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.Graham Cracker Crust

Source of Recipe

From "The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion"


Recipe Introduction

"You can substitute chocolate cookies, vanilla wafers, or gingersnaps here, or peruse the cookie aisle and come up with your own crumb crust. Just make sure the cookies are crisp, not moist or chewy. Try a combination of gingersnaps and vanilla wafers, or gingersnaps and chocolate cookies. These crumb crusts are the perfect foundation for creamy fillings: Key lime pie, chocolate cream pie, and cheesecakes all combine happily with cookie crumb crusts."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 1 ¾ cups graham cracker crumbs
â—¦ ¼ cup confectioners' sugar
â—¦ 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter, melted


Recipe

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

In a medium bowl, combine the crumbs, sugar, and butter. Press the mixture into the bottom and partway up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan, 9-inch cheesecake pan, or 9-inch deep-dish pie pan. If you're using a 9 x 1 ½-inch pan, you'll have ¼ to ½ cup extra crumbs. This can become a garnish for the pie, if you like.

To blind bake the crust (cookie crumb crusts are nearly always blind baked; no need to weigh it down), bake for 15 minutes, just until set and you smell the cookies toasting. Remove the crust from the oven, cool on a rack, and add the filling of your choice.


Makes one 9-inch single crust




• Chocolate Cookie Crust:
Replace the graham crackers with 2 cups of chocolate cookie crumbs; 40 chocolate wafer cookies (one 9-ounce package) will crush down to 2 cups of crumbs.

• Vanilla Wafer Crust:
Replace the graham crackers with 2 cups of vanilla wafer cookie crumbs. About 71 small cookies will crush down to 2 cups of crumbs.

• Gingersnap Crust:
Replace the graham crackers with 2 cups of crushed gingersnaps. About 43 gingersnaps will crush down to 2 cups of crumbs.