Use Your Leftover Sleeve Of Crackers To Boost The Texture Of Pie Crust

A graham cracker crust can be the perfect addition to a pie recipe. Whether you're making a classic like cheesecake, or something with a bit more zip to it like a key lime pie, cracker crusts are a wonderful alternative to baking a pie crust with dough. While pie dough can be made with enough butter to make it light and flakey, dough-based crusts tend to be a bit denser. While a cracker crust has a pleasant crisp-yet-crumbly texture that's very enjoyable with creamy pies or custard-based pies.

Did you know, however, that graham crackers are not the only crackers you can use to make a pie crust? If you have a sleeve of crackers in the back of your pantry threatening to go stale, or too many crackers after making a cheese and charcuterie platter for a dinner party, you can use these overlooked crackers to boost your existing cracker pie crust. Here's how.

A simple graham cracker crust is made by crushing graham crackers in the food processor and then mixing them with melted butter and often sugar to give them their desired texture. Once the pulverized crackers are mixed with the melted butter and sugar, you form your crust in your pie dish and bake it for a short amount of time. This enables it to be set before you add your filling. While graham crackers have great flavor, they're not exactly known for being light and airy, but guess what is? Crackers like soda crackers, saltines, and Ritz crackers. 

If you simply love using graham crackers for your pie crust but want to add a lighter texture, try adding a few saltines, soda crackers, or Ritz crackers to the food processor to change up the texture. Or if you're ready to try something entirely new, try baking a pie crust made with only soda crackers, saltines, or Ritz crackers. Their salty flavor and light texture can be a really nice contrast to your pie filling and give it a nice sweet and savory flavor. The fun of baking is that once you get the chemistry right your creativity can run the show. Before you toss leftover crackers out consider giving them a second life in a sweet and delicious pie.