A Classic Graham Cracker Crust

August 14, 2025

A graham cracker crust is one of the most versatile pie crusts you can have in your baking/dessert tool box. You can use it with fillings that will need to be baked and fillings that don’t need to be baked. You can make it with graham crackers, oreos, biscoff, vanilla wafers… any crunchy cookie that you love can be transformed into a fabulous pie crust and this is why this recipe makes me happy.

Let’s get started…

Today, I am using graham crackers… Honey Maids cinnamon graham crackers to be exact. This is not a sponsored post, I just like these grahams better than other brands. Now like I said earlier, you can use many other crunchy cookies in this recipe without changing anything else, you’ll just need 2 cups of finely ground cookie.

For graham crackers, you will need 16 full graham crackers to get 2 cups, but for other types of cookies, you are going to have to play with it a little. I use a an 8 cup Cuisinart food processor and I usually fill it loosely about three quarters of the way with graham cracker halves, so I would shoot for this amount to start.

Grind the cookies up nice and fine and transfer them into a roomy bowl.

Add 1/3 cup of granulated sugar and 10 tablespoons of melted butter. I use salted butter, but you can use what you have on hand!

I also add a pinch of my favorite spice to this crust. Today, I am using cloves, but use something that will work well with the filling you are adding into your crust. I love cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom or psl… because, who doesn’t love pumpkin spice?

Mix the cookie crumbs, butter and sugar up very well, so everything is evenly distributed. You want to avoid little chunks of sugar or any dried crumbs in the mix, because this can prevent the crust from coming out in one piece later on.

Now we need to decide whether we are going to grease the vessel you are putting your crust in or not.

There are 2 schools of thought – since there is butter in the crust mixture, many people believe that the crust will not stick and sure, it should not stick, but I have had graham cracker crusts stick before and its annoying, so I very lightly mist my vessel with a good non-stick baking spray to ensure this crust will release clean.

This recipe is meant for an 11″ pie dish or cast iron skillet or a 9″ or 10″ deep springform pan.

Use a flat bottomed bowl or glass to firmly and evenly press the mixture all over the interior of your vessel.

Be sure to make the sides as thick as the bottom. This will help to maintain the shape of the slices later on and it can prevent fillings that are being baked from overcooking on the edges.

So, make those edges thick…

Now that the crust is in place, you have a few options…

- - Pre-baking: to pre-bake the crust, bake it uncovered in a 350 degree oven for 9-10 minutes and then let it cool before adding your filling.
  - Bake it with the filling: this crust does not need to be pre-baked, I just like to give the crust a little head start, but if you are short on time or don’t need the crust to be perfect (what is perfection anyways?) then go ahead and add your filling and bake everything at the same time.
  - No-bake: so, ya know when I said that this crust doesn’t technically need to be pre-baked? Well, the fact is, it doesn’t need to be baked at all! If you are using this crust for a no-bake filling and would prefer to not get your oven involved at all then you can chill the crust in your refrigerator or freezer for 30 minutes before adding the filling and things will turn out great this way too!

Whether you grease your vessel or not… pre-bake or not… use graham crackers, nilla wafers or something you baked up this morning, I hope you love this classic pie crust recipe as much as I do.

Cheers to pie my friends!

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