- Hey, everyone, it's Dorothy,
and welcome back to my channel.
Today I'm going to talk about crust,
graham cracker crust, that is.
I'm going to show you how to make my favorite
from-scratch graham cracker crust.
It's great for no-bake or baked pies,
and it's super simple, and it tastes way better
than that one you get at the grocery store.
You're not going to want to miss it.
(light upbeat music)
Having a homemade graham cracker crust recipe
is super important whether you're making a baked pie
or a no-bake pie because it tastes so much better
than the one from the store,
and it's really, really easy to make
with ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen.
This recipe is a blank canvas.
You can fill it with any kind of pie filling that you want.
For more delicious desserts and easy recipes,
be sure to subscribe to my channel.
Now let's get in the kitchen.
Now a graham cracker crust starts
with graham crackers, you guessed it.
And you can start with either crumbs
or whole sheets of graham crackers.
So, I'm going to take some of the guesswork out of it for you.
The recipe calls for one and a half cups
of graham cracker crumbs.
Now you can just measure out graham cracker crumbs
from the box, that's totally fine,
or you can crush your own if you have a box
of graham crackers in your pantry.
Now if you're wondering how many graham crackers you need
to make one and a half cups of crumbs,
don't worry, I did all that math for you.
So nine sheets of graham cracker,
which is one of these little blocks
that come in a box of graham crackers,
is one and a half cups.
So, again, nine of these sheets of graham crackers
equals one and a half cups of crumbs.
So you can start with crumbs,
or you can start with whole graham crackers
and crush them yourself.
To crush your graham crackers,
you also have choices.
My favorite way to do it is in a food processor
'cause it gets them nice and fine.
But if you don't have a food processor
or you don't want to have any dishes to clean up,
you can pop them into a Ziploc bag
and roll them with a rolling pin.
Just be sure to leave a little bit of space
when you seal up the bag
for air to escape while you're rolling.
However you've crushed them,
make sure you have one and a half cups of crumbs,
and now we're going to make our crust.
To assemble the crust, simply melt seven tablespoons
of unsalted butter, and then you're going to add
your graham cracker crumbs, along with one quarter
of a cup of packed brown sugar
and a half a teaspoon of cinnamon.
Now the cinnamon is optional.
I just love the flavor that it adds,
and I know a lot of graham cracker crust recipes
call for granulated or white sugar,
but I love the brown sugar
because I feel like it adds a nice richness to the crust.
Just stir that together with a fork.
I like using a fork because I feel like
it gets it a little bit smoother and sandier
than if I was to use it with a spoon.
Once your crumbs are all mixed together
and kind of sandy looking,
it's time to press it into your pie plate.
I'm using a nine inch pie plate for this recipe.
That's the best size, not deep dish,
just a regular nine inch pie plate.
Go ahead and toss your crumbs into the pie plate,
and then either use your hands,
or you can use a glass to press them into the bottom
and up the sides of the crust.
Now at this point, I'm usually making this crust
when I use a no-bake pie, so at this point,
I'm going to pop it in the refrigerator
and let it sit while I make whatever filling
that I'm going to fill the pie with.
If you want a crunchier pie crust
for your no-bake filling, you can bake this
in the oven for probably eight to 10 minutes
to make it nice and crunchy.
Otherwise, don't even worry about it.
Just leave it as a no-bake.
And that's it.
You have graham cracker crust.
It's so easy to make your own,
and again, it's a blank canvas
for so many different pie fillings
or different pie recipes.
You can fill this with whatever your heart desires.
Make sure and leave me a comment
and let me know what you'd fill it with.
Some of my favorites, I like using pudding
or no-bake cheesecake.
I've put fluff salad in there.
My favorite one is to add chocolate ganache
and toasted marshmallows on top.
So many different choices or options
for pie fillings for this pie.
Again, leave me a comment and let me know
what your favorite pie is to fill a graham cracker crust.
Keep watching for more pie recipes.
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