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Crumb Crust

About Crumb Crusts

 

These crusts, mixed and patted into the pan, are a pie-making short-cut. Graham crackers are the traditional base, but chocolate and vanilla wafers, gingersnaps, zwieback, animal crackers, speculoos, and biscotti also make wonderful crumbs for crusts. If you are starting with whole crackers or cookies, grind them in a food processor or put them in a sturdy plastic bag and pulverize them with a rolling pin until fine. After mixing the crumbs with butter and sugar as directed, press the mixture evenly into the bottom and up the sides of a pie pan, using the bottom of a drinking glass to help, if desired. To bake an unfilled crumb crust, preheat the oven to 350°F and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool the baked shell before filling.

 

Crumb Crust

One 9- or 10-inch crust plus topping

 

The flavor of the filling should determine which cracker or cookie to crumble.

Put in a medium bowl, reserving a tablespoon or two for topping, if desired:

1 ½ cups (215g) fine graham cracker, vanilla water, chocolate wafer, or gingersnap crumbs

Add and stir until well blended:

¼ to ½ cup (50 to 100g) sugar, depending on sweetness of the cookies

6 tablespoons (3 oz or 85g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

(1 teaspoon ground cinnamon)

To shape the shell and bake, see About Crumb Crusts above. When the pie is filled, scatter reserved crumbs as a topping.

A New Generation of JOY

 

In the nearly ninety years since Irma Rombauer self-published the first Joy of Cooking, it has become the kitchen bible, with more than 20 million copies in print. This new edition of Joy has been thoroughly revised and expanded by Irma’s great-grandson John Becker and his wife, Megan Scott. They developed more than six hundred new recipes for this edition, tested and tweaked thousands of classic recipes, and updated every section of every chapter to reflect the latest ingredients and techniques available to today’s home cooks. Their strategy for revising this edition was the same one Irma and Marion employed: Vet, research, and improve Joy’s coverage of legacy recipes while introducing new dishes, modern cooking techniques, and comprehensive information on ingredients now available at farmers’ markets and grocery stores. Joy is and has been the essential and trusted guide for home cooks for almost a century. This new edition continues that legacy.