Graham Cracker Crust

👩‍🌾~2.45 USD for bottom and sides of 8"–10" pie plate
• bottom only of 11" springform or 8"×8"/9"×9" pan
👩‍🌾double for 1/4 sheet pan (9"×13")
👩‍🌾quadruple for 1/2 sheet (13"×18")
🎓total recipe weighs 320g, in case you want to divide evenly among dishes

{I ♥️ this for Magic Cookie Bars}

✅ what you’ll need to have:

⏳ time

• prep: 10 minutes
• cook: 10 minutes 🎓for no-bake desserts, another option is to freeze (at least 2hrs and up to 3mo) instead of bake before filling; it will hold together similarly but will be missing some flavor development
• cool: 10 minutes (increase by about an hour if freezing after)

🧾 ingredients

⇓ volume in US cups and spoons; weight in grams

• 6tbs; 85g salted butter (or unsalted + a pinch of salt) – salt is just to balance the sweetness in dessert; omitting will not affect structure
• 2tbs; 25g granulated sugar (this caramelizes when baked, helping the crust maintain firm texture) or brown sugar and then skip molasses
• 1tsp; 7g unsulphured molasses (ok to omit, but #thatflavortho)
• 1¹/₂c; 170g graham cracker crumbs (alternatives include pulverized: digestive biscuits, ginger snaps, waffle cones, corn flakes, animal crackers, pretzels, vanilla wafers, or a combination of these ⚠️for Oreo® crust, use only melted butter, salt, and crushed sandwich cookies – do not add anything else) 🎓for a chocolatey version, substitute 2tbs of the crumbs with cocoa powder

🔌 equipment

• conventional oven (or maybe convection, but I’ve never tried)
• baking vessel – sizes outlined above
• 2qt+ saucepan or microwave safe bowl and coordinating heat source (see direction #3)
• spoonula
• optional cup to assist in firmly packing crust into pan (see step 7)
• oven mitt and cooling rack

📄 what you’ll need to do:

1. preheat oven to 350°F 
2. Use some of the butter to grease pan (I swipe a piece all over inside with a bit of the wrapper)
3. Melt remaining butter with sugar and molasses one of the following two ways:
   • Microwave: heat 30 seconds and stir, then mic an additional 30sec. and stir again until mixture turns from separated and oily to thick and toffee-ish (~1min)
   • stove/hotplate: stir over medium heat until homogeneous (~4min)
4. stir in crumbs until texture resembles wet sand (if you squeeze a clump in your hand, it should hold it’s shape – you’d be able to make a great castle with this stuff if it weren’t way too delicious to waste)
5. scrape into greased pan
6. firmly press into even layer along bottom of pan—or bottom and sides of pie plate—using hands and/or measuring cup, drinking glass, etc
7. bake 10–12 min, checking at 10 and only letting it stay in the oven another two if need be – will develop a toastier color/fragrance and look a bit soft/bubbly, but should set up while cooling
8. optional: CAREFULLY press down a little to make more room for filling
9. cool on rack at least 10 min before filling or refrigerating (up to 1wk), or cool completely before freezing (to be eaten within 3mo)

✨gratitude to Monroe Boston Strause (and his mom) for inspiration✨