How to Make Graham Balls

Graham Balls are now a certified hit in the Philippines. It seems like you won’t escape it if you’re following any kind of cooking accounts on social media or cooking channels on Youtube. And who can blame them? Graham Balls are so easy to make with most recipes only using at least three (3) ingredients. That’s right, only three!

So today, we’re going to create our own Graham Balls recipe using the bare minimum ingredients that we can use, which is also 3. All we’re going to use are condensed milk, graham powder or Graham Cracker crumbs, and marshmallows. Not only is this recipe budget-friendly, but it’s also very easy to make too. You won’t need any special equipment or cooking tools to create this recipe.

All you’ll need are the ingredients, a regular bowl, and your choice of something to mix with, be it a spatula or a spoon. I don’t really recommend whisks or forks because of reasons you’ll find out during the preparation process. Other than those mentioned above, you’ll also need a plate to put the freshly made graham ball pieces.

I really like this dessert because not only is it very easy to make, kids and the kids at heart love it as well. It’s also a fairly versatile dessert recipe in terms of decorating it. You can add colorful sprinkles with the coating, cashews, and I also know other cooks who coat them with desiccated coconuts. Yum!

Whatever you add to the main ingredients of this dessert is totally up to your mood and taste. All of the ingredients used here are readily available at the local market or store and won’t be a heavy burden on your budget if you want something sweet to snack on.

A great idea is to sell this sweet dessert. There would always be a market for graham balls with more than willing patrons being more than happy to pay for a box of these delicious treats. Another great idea is giving these graham balls as a gift. I can imagine putting them in a cute box or a tin can filled with colorful wrapping paper, like those used for yema, to give to a loved one who loves sweets.

It’s totally up to you. If you’re going for the business route, I highly recommend creating different varieties of coating to attract a wide range of customers with different tastes (all with a sweet tooth, of course).

HISTORY OF GRAHAM CRACKERS

So when doing some research to create this recipe, I stumbled upon the history of Graham Crackers, and by extension Graham Balls, and I think you guys would find this quite interesting as I did.

So graham crackers on their own are used in a lot of different dishes. The cracker is basically a sweetened biscuit made from flour with bran and added wheat germs. The sweetening ingredient can be honey, sugar, or cinnamon. It’s most popularly used for cheesecakes and pies in their crusts as well as smores. But it can also be used for other recipes including cookies, fruit floats, and graham balls like this one.

Graham Crackers actually have a curious origin story. This popular snack and dessert ingredient was first introduced in the United States by followers of a radical minister named Sylvester Graham. Yes, Graham Crackers was named after him. He inspired the invention of the very first version of Graham Crackers and invented a diet called the Graham Diet which largely consists of a vegetarian diet mostly consisting of fruits, vegetables, starches, and limited dairy.

Graham vehemently claimed that this diet helps abstain from sexual activity for those who follow it, including the self-love kind. This eventually got the minister followers called the Grahamites.

One such Grahamite, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, was the one who invented Graham Crackers in his insistence of having his patients follow the Graham diet. Along with his brother, Will Keith Kellogg, they discovered how to make the first versions of Graham Crackers by accident by leaving out cooked wheat and letting it go stale.

Will went against the wishes of his brother and created a business out of this new invention, with the addition of added sugar, the Graham Crackers was first mass-produced and sold by the Kellogg’s corporation, which today is worth billions of dollars.

That was honestly a weird history for the Graham Crackers. The Graham Crackers were probably introduced to the Philippines by the Americans during the country’s US occupancy. The Graham Balls wasn’t invented until the 20th century, I believe.

Whatever can be said about its history, Graham Crackers and Graham Balls is a mighty delicious treat, one that is a guarantee to please anyone with a sweet tooth.

If you want to try this easy three-ingredient Graham Balls recipes, a detailed step-by-step instruction on how to prepare it can be seen down below. We also made a fun video for visual learners. Enjoy!