Easy Graham Cracker Pie Crust

We are a graham cracker pie crust family. There are two very good reasons for this:

1. I am afraid of making traditional pie crust and too cheap to buy premade pie crust.
2. We don't really love traditional pie crust... but we love the buttery goodness of a graham cracker pie crust!

The Mr loves pudding pies. And cheesecake. (We both do!) Pretty much any pie or any filling or any dessert-stuff can be put on a graham cracker crust and be marvelous. (Fruit pies may be an exception, but we don't really eat cooked fruit at our house either...)

My grandma made the most delicious no-bake cheesecake with divine graham cracker crust. I'll share the cheesecake recipe later, but here's Grandma's recipe for the best-ever graham cracker crust.

Grandma's Graham Cracker Crust
makes one 9x13 crust or one pie crust

What you'll need:

• 2 packages graham crackers (or appx 2 cups graham cracker crumbs)
• 8 Tbsp (1/2 cup) butter or margarine, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar

If you need more or less crust for different pan sizes, adjust the amount of crackers/crumbs to what you think you'll need and then adjust the butter so that you have 1 Tbsp for each 1/4 cup of crumbs. Err on the higher side, because once you add the butter, the game's over -- adding more graham cracker crumbs after that will make your crust unevenly textured... like mine in the photo above. :) The first round of graham crackers soak up the butter, so the second round stays dry. Still edible enough that your family won't notice the difference, but it doesn't look as good for sure!

What you'll do:

1. Place the graham crackers in a large ziploc bag and crush with a heavy can or a rolling pin.
   
   • This is my favorite part! An excellent ending to a frustrating day. :)
2. Place the graham cracker crumbs in a medium bowl.
3. Add sugar to crumbs and mix well.
4. Add the melted butter/margarine to the crumbs/sugar mixture.
5. Stir thoroughly with a fork.
   
   • The mixture should be well mixed but still a bit crumbly.
6. Place crumbs in your pan.
7. Press the crumbs firmly into place using your fingers, a measuring cup, or whatever other tool you deem necessary.
8. Bake at 350*F for 8-10 minutes or until the crust is just barely toasted.
   
   • For mini muffin or muffin-sized crusts, cut baking time to 6 minutes or less.
9. Cool crust completely before adding pie/cheesecake/yumminess filling.  

And now I'm going to tease tantalize you with this delicious cheesecake number... in three flavors... lemon... lime... raspberry... recipe next week... :)