Perfect No-Bake Vegan Graham Cracker Crust

This is a go to recipe for homemade no bake graham cracker crust for baked pies and no baked pies. This vegan graham cracker crust is made from scratch and will be the best graham cracker crust ever made. This vegan graham cracker crust can be used for no-bake pies or you can bake it first. It holds together well and is not very crumbly making it perfect for pies and cheesecakes.

Graham cracker crust is an important ingredient in baking and this crust can be used in many different ways for pies, tarts, cheesecakes and parfaits. The flavors of this graham cracker crust are nicely balanced and are quite easy to make. Many pies can be made to pair with a graham cracker flavor because of its versatility. Due to its versatility, you can fill it with creamy S’Mores chocolate pudding or an easy blueberry lemon dessert filling.

Graham cracker crusts can be purchased from a store too and are easily available at the baking section. All you have to do is open the pack and pour in your filling, it’s that simple. These readymade graham crackers are good and there is no harm in using them for baking, but it’s always nice to make them from scratch and the best part is that you can control the quality and quantity of each ingredients. If you know how to make it, you can make them as and when needed and store them. Homemade graham cracker crusts are always better than the readymade stale crusts.

For anyone who loves baking at home should know how to make a Graham cracker crust at home and mastering it is simple. Homemade graham cracker crusts are crunchy and buttery at the same time. You can use this crust to make recipes that calls for baking the crust or you can use it as no-bake. The pie crust is good in both ways, you can bake it if you like it or just use as a filling, either way it is good.

So let’s get started with the recipe. There are a few ingredients that go into making this perfect graham cracker crust. So let’s begin the process.

You will need graham crackers obviously. There are two different options here, either whole or crumbs. One option is cheaper and the other is easier. The choice is yours. For both the crusts that are made here, generic graham cracker and keebler graham cracker crumbs have been used.

Tips to using Graham crackers for the best Graham cracker crust

• You will need 3 full graham cracker sheets which are approximately ½ cup graham cracker crumbs.
• Incase if you are using the whole graham crackers, crush the crackers in a food processor and in a plastic bag using a rolling pin. Use your favorite graham cracker or crumbs and crush them and that’s the easiest way.
• Now, let’s discuss about the ingredients and the quantity. According to the instructions on the box of Keebler Graham Cracker Crumbs use 1 ¼ cups of crumbs to 1/3 cup melted butter. Use this recipe for the base and change it according to your needs.
• If you want the crusts to be thick, then change the amount of crumbs from 1 ¼ cups to 1 ½ cups. This means you will have to adjust the quantity of butter too. The trick to any crust is the amount of fat you use compared to the other ingredients. This is true for a cracker crust or a cookie because butter is used as a binding agent. This trick is even more applicable for no-bake crusts. If you add too much butter, then the crust will become greasy, and too little will make the crust fall apart. Here, I have increased the amount of butter to 7 tablespoon (melted).
• Almost 99% recipes use granulated sugar and it’s completely fine, but here we have used brown sugar, which is a healthier alternative to the refined sugar and because of that the graham crackers have come out brown sugary. Here, in this recipe we have used unsalted butter, so you will have to add some salt and some cinnamon. Cinnamon has a very nice natural flavor that improves the taste of anything. But, if you hate the cinnamon flavor you can skip it.
• The next step would be mixing and it is easy to mix your own crust without the need of a food processor or a mixer. Use a fork to mix the crumbs well and it does the job effectively. Mix well again when adding the butter, which makes it more crumbly. After adding the butter, the crumbs look like this.
• The texture should resemble coarse sand. Now, pour this mix into a 9 inch pie plate, which is a standard size.
• Compacting of the crumbs is the next important step in making a graham cracker crust now. If you are not baking it, then you need to really compact it well and the bottom of a glass can be used on a pie plate to achieve this. Press it nicely for better results. For the sides, it is better to use your fingers and try to make it even as much as possible.

Once the Graham cracker crust is done you have two options:

• Chill the crust for about an hour before filling with the no-bake filling. Chill the crust according to the recipe and then cut and serve. The crust remains semi-crunchy and sweet. It may crumble a little more on cutting compared to the baked version, but will hold together nicely.
• Bake the crust for 10 minutes at 325 degree F. Allow it to cool completely and then fill and chill according to the instructions. A baked graham cracker crust will be crunchier and will be less crumbly, but you have to use the oven.
• This is the third version, which is not tested, but you can use this for a baked pie, which is a combination of the option 1 and 2 above. Chill the pressed crust while preparing the filling, then fill and bake according to the directions in the recipe.Whichever way you make, the home made graham cracker crust is the best base for your pie. It is easy to make and comes together in few minutes and tastes better than the readymade ones.
  

How to make a good graham cracker crust

• Use butter for good results. Do not use butter substitutes or oil as it will cause the recipe to be oily.

• 3 graham cracker sheets = ½ cups crumbs.

• When this pie is made for a no bake pie it can be hard to cut the first piece after that it will come out easily.

• Use any kind of filling for this pie, like the peanut butter, coconut cream, lemon or banana

You will enjoy making your homemade no-bake graham cracker crust at home as it is fun and really good to taste. The Graham cracker crust is the base for so many lovely and delicious desserts that it is really important to have a solid recipe for this dessert staple at your disposal.

YOU MAY LIKE THESE…

• BAKED BANANA CHEESECAKE
• BAKED VEGAN CHEESECAKE TOFU RECIPE
• 7 INGREDIENTS VEGAN CHEESECAKES
• NO-BAKE CHOCOLATE VEGAN CHEESECAKES