Oct 27 2009
Pat in the Pan Pie Crust – Graham Cracker Pie Crust Substitute – recipe
Now that my baby is sleeping through the night (yes – I have taught our 9 week old baby to sleep 12 hours through the night!!!), I am trying to use my “free” time now to blog more often now (it took me 3 days to finish writing this post!!).
On to the pie crust…
This is a recipe for a no-fail pie crust. There is no rolling involved and no tearing and no fuss. It’s can be made up in a few minutes (under 5!) and bakes-up into a nice crispy crust in 8 minutes. So, in roughly 13 minutes you have a finished pie crust ready to fill. It goes great with traditional pies like pumpkin and pecan pies as well as with fruit tarts, cheese cakes, and quiches (minus the cinnamon and vanilla). I recently tried this with a pumpkin cheese cake and it tasted fabulous.
Please note, this is not as intense as a graham cracker crust, but, in my opinion, tastier…since I’m not a fan of graham crackers.
Ingredients:
3 Cups Flour
4 Tablespoons Fructose (or Sugar)
2 teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1 Cup of Vegetable Oil (I used corn oil; also recommended: sunflower, rasp seed, or canola oil)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
3 Tablespoons + 3 teaspoons (or 1/4 Cup minus 1 teaspoon) Milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 176°C (350°F).
In a medium bowl quickly whisk by hand the flour, fructose, salt, and cinnamon – the whisking will remove any clumps and is cleaner and quicker than sifting. Add to that the oil, vanilla extract and milk and mix with a spoon until it becomes to difficult to maneuver, and then use your hand. Shape into a ball and place in any 9-inch baking dish you wish to use (for the fruit tart I recommend a tart pan or a spring form).
Pat the dough around the dish you wish to use so that the center is deeper than the edges by almost 1 inch (3,5cm). I find working from the center out by pressing with my hand works well. And, if you find a place without dough, tear off a piece from the edge and pat it in place.
Bake in oven or toaster oven (more environmentally friendly) for about 8 minutes, remove from oven and cool before filling. It can also be re-baked with the filling, but make sure to cover the edges with a pie ring cover or aluminum foil to keep it from burning.
The pie shell can also be filled before baking so that the shell and pie filling cook together. It’s not as crunchy though.
Happy homemade baking!
WOW! Sounds like my kind of pie crust. Nice and easy.
Thanks!
[...] instead of using the traditional pie crust, I used the pat-in-the-pan pie crust I blogged about the other day (minus the fructose, cinnamon, and vanilla [...]
Hi! I just wanted to say that this recipe is really cool! I’ve been trying to find a Graham Cracker Pie Crust Substitute because my son is allergic to soybeans, and I haven’t found any pie crusts or even graham crackers that don’t list soybeans as an ingredient. Thank you so much! =D
Hi Amanda,
I know how frustrating it can be with allergies and trying to find substitutes! I’m glad I could be of help and hope the recipe works well for you!
[...] with loads of recipes so I was really spoilt for choice. When I came across her recipe for Pat in the Pan Pie Crust it just looked so much easier and quicker than normal pastry that I really wanted to make it and I [...]