Vanilla Cookie Crumb Crust
This excellent cookie crumb crust recipe, from Pie and Tarts by Kristina Petersen Migoya, works well for cream and custard pies. Nabisco Nilla wafers are the recommended cookie for this crust (see note 1).
Vanilla Cookie Crumb Crust
Yield: 1 9″ pie crust
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups (5.4 oz / 145 g) finely ground vanilla wafer cookie crumbs1
3 tbl (1.4 oz / 40 g) sugar
5 tbl (2 ½ oz / 71 g) butter, melted
Tools and equipment needed:
- Food processor with steel blade
- Pie dish, 9″ interior diameter, 1.25″ deep
Pre-recipe preparations:
- Break up the cookies, place in the food processor and process until finely ground crumbs.
Directions:
- Lightly butter a 9″ pie pan. Set aside.
- Combine the cookie crumbs and sugar in a medium mixing bowl.
- Add the melted butter and mix until crumb mixture is totally moistened.
- Press the crumbs evenly into the pie pan, pressing into the corners and up the sides.
- Refrigerate for at least one hour, or overnight.2
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F.
- Bake until lightly browned, between 10 to 12 minutes.
- Place on a cooling rack until room temperature.
Notes:
1 If using Nabisco Nilla wafers, each box weighs 11 oz, so you will get two crusts out of each box (if you don’t nibble on any cookies). I recommend grinding the entire box and saving half the crumbs in a Ziploc in the freezer for a future pie.
2 The crust may be frozen at this point, for up to three weeks. If using metal pan, bake directly from the freezer. If using Pyrex pie pan, allow the pan to sit on the counter until just cold, to eliminate the chance of the pan cracking from the sudden temperature change.