Cooking Lesson #151 Classic Crushed Crumb Crusts

For Cheesecakes and Pies

Crushed Cookie Crumb Crust

How you doin’? The end of the year is not only about apple and pumpkin pies… many of us love cheesecakes and frozen pies that don’t easily lend themselves to rolled out pastry crusts. As a Consumer Research Food & Restaurant Consultant, I suggest to our friends and clients that they might want to prepare a crushed crumb crust. The most recognizable is a graham cracker crust, most commonly used for cheesecakes.
 
These crushed crumb crusts are not only perfect for cheesecakes, but also key lime pies, cream pies, ice cream pies and frozen pies all of which call for tender crumb crusts made of crushed crackers, wafers or cookies instead of rolled pastry dough crusts to hold the fillings. Below are two of my favorites that work for a variety of fillings—Graham Cracker Crumb Crust and Salty Peanut-Pretzel Crumb Crust. Marry these two crusts up with your favorite filling. After baking, these two crusts also work well with any Instant Pot prepared pie.
 
                                          Graham Cracker Crumb Crust
Ingredients
1-1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs (about 15 graham crackers)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
 
Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350⁰ F.
2. Break the graham crackers into smaller pieces. Using a food processor, pulse in short bursts until you've got coarse crumbs. (You can always do it the old-fashioned way by putting the graham cracker pieces in a large, heavy-duty resealable plastic bag. Leave a small opening in the top of the bag to allow air to escape. Using a little pressure, roll a rolling pin over the plastic bag. Continue rolling the pin over the bag until the cookies are broken into coarse crumbs).
3. Add the sugars, cinnamon and salt to the food processor bowl and pulse, followed by the melted butter, pulse again. Adding a bit of salt enhances the sweet flavor of the crumb crust. (if you’re not working with a food processor, work the butter into the crumbs with a wooden spoon or your hands until the butter is evenly distributed.
4. Deposit the crumb mixture into a 9-inch springform pan or pie pan; there's no need to grease the pan.
5. Use your hands or a flat-bottomed glass to press the mixture evenly into the bottom and sides (if desired) of the pan. To avoid crumbs getting into the filling, press firmly to ensure the crust is well compacted.
6. Bake the crust for 8-10 minutes.
7. Let it cool completely before adding the filling.

ChefSecret: Graham cracker is the standard, but you can use shortbread, chocolate cookies (Oreos), chocolate wafers, vanilla wafers, gingersnaps (I love ginger snaps), pretzels, cereal, or nuts, too—the basic method will stay the same.
 
                                       Salty Peanut-Pretzel Crumb Crust
Ingredients
2 cups mini pretzels
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons roasted, salted peanuts
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
 
Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350⁰F.
2. Add pretzels, peanuts and brown sugar to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse until the mixture resembles very coarse sand with a few larger pieces remaining.
3. Pulse in the butter until well combined.
4. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.
5. Bake the crust until light golden and fragrant, about 6 to 8 minutes.
6. Set pans on a rack to cool completely before filling.

 
Covid-19 Quip of the Day:  “I’ve had a lot of things to think about over the last 6 months.  One is, if a speech impaired child signs swear words, does his mother have to wash his hands with soap?”
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