A step by step tutorial to your new favorite pie crust recipe! This is the BEST Nilla Wafer Pie Crust ever and so easy too!
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With summer quickly approaching I thought now would be a good time to share one of my favorite pie crusts with you – a Nilla Wafer Crust. I love how pretty this crust is and it’s so incredibly versatile. You can use it with fresh fruit pies, custards, puddings, no-bake cheesecakes and so much more.
The crust is so easy to make and I’m going to take you through it step by step right now.
The first step is breaking down those Nilla wafers into crumbs. I use a food processor to do this but a ziploc bag and a rolling pin will work equally well. One you have the crumbs, pour them into a medium size bowl.
The next step is adding the butter and sugar. I use one-third cup butter for this pie crust. It’s the perfect amount to “glue” the crumbs together without resulting in a “greasy” pie crust.
The final ingredient is sugar. The Nilla wafers are already fairly sweet so I don’t like to go too crazy with the sugar. Just enough to keep the pie crust nice and sweet but not overwhelmingly so.
Now it’s time to mix these ingredients with a fork. You just want to mix until all the crumbs have been moistened with the butter and the sugar has been evenly distributed.
Dump everything into your pie plate. This recipe will work for any pie plate from 8 inches up to 9.5 inches.
You will need something flat to compress the crumbs into the bottom of the pie plate and up the sides. I like using a small measuring cup to do this part. It’s important to really press down hard so that the crust won’t fall apart when you’re serving your pie.
To make the sides of the pie crust nice and even, if you’re into that sort of thing, just use your finger as a stopping point. Press the measuring cup up against the side of the pie plate with your finger along the top. This keeps the crumbs in their place and helps achieve that “perfect” looking slice of pie. Also? Rustic is totally beautifully and a whole lot easier if you’re trying to save time 🙂
The pie crust gets baked for about 10 minutes. Let it cool completely before filling. Don’t have time to bake it? That’s okay too. Make sure the pie crust is refrigerated before filling or it will fall apart when you cut the pie. Unbaked will definitely result in a more crumbly crust but remember that discussion we had previously about rustic being beautiful? Yeah, that applies here too.
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Best Nilla Wafer Crust - A Step by Step Tutorial
Ingredients
- 60 Nilla wafers
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly spray a pie plate with cooking spray and set aside.
- Place Nilla wafers in a food processor and pulse until only crumbs remain. (You can also crush in a large ziploc bag)
- Transfer crumbs to a medium size bowl and stir in sugar and melted butter.
- Pres the crumbs firmly into the pie plate and up the sides.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until edges are just starting to turn golden brown. Let cool completely on a wire rack before filling.
Nutrition
Pie please!
Blueberry Pie Oatmeal Crumble Bars
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Mary Grenci` says
I would like to try new things…running out of ideas…
Marilyn Parker says
I used to have a similar recipe for a choc crust. How much coco powder do I need to add to make it chocolate. I don’t like the recipe that for Famous choc wafers.
Thanks
Sloane says
Mine turned out really hard. What did I do wrong?
Lisa says
Can I pre-make a couple of these and freeze them for later use?
Maggie says
I used with a banana cream pie and it was wonderful. I did bake it first to make it a sturdy vessel. I will use it again and again.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Yay! It’s one of my favorite pie crusts 🙂
Andromeda Nguyen says
If I’m using this for a baked cheesecake, do I still need to pre-bake it?
Marji says
All the baked cheesecake recipes I know of say bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Cool completely on a rack, about 25 minutes while you work on your cheesecake mixture.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
No you don’t.
Pkm says
Tried this. My “pie crust” didn’t bond together at all. It was very dry and just crumbled. Disappointed. Probably need much more butter. ?
Jen says
You actually count out 60 wafers? You never weighed them or measured them in any way?
Amanda says
Most recipes I see with similar ingredient ratios call for 1.5 cups crushed wafers. I used 2 cups whole mini wafers to yield 1.5 cups crushed.
Laurie says
THANKS for this post.
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
Never made a pie crust quite like this before. Definitely need to try the recipe!
Erin says
Oh yum! This is perfect for someone like me. You know… someone that doesn’t really like normal pie crust. {lol, don’t judge!} I’m definitely adding this to my list of “must tries” for next week!
Mir says
This is such a perfect crust for any citrus pie! Or any pie at all. I love melting some white chocolate chips into the crust, too, if the filling is tangy. It makes a cool counterbalance!
Cristina says
YUM! This looks delicious, and so easy! Love it, the perfect light crust for light desserts!
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says
This is PERFECT Trish!! Absolute perfection.