Finnish Rye Crackers

Do you ever have ten bazillion things going on in the kitchen at once causing you to forget a very key ingredient while whipping up some fantastic recipe that will use up about 4 seriously old jars of who-haw in your pantry all in one fell swoop, which is a fabulous thing, and either attempt to salvage the just-put-in-the-oven-brownies by quickly removing the piping hot 8x8, pouring the gooey mess back into a bowl, and adding in the key ingredient (flour) or do you leave it to bake in the oven to discover what new recipe you mistakenly developed? I'm in the category of the prior with these brownies I made for Easter. Yep. I needed to pour the hot, about to be fudge mess mid-bake into a bowl, stir in the flour and return to the oven. Even with that near flawless save I still forgot the salt, but the salt wasn't nearly as missed as the flour would've been. The fam visiting from out of state over the holiday weekend were uber glad I salvaged the brownies because they were super gooey, oozy and boozy and everyone approved. Flash forward 2 days for more salvaging during the prep of the rye crackers I'm talking about today. As the dough was chilling in the fridge I somehow came to the realization I left out a 1/2 cup of sugar which is another key ingredient that would turn these deliciously crisp, sweet and aromatic crackers into bland communion style crackers. I had to salvage. Yep, just take the dough ball out of the fridge, get out the potato masher, pour in the sugar and start mashing - naturally! It worked. Crackers saved. I hope you try them out because they are fun to make and ever funner (not a word) to eat. 

At this point I should've added the sugar.

But something about that big, square, vintage store find container in the top left corner had eluded me. Ahhh....possibly it was the 3 year old yipping from the top of the 4' granite counters demanding he stir the bowl or the MIL who was glueing popsicle sticks into a 26" high skyscraper with a very dangerous hot glue gun for Christian's school project or that I badly wanted to shoot photos of the process getting to one of most booziest brownies I've ever made and that didn't quite work as well as expected. Yeah, it coulda been something like that. 

The cutest cream container ever ever.

Anyway - these crackers are a breeze to make. If you've never attempted making your own cracker start here. After you cut softened butter into rye flour and seasonings, milk is added until the dough forms a ball. 

After you form the dough into a disk, cover in plastic wrap and chill for an hour. Now, if you are a little bit skitzo like me, you remove the disk and add the forgotten sugar. Don't be a skitzo.

After you've chilled your dough flour up your favorite rolling surface and grab the rolling pin. You'll want to roll out the dough in portions, don't try to roll it all at once because you won't get the crackers thin enough. You'll divide the dough into thirds and roll the crackers about 1/8" thick. 

Now get out your cutest cookie cutter. This is mine. Not very cute.

After they come out of the oven all crispity and crunchy be careful how many you eat because rye is a grain that the human intestinal tract rejects. Proven theory by me and my brother. I nearly renamed these babies into Digestive Crackers. You've been warned. 

Have you ever forgotten a key ingredient? How did it turn out?

Printable Recipe Here

Finnish Rye Crackers
recipe from Buffalo Valley Grains

Yield: 4 dozen

1 cup rye flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 tablespoons milk

Combine first six ingredients with a wire whisk in a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the softened butter until the crumbs resemble the size of a pea. Working with 1 tablespoon of milk at a time, drizzle the milk over the crumbs and continue to mix with the pastry cutter until the dough comes together off the sides of the bowl. Using your hands, form dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour. 

Preheat oven to 375ºF. 

Once dough has thoroughly chilled, break off a third of the dough and roll out 1/8" thick on a well-floured surface using a rolling pin. Using a 1" wide cookie cutter cut into cracker shapes and place, well-spaced, on a cookie sheet. Bake for 9-10 minutes until golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheets. Remove crackers using a spatula onto a flat surface to cool completely. Store on the counter top for a week or in the freezer for a couple months.