Like your graham crackers with peanut butter or with chocolate? It’s all here in these low carb chocolate-covered graham cracker and peanut butter sandwich cookies!
Graham crackers are the ultimate snack food. You might have thought it was potato chips or popcorn or some other sort of salty, crispy snack, but I will stick to my guns and say graham crackers trump all other snacks. They’re crisp, they’re portable, they aren’t overly sweet and kids love them. They’re also very comforting. When my nephew was one or two, he carried graham crackers around with him everywhere. I mean everywhere, one or two squares always in his hand, getting soggy and dirty as he played and ran and chased his friends. They even show up in a number of his baby and toddler photos and his mother came to believe they were a sort of security blanket for him. See? The ultimate, comforting snack food.
So for today’s Makeover Monday, we’re doing low carb, gluten-free graham crackers. Yes, graham crackers have been “done” on All Day I Dream About Food, but not like this. These are graham crackers like you’ve never seen them before. They are like graham crackers on crack. Crack crackers. With chocolate. And peanut butter. Aha, now I’ve got your attention!
I wanted to feature graham crackers again because I’ve improved my recipe. I’ve found that baking them at a higher temp and then drying them out a bit at a lower temp gives them that tender crisp quality that is so essential for a graham cracker. Also for a while now, I’ve been thinking of making chocolate-covered grahams for my kids. That’s all I was going to do, but then I thought how much I love graham crackers and peanut butter. That was my go-to pregnancy snack with my first two kids. It was with my third too, until I discovered I had gestational diabetes. Have you ever had it? Seriously delicious and the ultimate ultimate snack food!
So why not make little graham cracker peanut butter sandwiches and cover THOSE with chocolate? In a word: heavenly.
- 2 cups almond flour Honeyville
- 1/3 cup Swerve Sweetener or other erythritol
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Pinch salt
- 1 large egg
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- 2 tsp molasses
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
- 5 oz high % cacao chocolate chopped (use Lindt or Scharffen Berger for best results)
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1/4 tsp vanilla or toffee-flavoured stevia optional, for added sweetness
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For the crackers, preheat oven to 300F.
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In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, sweetener, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Stir in egg, melted butter, molasses and vanilla extract until dough comes together.
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Turn dough out onto a large piece of parchment paper and pat into a rough rectangle. Top with another piece of parchment. Roll out dough as evenly as possible to about 1/8 inch thickness.
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Remove top parchment and use a sharp knife or a pizza wheel to score into squares of desired size (small are easier to dip in chocolate so about 2x2 inches). Transfer the entire piece of parchment onto a baking sheet.
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Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until just beginning to brown and firm up. Remove crackers and let cool 30 minutes, then break up along score marks. Lower oven temperature to 200F and return crackers to bake another 20 to 30 minutes, until crisp.
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Remove and let cool completely.
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For the filling, spread one cracker with about 1 tsp of peanut butter. Top with another cracker. Repeat with remaining crackers. Place crackers on a baking sheet and freeze at least 30 minutes.
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For the chocolate dip, melt chocolate with butter in small saucepan until smooth. Add flavoured stevia, if using.
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Line a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper.
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Using a fork, dip one peanut butter cracker at a time into chocolate, flipping to make sure it is completely covered. Lift out with fork and tap against the side of the pan to remove excess chocolate.
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Place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining crackers.
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Freeze crackers 20 minutes to set chocolate.
Serves 12 (24 cookies total). Each serving has 11 g of carbs and 4 g of fiber. total NET CARBS = 7 g.
287 Calories; 26g Fat (74.8% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 11g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 28mg Cholesterol; 139mg Sodium.
Jeanette says
Carolyn – I am always so impressed by your ability to recreate low-carb treat! These look incredibly good!
The Mom Chef ~ Taking on Magazines One Recipe at a Time says
I’m not a chocolate and peanut butter fan, but I love graham crackers and peanut butter so yup, I think these look delicious.
Patty G. says
It’s like you read my mind! I have been craving graham crackers and wondered if they could be made low carb and gluten free. Can’t wait to try these!
Robin Morelock says
I’ve been wondering, when a recipe calls for high % cacao chocolate, is that unsweetened or bittersweet or does it only come one way? Also, where do you get your chocolate?
Thank you!
Carolyn says
Hi Robin. I am vague about the exact % of cacao because some people have trouble finding the 85 or 90% stuff. It’s really, really bittersweet, dark chocolate. I often use Lindt (there’s a Lindt outlet store near me) but I order some online at places like Amazon. Scharffen Berger has a gorgeous 82% cacao bar…it’s pricy, but it’s fully gluten-free. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006GBLQGE/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B006GBLQGE&linkCode=as2&tag=aldaidrabfo05-20
Amanda says
These sound so perfect! I can’t wait to try these out, thanks! 🙂
Georgia @ The Comfort of Cooking says
I love these little low-carb snack bites, Carolyn! They look so delicious!
Gerri says
Be still my heart! Another to-die-for creation. Thank you. I’m with you on loving graham crackers.
Can you help with a chocolate dip recipe using unsweetened baker’s chocolate & cocoa butter that would be the right consistency for dipping? Thanks.
Jenn says
Hi…this sounds lovely but having never made crackers before I was wondering: do these go in the oven on a greased flat baking sheet or something else?
Carolyn says
My apologies, I wasn’t clear. YOu need to transfer the whole sheet of parchment with the crackers onto a baking sheet. I will fix that tomorrow to make it more clear!
