Published February 1, 2005. Web Exclusive.
Can store-bought graham cracker pie crusts hold a candle to homemade?
Saving time is always a good idea—just as long as you’re not sacrificing quality. With this in mind, we thought we’d see if store-bought graham cracker pie crusts were worth their weight in pie tins. All you have to do is fill, chill, then serve. We sampled three such and unanimously rejected all of them. Tasters described them as pale in color, with a “chalky,” “sandy” texture, and “bland,” “artificial” flavor. This could be attributed to the fact that all are made with vegetable shortening (already present in the graham cracker itself, but in much less quantity).
After this test, it was obvious to us that adding real butter to ground graham crackers was the best way to get a good-flavored crust and was well worth the few extra minutes. But are all graham crackers the same?
After experimenting with the three leading brands, we discovered subtle but distinct differences between them and found that these differences carried over into crumb crusts made with each kind of cracker. Tasters liked the hardy molasses flavor in our favorite crackers. The two other brands tested both use honey and yielded crusts that were on the sweet side. We did find that packaged graham cracker crumbs are an acceptable substitute to making your own (they don’t have the off flavors we found in premade crusts), but we could not find them made with our favorite brand of whole graham crackers.
