This Gingersnap Pie Crust is perfect for no-bake desserts, cheesecakes and your favorite holiday pies. It’s quick and easy to throw together and the wonderfully warm, spicy ginger flavor makes a great alternative to graham cracker crust.
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Easy and Delicious Gingersnap Pie Crust
If you have ever made a graham cracker pie crust before, you know just how easy it is. The idea of this Gingersnap Pie Crust is exactly the same, only with a few simple substitutions.
You can use a food processor to crush the cookies up, or do it the old-fashioned way with a freezer bag and a rolling pin. Once you’ve got your cookie crumbs, all you need to do is mix together brown sugar, melted butter and a pinch of salt, then press into your pie dish. It really couldn’t be easier!
We absolutely love the warm ginger flavor of this pie crust paired with just about anything pumpkin, chocolate, sweet potato or even lemon. Top it off with freshly whipped cream, give it a try and let us know what you think!
No-Bake Gingersnap Pie Crust
While we have given you instructions on baking this Gingersnap Pie Crust, it works equally well as a no-bake crust for any of your favorite no-bake pies and cheesecakes.
After you have pressed your gingersnap mixture into your pie dish, simply toss into your freezer for as little as 2 hours, or as long as a month. If you need to freeze for longer, you’ll want to wrap the crust well in plastic wrap to keep it protected.
Once you have your filling made, pull the crust from the freezer, fill and ta-da! We like to make this crust first, then slide into the freezer while we make the rest of the pie or cheesecake filling. Easy peasy!
Some of our favorite no-bake cheesecakes to use this for include:
- No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake
- No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Easy No-Bake Cheesecake
- No-Bake Nutella Cheesecake
What Are the Best Gingersnap Cookies to Use?
We really like to use the thin, super crispy gingersnap cookies from the grocery store for pie crust. They crumble well and retain a nice crumbly texture. Honestly, we’ve found the drier the better!
If you really want to go all out and use homemade Gingersnap Cookies, we recommend pulsing or chopping the cookies, then laying them in a thin even layer on a baking sheet and baking in a 300 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes to help dry them out. Once you remove the cookie pieces from the oven, let them cool completely before pulsing again to make coarse crumbs.
Ingredients in This Gingersnap Pie Crust Recipe
- Gingersnap Cookies - our favorite gingersnap cookies to use for this recipe are the store bought ones. They are a little drier than freshly baked homemade cookies, so they tend to make a better pie crust.
- Brown Sugar - we like to use light brown sugar, but you can substitute dark brown sugar if you want an even deeper molasses flavor.
- Butter - we recommend using unsalted butter.
- Salt - sea salt tastes best.
How to Bake Gingersnap Pie Crust
If you are making a traditional baked pie or cheesecake (we recommend pumpkin pie!), it’s a good idea to par-bake this crust rather than simply freezing it. This will make it less fragile and give it a nice texture once you bake it again with the filling.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a food processor, pulse the gingersnap cookies until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
- In a medium bowl, combine the gingersnap cookie crumbs, brown sugar, melted butter and salt and mix with a spatula until well combined.
- Using your fingers, or a cup with a flat bottom, press the cookie crumb mixture evenly onto the sides and bottom of a 9-inch pie plate.
- Bake your crust in a preheated oven for about 10 minutes just to set the crust and make it less fragile. Remove from the oven and let the crust cool completely before filling.
How to Store Gingersnap Cookie Crust
You can make your gingersnap crumbs ahead of time and store them in a freezer bag at room temperature for up to a week, or the freezer for up to 2 months.
Otherwise, the best way to store this crust is in the freezer. Once you have pressed your gingersnap mixture into the pie dish, wrap well in plastic wrap and toss into a freezer bag. It can be stored frozen for up to 1 month. To use, pull from the freezer and fill immediately.
Gingersnap Pie Crust Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Gingersnap Cookies crushed into coarse crumbs
- 4 Tablespoons Light Brown Sugar
- 6 Tablespoons Butter melted
- 1 pinch Sea Salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a food processor, pulse the gingersnap cookies until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
- In a medium bowl, combine the gingersnap cookie crumbs, brown sugar, melted butter and salt and mix with a spatula until well combined.
- Using your fingers, or a cup with a flat bottom, press the cookie crumb mixture evenly onto the sides and bottom of a 9" pie dish.
- Bake your crust in a preheated oven for about 10 minutes just to set the crust and make it less fragile. Remove from the oven and let the crust cool completely before filling.
Notes
No-Bake Pie Crust
You can also freeze your pie crust for a minimum of 2 hours (or up to a week) instead of par-baking. Just be sure and fill your crust straight from the freezer, then use with your favorite no-bake pie filling.Nutrition
Here are some more no-bake desserts that we love!
- Edible Cookie Dough
- Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Dip
- Nutella No-Bake Cookies
- No-Bake Peanut Butter S'mores Bars
- No-Bake Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies
If you’ve tried this recipe, please rate it and leave a comment on this post. I love hearing feedback from you helps me and other readers too! If you love Pinterest, feel free to leave a comment and photo there too. Also, if you like to share, use the hashtag #thecarefreekitchen on Instagram and tag me @thecarefreekitchen so I can find you and give your post some love. You can also find me on Facebook at The Carefree Kitchen. Thank you!!
This gingersnap crust is perfect for a no-bake pie crust, pumpkin cheesecake or any of your favorite holiday pies! It's so easy to make and comes together in just a few minutes!
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