Graham cracker crust is a style of

pie crust Shortcrust is a type of pastry often used for the base of a tart, quiche, pie, or (in the British English sense) flan. Shortcrust pastry can be used to make both sweet and savory pies such as apple pie, quiche, lemon meringue or chicken pie. ...

made from crushed

graham cracker A graham cracker (pronounced or in America) is a sweet flavored cracker made with graham flour that originated in the United States in the mid-19th century, with commercial development from about 1880. It is eaten as a snack food, usually h ...

s. Graham crackers are a sweet American cracker made from unbleached, whole wheat

graham flour Graham flour is a type of coarse-ground flour of whole wheat named after Sylvester Graham. It is similar to conventional whole-wheat flour in that both are made from the whole grain, but graham flour is ground more coarsely. It is not sifted ...

. The crust is usually flavored and stiffened with

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

vegetable oil Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of edible plants. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed ...

and sometimes

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

. Graham cracker crust is a very common type of crust for

cheesecake Cheesecake is a dessert made with a soft fresh cheese (typically cottage cheese, cream cheese, quark or ricotta), eggs, and sugar. It may have a crust or base made from crushed cookies (or digestive biscuits), graham crackers, pastry, ...

s and

cream pie A cream pie, crème pie, or creme pie is a type of pie filled with a rich custard or pudding that is made from milk, cream, sugar, wheat flour, and Egg (food), eggs and typically topped with whipped cream. Cream pies are usually what is used for ...

s in America. Graham cracker pie crusts are available as a

mass-produced Mass production, also known as mass production, series production, series manufacture, or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. ...

product in the United States, and typically consist of the prepared crust pressed into a disposable aluminum pie pan. Variations use crushed cookies or Nilla wafers as substitutes for the graham crackers. Graham cracker crusts may be baked or unbaked before filling.

Origin

The invention of the graham cracker crust is credited to

Monroe Boston Strause Monroe Boston Strause was an American piemaker whose innovations included graham-cracker crust, chiffon pie, and Black bottom pie, black-bottom pie. He was a "pie celebrity" whose name was "a household word." Strause was born in 1900 in Los Angeles ...

, who was known as the Pie King and also invented the

chiffon pie A chiffon pie is a type of pie that consists of a special type of airy filling in a crust. The filling is typically produced by folding meringue into a mixture resembling fruit curd (most commonly lemon) that has been thickened with unflavored g ...

.Perry, Charles.
The Pie King.
Los Angeles ''Times'' January 9, 1997. Retrieved July 8, 2015. Chocolate cream pie

References

Pies Food ingredients {{ingredient-stub