My friend Cate and I used to have a standing movie date every Sunday night. Ten years ago we lived in the same Brooklyn neighborhood, only a few blocks from each other, and the date was easy to keep. We didn’t call to confirm. We just called if we needed to cancel. Not much further planning was needed.
Those were the good old days. We don’t get to the movies every Sunday anymore but we do try to do it often. There really is nothing better to shake the Sunday blues away than a movie date with a friendly face. Last week we set out to see It Felt Like Love. We both love a good coming-of-age journey. But we never saw it. Cate and I were so busy chatting and laughing that we strolled into the wrong theater. I was a little suspicious of all the older people in the seats next to us. Coming-of-age doesn't automatically mean elderly-friendly, but I didn’t worry about it until I heard French blasting from the theater speakers. Instead of a film about young angst, we had walked into an extremely boring, French political comedy. For the first 5 minutes it looked like it might be a feel-good-foreign, another genre we both can get into, but it turned out to be a real snoozefest. Feel-bored-foreign. Thank goodness I brought us a homemade snack.
As I’ve mentioned before, Cate is vegan. And she also happens to be pregnant. (Hooray!) She mentioned to me me that she needs a little more iron in her diet so I baked her these graham crackers with whole-wheat flour and some molasses. They had a little bit of what she needed and they were tasty too.
We lasted about 25 minutes and then abandoned the movie to have a cup of tea and eat more crackers. All we really wanted to do was talk and eat.
Our Sunday night rituals have evolved a bit over the years but I think they're even more satisfying now. Who needs a movie when you've got a good friend and cookie?
Vegan Graham Cracker
Makes about 2 dozen 2-inch-by-4-inch cookies
Rolling the dough thin will result in crispier cookies. Roll the dough a little thicker for softer cookies. Bakers choice.
1 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground cardamom (or cinnamon)
1/2 cup coconut oil, solid but not too cold
1/4 cup molasses
1 tablespoon Lyle’s Golden Syrup or agave syrup
3 to 4 tablespoons almond milk
1. Preheat oven to 350°. In a food processor, process flours, sugar, flax, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cardamom until combined. Add coconut oil, molasses, and Golden Syrup and process until combined. Add just 3 tablespoons almond milk and pulse until a dough forms. Add more almond milk if necessary. Divide the dough into two discs.
2. On a piece of parchment, roll one disc to an even 1/8-inch thick rectangle. Trim the edges and cut the dough into about 12 2-inch-by-4-inch rectangles but don’t separate the cookies. Score each rectangle in half crosswise but don’t cut all the way through. Using a fork, make three indentations in each square. Transfer the parchment, with the rolled dough, to a baking sheet. Bake until the edges have darkened slightly and the dough is set and dry, about 25 minutes. While the cookies are still warm, use a knife to cut the cookies apart. Let cookies cool completely on sheet on a rack.