pat it into the the bottom of the pan in an even layer. Do not go up on the sides!
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, beat together all the filling ingredients until a smooth batter forms. Pour over the crust.
- Bake 20 minutes or until golden and “set” looking.
- Cool, in pan, on a wire rack. When completely cool, cut into small squares.
adapted and updated from Dorothy Brown’s Sunny Graham Chewies in Doorway to Good Eating (complied by the Elkhart General Hospital Auxiliary) 1979
