Pretzel Pie Crust
I get it. Some people have an aversion to making pie crusts. They’re worried about which fat to use; some recipes insist on butter for flavor, others advocate vegetable shortening as the key to success, and lard has its fans. Then there are the processes of rolling out the dough, and baking it, that makes people pause when they want to make pie.
I understand all these things (and for the record, my preference is always butter), but and it’s nice to have a crust that you can transfer into a pie plate or pin, press it in with your hands (no rolling!), and fill with whatever kind of filling that you want, including chocolate, lemon, pecan-chocolate, pecan-ginger, or the one shown here – salted honey pie.
This pretzel-based crust is also easily adaptable to gluten-free diets by swapping out regular pretzels with gluten-free pretzels, so there’s no excuse not to make it.
Pretzel Pie Crust
- 1 1/4 cups (140g) pretzel crumbs
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 6 tablespoons (85g) melted unsalted butter, plus additional butter for preparing the pan
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF (175ºC). Lightly butter a pie plate or pan with butter.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the pretzel crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until the crumbs are saturated with the butter and everything is moistened and evenly mixed.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared pie plate or pan and use the heel of your hand to press the crust mixture across the bottom of the pans and up the sides.
- Bake the crust for 8 to 10 minutes, until it's slightly golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack.