A super simple Gluten Free crushed cookie pie crust that is also top 8 allergen, dairy and egg free, along with vegan. Takes no time to make.
Jump to:
- Why Choose a Cookie Pie Crust Over a Traditional Flaky Pastry?
- What Kinds of Cookies Work Best?
- How Do We Turn Cookie Gold into Cookie Gold Dust?
- How Can the Gluten Free Pie Crust Be Made Quicker?
- Crushed Cookie Pie Crust Ingredients:
- The Individual Recipes For the Cookies Can Be Found Here:
- Adaptations of This Recipe For Gluten Free Pie Crust
- How to Reheat and Store Cookie Pie Crust
- What To Serve With Gluten Free Cookie Pie Crust
- Other Recipes You May Enjoy
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
Why Choose a Cookie Pie Crust Over a Traditional Flaky Pastry?
Flaky pastry with as many restrictions as we have can be near impossible. They also take a lot of time and work. Here is a picture of when I tried one of many safe for us pastry recipes.
These tarts were an amazing flop. The dough though barely handled nearly chipped my tooth. This was when I gave us trying to find the perfect top 8 free crust.
Pie crusts when you are avoiding as many allergens as we are can be really tough.I mean both figuratively and literally! We have tried so many recipes for the perfect gluten free vegan crust. Unfortunately, not one gave us that flaky pastry dough we expected. Instead of spending hours on a pie that was disappointing because the crust was either so tough it could chip teeth or sandy it fell apart, we pivoted. I always loved graham cracker crusts when I was a kid and why couldn’t I as an adult use them on all my sweet pies? That is how the crushed cookie pie crust came to be our go to pie base.
I wouldn’t use it on a meat pie, for that we are still endeavouring to find the perfect recipe but for dessert pies they are perfect. They also work for vegan cheesecakes, and mousse cakes, or as a base for a layered pudding.
What Kinds of Cookies Work Best?
Our favourites are made from one of three bases but if you have safe homemade or store bought cookies that are more of a biscuit than a cookie they will work. If they are fresh they may need to be left out for 48 hours to go stale so they can be crushed. We use our gingerbread cookie, our pizzelle cookies, or gluten free and allergen safe pretzels.
Ideally a cookie that snaps is the best. They crush well and firm up perfectly so they aren't soggy when filled with a curd or pudding filling.
How Do We Turn Cookie Gold into Cookie Gold Dust?
Crushing the cookies is the fun part. You can either put them in a sealed freezer bag (the thick ones) and bash with a meat tenderising mallet or pop them in your food processor to get the crumbs. Make sure they are medium fine crushed with all big bits gone. If your processor is having issues we sift the chunks out with a fine mesh sieve and reprocess the chunks. We get the kids to do the cookie smashing!
How Can the Gluten Free Pie Crust Be Made Quicker?
When we know we need a pie crust at the end of the week, we will make an extra portion of cookies and leave them out uncovered to harden and make a better less soggy pie crust. If you do not have days or the time to make the cookies here are a few time saving tips:
- Make extra cookies when you bake. Freeze the crumbs or whole cookies for unexpected pies.The recipe is really quick to put together if you have cookies already made.
- Use store bought allergen friendly cookies. Enjoy Life Foods makes great top 14 allergen free cookies and they can be used here, too. Made Good Foods also makes packaged top allergen free cookies. The Made Good Foods ones tend to be really soft and they do not have a hard cookie option. The hard cookies work best over the soft cookies for this dairy free gluten free pie crust.
- Bake the crushed cookies. This time saving technique will take about 3-5 mins to dry them out in the oven. Crush the cookies, spread them out in a layer on a cookie sheet, and pop them in the oven until dried a bit. Keep a close eye on them so they do not burn. The oven should be no hotter than 325F.
- Use a food processor to crush the cookies. This is a huge time and arm saver. While bashing the cookies in a sealed plastic baggie is immensely fun it is energy draining. Using a food processor will increase how many cookies can be crushed at once and how quickly they are pulverised.
Crushed Cookie Pie Crust Ingredients:
Dairy free butter replacement: We use either the tub spread or butter replacement sticks. Coconut oil is also great in this recipe, if you can use it. Melt the replacement either on the stove top or in the microwave.
Crushed cookies: pre-made or store bought cookies are also an option if you can use other kinds like gluten free oreos (they have soy so we can’t use them) or GF graham crackers ( the ones here have egg so do double check)
The Individual Recipes For the Cookies Can Be Found Here:
Pretzels used here are these ones from Glutino. Check that they are safe for you, too.
Don't limit yourself to these cookies. Shortbread cookies, graham cracker, or chocolate chip cookies can all be used in this recipe for gluten free pie crust. A cracker based crust would work well in an egg free quiche recipe or another savoury pie. The only real limit is the imagination for flavours on the crust.
Adaptations of This Recipe For Gluten Free Pie Crust
The biggest adapation is to not make a pie at all. The crushed cookies are fantastic as a pudding base, like a three layer pudding cup. They make up the crunchy layer in an ice cream cake.
A crunchy dessert topping can be made from this recipe. Use the cookies that have been crushed, Mix with the melted vegan butter and baked on a cookie sheet. Chunk up the mix and sprinkle on puddings, triffles, tiramisu.
How to Reheat and Store Cookie Pie Crust
Storage
-Fridge
In a pie dish and covered with plastic wrap the pie crust will keep for 3 days, unfilled. If the pie has been filled it will keep firm for 48 hours.
-Freezer
Wrapped well and stored in the pie dish to keep the form the cookie pie crust can be frozen. It will keep for 2 months in the freezer unfilled. If it has been filled please check the filling recipe before freezing as not all fillings are suitable for freezing.
Reheating
No reheating is needed but before serving the pie let the crust thaw. The crust can be filled whilst frozen, if desired.
What To Serve With Gluten Free Cookie Pie Crust
The pie can have any filling you'd like. It can hold up well to pudding pies like our Chocolate Mint Pudding Pie or a glazed blueberry or strawberry filling. In the late winter/early spring an allergen safe grapefruit curd or a key lime pie usually is on the dessert menu in our home.
You may have guessed by now that we always serve our desserts with a good cup of coffee or tea in our home. They are the best with this crust, too.
Other Recipes You May Enjoy
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 320 g crushed hard cookies try our gingerbread cookie or pizzelle recipes
- 6 TBSPs butter replacement spread.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to Bake 350°F
- Place cookies in a large zipped freezer bag. Crush the cookies with the flat side of a meat tenderising mallet until uniformly well crushed. Alternatively they can be crushed in a food processor to save time.
- Transfer to a medium bowl.
- Melt the butter like spread in the microwave until it is just melted.
- Add melted non dairy spread to the crushed cookies and stir well with a spoon until mixed thoroughly.
- Pour the mix into a greased 8- inch pie tin and press the mix into all the corners and up the sides to form a crust. Press down hard on the crust with your knuckles all over.
- Place the pie crust on a cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 mins. Check towards the end to make sure it doesn’t brown too much. If it does, remove from the oven.
- Cool on a cooling rack in the pie tin off the baking sheet. Fill with desired pie filling once cooled and follow the instructions for the filling.
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