Gingersnap Pie Crust
This Gingersnap Pie Crust recipe is so quick and easy to make and a tasty alternative to a graham cracker crust. The spicy, ginger flavor makes this a perfect crust for holiday pies, cheesecake, and no bake desserts.
This cookie-bases crust packs a ton of flavor and compliments pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pies and all those tasty fall desserts. Try it with Sweet Potato pie!
I like this gingersnap crust for my No bake Layered Pumpkin Pie , Pumpkin Cheesecake Tarts, as well as my Tall and Creamy New York Cheesecake.
Ready in under 15 minutes, this gingersnap crust uses only 3 ingredients! Simply grind gingersnap cookies into crumbs, add brown sugar and some melted butter. There is no need to add any extra spices as the gingersnaps have all the warm flavors of ginger, cinnamon, and cloves in them.
How to make this gingersnap cookie crust recipe
- Place the cookies into a food processor and pulse until the cookies are broken down into fine crumbs. The crumbs should be about the same consistency as graham crumbs or chocolate cookie crumbs.
- Add the brown sugar and combine.
- Next mix in the melted butter. So easy!
- Using your hands or the bottom of a glass press the crumb mixture into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate or a 10-inch pie pan.
- Preheat oven to 350º F and bake for 5-6 minutes.
What if you do not have a food processor or blender?
Place the cookies into a heavy plastic bag and crush into crumbs with a rolling pin.
What kind of gingersnap cookies to use?
For this recipe I recommend store bought gingersnaps. They are crisp and crunchy and grind into crumbs much better than homemade gingersnaps. Homemade gingersnap cookies tend to be too soft and buttery and don’t work well in this recipe.
This post was originally published October 23, 2015. Occasionally I update with fresh tips, content and photos. Current update November 1, 2023.
Gingersnap Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 1 box gingersnap cookies (10 oz/300 g before ground) approximately 30-40 cookies
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 6 tablespoons melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F
- Using a food processor on pulse mode, grind the gingersnaps into fine crumbs.
- Add in the brown sugar and combine.
- Add the melted butter and blend until the crumb mixture is fully combined.
- Press firmly into sides and bottom of 9 inch deep dish pie dish or 10-inch pie dish.
- Bake at 350º F for 5-6 minutes.
Nutrition
Thank you Zoom, I love anything gingerbread, gingersnap as well.
Use this for a butterscotch pie! It’s deeelicious!
that does sound delicious Katie
I made this last night with lemon snaps crust instead of a ginger snaps crust, since I was making a Meyer Lemon pie. Meyer lemons are so sweet and juicy you don’t taste the extra lemon flavor that the crust added. I was tempted to use lemon extract but went with the vanilla as the recipe suggested. Sometimes too much is enough!!! The pie and the snaps crust were great.
I want to make a pumpkin pie with ginger snap pie crust. Do I still need to do a 5 minute bake before I fill and bake? Thank you so much.
I have only made this pie crust for my no bake pumpkin pie, but I would not prebake it.
I tried this and it was way too much crust for one pie. Did you mean to measure the Gingersnaps before you crushed them?
yes Martha measure before you crushed them, should only be about 40 cookies
Totally impractical to measure the cookies before baking because different brands are different sizes and 40 cookies in one brand can grind down to a much larger quantity than another. Also small cookies will fit differently into a measuring cup, fewer voids, than larger ones — same can be said for flatter v rounder crowned. Either provide a crum measurement or go by weight for accuracy.
Good point Sharona, I have adjusted the recipe to reflect you need 10 oz of cookies (before ground)
To this point on quantity of ginger snaps. I err on adding a few more for fear of not having enough for two deep dish pies, yet stick to the quantities on brown sugar and melted butter. Should I worry about the crust holding together enough once I have placed the chiffon pumpkin filling and chilled overnight?
Hi Drew, are you filling the crust with a no-bake pumpkin filling or baking it. Did you bake the pie crust as per recipe. I’m thinking as long as you didn’t add a lot more cookies the crust should be fine.
I made this and it was the first crust that I’ve ever made that didn’t fall apart!!! Delicious, thank you!
thank you Zoe!
Do you use salted or unsalted butter with the store bought gingersnaps to make a cheesecake pie crust? There is no additional salt added only whatever salt is in the creamcheese.
Hi Suzie, I have never found a big difference, so I use what ever I have on hand, which is usually salted.