Whole Wheat Crackers

This is a great basic whole wheat cracker recipe that you can spice up any way you want. My kids actually like this recipe as is, nice and plain. I like it with about 1/4 ts garlic powder in the dough. You could add rosemary, or thyme, any herbs you like! Making your own crackers is great for your health. When you make them yourself, there are no added ingredients. No preservatives. No MSG. Nothing that you don't want in there. Try them! Once you make your own crackers you won't ever want to go back to store bought crackers again. Adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup organic whole wheat flour
1 1/2 TB organic evaporated cane juice, sugar
1/2 ts real salt or more to taste
1/4 ts organic paprika
Optional: 1/2 ts organic garlic powder, or onion powder
Optional: 1 TB organic dried herbs
4 TB organic butter, softened
1/4 cup water (plus more if needed)
1/4 ts organic vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, salt, and paprika. Add any other herbs you would like at this time. A TB would probably be enough depending on how herby you want it. In a food processor with a dough blade, pulse together butter and flour mixture. Or you can cut it in with two forks, or a pastry cutter. You want the mixture crumbly. Mix together water and vanilla. Return mixture to large bowl and add water. Kneed together with your hands. If the dough is crumbly, add more water a TB at a time. You don't want it sticky. If you add too much water, add more flour. Divide the dough into two equal parts. Roll out one piece on a floured board until very thin. Using a pizza cutter, slice dough into cracker size pieces. Use a spatula to transfer the pieces onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 5 minutes and then check. You want them just starting to brown around the edges. If they aren't brown yet, give them another minute and check again. The longest I've ever gone is 7 minutes, and a few of them burned. While those are baking, roll out your second piece of dough and slice into cracker pieces. Once the first batch is done, put the second batch in the oven. You can bake both batches at the same time if you wish but you will need to rotate the baking sheets every few minutes to avoid uneven cooking and burning.
My kids like to use cookie cutters to make fun cracker shapes: