Peanut Butter Cookie Pie Crust
A good pie crust can make all the difference.
It’s rare that we’d happen to have extra cookies around the house, especially one of our family favorites, peanut butter cookies, but when we do, or when they’re about to go stale, we give them another chance at greatness by using them in a peanut butter cookie crust. This crust is a fun way to add something unexpected to your usual pie crust routine. Be it for a cheesecake or for a pudding pie, a peanut butter cookie crust is the ideal vessel for just about any filling.
We can’t say that we’ve seen many peanut butter cookie crusts available in the grocery store; graham cracker or Oreo cookie crusts seem to be the norm. That’s why this peanut butter cookie crust is extra special; it’s not something anyone would expect! We reserved some of our homemade peanut butter cookies for just this need, and naturally, we ate the rest! Then we crushed the cookies into a fine crumble and mixed those crumbs with melted butter.
Just as we would with a graham cracker or Oreo cookie crust, we then press the crumbs into a 9-inch round pie plate. Depending on the type of pie you’ll be making, either chill it in the refrigerator or blind bake the crust. Either way, the crust is prepped for the filling, the pie inside will be that much more special with this peanut butter cookie crust.
Oh, the possibilities! The crust is such an important part of the whole pie experience that it really must be a well-crafted vessel for the pie filling. Our peanut butter cookie pie crust is perfect for whatever filling works well with peanut butter (cheesecake quickly comes to mind). A peanut butter cookie pie crust is crunchy, savory-sweet, and oh-so-good.
Peanut Butter Cookie Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature + 5 tablespoons
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar, for rolling
Preparation
- For the cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, cream (with paddle attachment if using a stand mixer) the butter and sugars on medium speed until smooth.
- Slowly add in the eggs and mix on high, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl. Mix until combined, about 1 minute.
- Add in the peanut butter and vanilla, and mix until incorporated and smooth.
- In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients together. Pour into egg/peanut butter mixture and mix on low. It’s okay if dough is thick and sticky.
- Cover dough and chill in refrigerator for 2-4 hours.
- Once chilled, form balls out of the dough (balls should be comprised of about 1-1 1/2 tablespoons of dough) and roll in a bowl of granulated sugar.
- Place 2 inches apart on baking sheet and press the tines of a fork into the cookies to form a criss-cross pattern on top.
- Bake until very lightly browned, about 10-11 minutes. (It's okay if the centers look a little underdone; they'll continue to cook a bit once out of the oven.) Remove from oven and allow to cool.
- Reserve about 10-12 cookies for the cookie pie crust.
- For the crust:
- Take 1-2 day old cookies and crush them in a food processor or with a rolling pin until sand-like in texture. You will need enough cookies for approximately 2 ¾ cups of cookie crumbs.
- Transfer cookie crumbs to a bowl. Add 5 tablespoons melted butter and stir until combined.
- Press cookie crumbs into a 9-inch pie plate, evenly around the bottom and along the sides of the pie plate.
- Chill pie crust until ready to use.
Recipe adapted from Crazy For Crust.