Rye Cracker Footballs
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The crackers can also be cut into strips on the parchment, and then lifted (without separating them) parchment and all onto an ungreased baking sheet. Follow instructions for baking.
Ingredients
  • ¼ cup cooking oil
  • ¼ cup buttermilk
  • ¼ cup water
  • 1 tablespoon molasses
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup rye flour
  • 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic salt
  • ¼ teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 heaping teaspoon caraway seeds (more to taste)
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • coarse salt
Instructions
  1. Heat oven to 400 F.
  2. Lightly grease a baking sheet and set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, combine the oil, buttermilk, water, and molasses.
  4. Stir in all-purpose flour, rye flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, garlic salt, onion powder, and caraway seeds. Mixture should be thick, and slightly sticky. If it's very sticky, add a little more flour.
  5. Lightly flour a large piece of parchment.
  6. Place dough on parchment, sprinkle lightly with a little more flour, cover with another piece of parchment, and roll very thin...about the size of a baking sheet. Thin dough makes light, crunchy crackers!
  7. Cut out shapes using a football cookie cutter, and place closely together on the prepared baking sheet. It's best to work with just one pan of crackers at a time, so wrap remaining dough in plastic and place in the refrigerator for now.
  8. There are two ways to create "laces". You can firmly press thin strips of slightly moistened dough onto each cracker, or simple press the lace design into the cracker with a table knife.
  9. Put crackers in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven, brush with melted butter (if you make "laces" on football shapes, you may have to gently pat the butter on the surface to avoid dislodging the laces) and sprinkle with coarse salt. Turn oven OFF. Open oven door for 30 seconds (count it: one-chimpanzee, two-chimpanzee...), place pan of crackers back in the oven, close the door and leave them alone for one hour. Don't peek - it will let out the residual heat.
  10. Move crackers to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
  11. If you choose to do all of the crackers at once, test a cracker from each pan. If they aren't completely crunchy, return them to the warm oven for 15 more minutes.
Recipe by The Rowdy Baker at http://www.therowdybaker.com/?p=4184