• Cooking Time: 10 minutes blind baked
• Servings: 1 pie crust
• Preparation Time: 5 minutes
• For a 9" pie dish
• 2 cups ground cookies (use what you have on hand that will complement the pie and grind finely in the food processor)
• 1 tsp. cinnamon (you can substitute other spices that will enhance the flavor)
• 1/4 cup light brown C & H sugar
• 1 Tbs. all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4-8 Tbs. melted unsalted butter

1. mix all dry ingredients then add just enough butter until the ingredients hold together when squeezed.(depending on how absorbent the cookies are that you use will require up to 8 Tbs. butter to get it to hold together)
3. grease pie dish and then press in mixture into pie dish
5. bake blind for 5-10 minutes at 400 degrees until slightly browned then remove from oven and pour in your pie mixture and bake as your pie filling recipe directs.
7. Note- you can use this as base or crust for any cookie bars as well. It yields a rich carmel-y flavor when blind baked first then bake filled.

For Thanksgiving I followed a basic old standby pie recipe from Libby's canned pumpkin. It called for a pre-made pie crust which worked for me since I was busy cooking and baking everything else. The pie was fine but the crust...yuck! So we made a second pie the following day and I ground up my leftover vanilla wafers and ginger snaps to yield two cups of ground cookies. Then I threw in what I thought might work flavor-wise, including cinnamon, brown sugar, a touch of flour, and butter. This completely made the pie, added, depth,and flavor, avoided buying a poorly made bland crust AND let nothing go to waste, so I thought I'd share with you and maybe you can save a few pennies while making a better crust.