Vicki Bensinger says
Oh yeah these look sinful. I’m sure I could eat 20 of these in one sitting. Very dangerous but even still I’d better snag this recipe to try. Oh well the holidays are coming up. We’re all entitled to splurge – right?
Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen says
What a makeover, those sound amazing!
Eric says
Even though I have long grown out of it, a childhood peanut allergy means I never developed a taste for peanut butter. But I’m all over chocolate covered graham crackers, and can’t wait to give them a try.
AM says
I bet they would be really yummy with almond butter too!
Carolyn says
Of course!
Carolyn says
They’d be good just covered in the chocolate too!
Jessica @ Desserts with Benefits says
This looks HEAVENLY!
Adrienne @ Whole New Mom says
Wow – Carolyn! These look amazing! I hope to share on FB later today.
Carolyn says
Thank you!
Alison @ Ingredients, Inc. says
OMG amazing! on my list this week
Karen says
This may be a stupid question but do you use smooth natural peanut butter(the no sugar kind)?
Thanks!
Carolyn says
I actually use Skippy Natural, since I just can’t get my kids to love the fully no-sugar kind.
Jean B. says
I’m sure you must have tried adding Swerve to an unsweetened peanut butter?
Carolyn says
I’ve made my own peanut butter with Swerve. It’s just really hard to find shelled, raw peanuts!
jane tiffen says
Tried these today and couldn’t get the chocolate to be runny enough to dip, Added water – big mistake! It became very lumpy so just spread on top and will serve to grandchildren tomorrow. How did you get the chocolate to be so smooth???
Carolyn says
when you add water to melted chocolate, it can make it seize. Sounds weird but you actually need to keep adding water, 1 tbsp at a time, to get to un-seize. What brand of chocolate did you use? However, in future, I’d suggest more butter or oil before adding water. What brand of chocolate did you use? Lindt 90% always melts very thinly so that’s what I usually use, but Scharffen Berger works well too.
jane tiffen says
Thanks Carolyn. Will be trying these again. My husband had a “sample” and said they were excellent. Will use Lindt or Scharffen Berger on the next attempt.
Carolyn says
Lindt 90% would be my best suggestion. And it might help to melt it in a metal bowl set over a pot of boiling water. I have a gas range and can keep the temp really low, but electric might heat the pot a lot, causing the chocolate to seize more easily.
Sommer @ ASpicyPerspective says
Love these, Carolyn! Looks delish! 🙂
Maggie says
Just made these–they’re in the freezer setting the chocolate. The chocolate, however, never got to a nice “dippable” consistency (I used SunSpire Fair Trade 60% Cacao Chocolate Chips). And it was compounded by seizing after adding the 1/4 tsp. of liquid toffee stevia (no surprise, since water will make chocolate seize–I should have thought of that). I slowly added about another tablespoon of butter to the chocolate & it loosened up again. What I’m not sure of at this point is whether the chocolate will firm up enough because of the additional butter. Remains to be seen. Next time I’ll use the Linda (which actually is my favorite chocolate in the world!), or the Scharffen Berger.
Also, do these need to be stored in the refrigerator?
Thanks for a great-looking recipe–even my husband who doesn’t care for sweets is looking forward to these!
Maggie says
Bad typing–will use “Lindt”!
Carolyn says
Sorry about that. I am going to amend the recipe right now to specify Lindt or Scharffen Berger, since it sounds like others are not working out that well! Yes, store them in the fridge. They are actually pretty great right out of the freezer too!
Maggie says
Although mine didn’t come out “pretty”, and I had to spread it on the crackers, they were absolutely delicious! They need to stay in the ‘fridge, though, because the chocolate does start to soften within about 5 minutes or so, probably because of the extra butter I had to put in. Will definitely make these again–I’m afraid once my son discovers them, I’ll be making another batch very soon!
Carolyn says
Glad the flavour was good. Definitely try Lindt 90% if you can find it. Of all the chocolate out there, it seems to melt the most liquidy, making it really easy to dip.
Amy L says
Thanks for another great recipe. I just found out that my A1C is elevated, following my second round of gestational diabetes, so I’m determined to keep eating a lower carb diet to be healthier. It’s so much easier thanks to you. I now have a seven-week-old in addition to my two-year-old, so my ability to complete things (including this recipe) is suffering! I left my graham cracker squares on the cookie sheet yesterday, ready for pb and chocolate. Then I noticed that my husband and son were snacking on them. In the words of my husband, “Wow! Low carb? These are really good…” So I decided to forgo the extra steps and just enjoy the graham crackers. I crumbled one on top of my greek yogurt, which made it extra tasty 🙂
Carolyn says
Yeah, the crackers are really great on their own too. I love them with just PB, but I will have to try your trick of sprinkling on Greek yogurt.
Lady Jennie says
My world is now complete. Must make this SOON!
Dina says
always looking for low carb sweets. they look yummy!
ladeeda says
Love your recipes. I’m so glad to find that this recipes has no flax.
Becky says
I’ve been craving graham crackers recently. Thought I’d have to give them up for good. I’ll have to try to bake these soon.
Jean B. says
I am going to make these Graham crackers for my pumpkin chiffon pie’s crust. I also sometimes really, REALLY want a Graham cracker Thank you for perfecting them!
[I guess Graham should be capitalized; they trace back to Sylvester Graham’s Graham wafers.]
charlotte says
these look so awsome! i am going to make these today!