kattitudes

With the holidays quickly approaching, there are oh so many more opportunities for a bake-and-take as I like to call them. And as part of that, it’s time for pies pies pies.

Do not buy artificial pie crusts. Please. They are full of plastic and artificial preservatives. Plus, they are expensive and it’s just insane to spend that kind of cash during a time when the budget is so darned tight anyway.

I know that all the big personalities in the foodie worlds are pushing people to learn to bake normal pie crusts, but the truth of the matter is that I’m just not sold on those. I’ve never been a pie crust person. I like the *inside* of pies just fine! I guess I’m more a custard and pudding type. So when I make a pie, I don’t bother with the regular pie crust. I try for the good flavorful ones like cream cheese crusts, gingerbread crusts, chocolate crusts and the like.

So to get you ready for pie season (the American holiday Thanksgiving is literally in a few short weeks, can you believe it?), I am going to post just a few of my regular crust recipes:

Gingersnap Crust

1/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cup gingersnap cookies, finely crushed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter, and blend in cookie crumbs until well mixed. Press into an 8-inch pie plate and bake for about 7 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

Graham Cracker Crust

1 1/2 cups graham crackers
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted unsalted butter

In a food processor, combine graham crackers with sugar and butter and blend to the texture of coarse meal. Press into a 9 or 10 inch pie pan. Bake for (8 to 10 minutes at 375 degrees) until golden brown.

Chocolate Wafer Crust

1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter, and blend in cookie crumbs until well mixed. Press into an 8-inch pie plate and bake for about 5 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

Spiced Pecan Crust

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a medium bowl, mix together flour, pecans, sugar and cinnamon. Stir in butter until well blended. Pat mixture into a lightly greased 9 inch pie pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 4:02 am and is filed under Recipes, Thanksgiving, desserts, holiday cooking, kitchen gifts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.