Graham cracker crust is the perfect partner to cream pies, but it can be annoyingly crumbly and messy. This is certainly not always an issue because crumbly graham crackers crusts are sometimes the tastiest, but I do love it when they hold together well, which got me thinking about rolled graham cracker crusts. That is, instead of crushing graham crackers, you just mix together a graham cracker flavored dough.
Ingredients in Rolled Graham Cracker Crust
It turns out Maida Heatter had been thinking about this too, because she came up with a recipe for a rolled graham cracker crust and shared the recipe in The Great Book of Chocolate Desserts. Maida's version is derived from her graham cracker recipe and calls for both white and whole wheat flour. It's more like a cut-out cookie dough than a pastry dough, with milk and honey to keep it soft enough to slice.
How to Make Rolled Graham Cracker Crust
This recipe makes enough dough for two 9-inch pies. Or barely, I should say! The two very thin circles of dough this recipe yields bake up into a more tender and sliceable crust. It's just tricky to work with. You have to transfer the thin circles to the pie plate and make it look neat. Because the circles are so thin, it's difficult to transfer them to the pie plate without breaking. My solution was to just let them break and patch back together. The baked crust wasn't very glamorous, but it worked perfectly for the pie.
What it Looks Like
Round Two
After following Maida's directions and making two full crusts out of the one recipe, I tried it again and use ¾ of the recipe for just 1 thicker crust. This made it much easier to roll, gave me plenty of dough to crimp, and baked into a thicker, puffier, crust.
As much as I love a good traditional graham cracker crumb crust, this one was a nice change. I like how neatly the crust slices and the fact I can just mix everything and roll. So far I've only tested this the all-purpose and wheat flour combo, and 100% all-purpose, no wheat. The version with 100% all-purpose didn't work well, as the bottom became very soggy in a matter of hours. The crust needs the absorption power of the whole wheat.
Next, I plan on trying it with a simple brownie pie and incorporating marshmallows for some kind of S'mores theme.
Rolled Graham Cracker Pie Crust Ingredients
- Flour --A blend or regular all-purpose and whole wheat. Make sure to incorporate the whole wheat or else the crust might get soggy underneath the filling.
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Sugar -- granulated or pure can for a little more flavor
- Butter -- salted or unsalted, I used salted
- Honey -- Honey helps keep the crust soft enough to yield to a fork. Or at least after the filling has been in the pie for a while
- Whole Milk -- This keeps the dough from being too dry to work with and tenderizes it a bit as well
Recipe
Rolled Graham Cracker Pie Crust
Ingredients
- ½ cup sifted or weighed all-purpose flour (65 grams)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon ( adjust to taste)
- ⅛ teaspoon salt (use ¼ if your are using unsalted butter)
- 4 tablespoons butter, softened or soft margarine** (56 grams)
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar (55 grams)
- 2 tablespoons honey (40 grams)
- 4 tablespoon whole milk (56 grams)
- 1 cup unsifted whole wheat flour (125 grams)
Instructions
- Mix the first ½ cup (65 grams) flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Mix for at least 30 seconds to remove lumps and to make make sure everything is evenly blended.
- Beat the softened butter and brown sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat in the vanilla and honey. Add the white flour mixture and stir until blended, then stir in the milk. Gradually add the whole wheat flour, stirring until you have a dough.
- Divide mixture in half and shape into two balls. Press each into a round, wrap tightly and chill for several hours (I think this is to soften the wheat).
- Grease one or two shallow 9 inch pie tins. You can use butter, shortening or coconut oil or nonstick spray.
- Dust a pastry mat with flour. Take one round of dough and roll it into a 12 inch circle. This will be a very thin circle! Using flour on the mat is crucial.
- Using a pie lifter or bench scraper, carefully loosen the dough from the mat and transfer it to the pan. It very well might break. Just press it back in and shape it neatly. Alternatively, you can roll your circle out between two sheets of parchment paper, freeze the circle, peel away one sheet of parchment and invert it over the pie dish and press down.
- Chill the lined pie plate for about an hour. When ready to bake, dock it all over the bottom with a fork and bake at 350 for about 12 to 15 minutes. If it seems like it's browning too fast, you can reduce the heat to 325. Remove from oven and let cool before filling.
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