Cookie-Inspired Oatmeal Pie Crust
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I created this oat pie crust recipe while working on my butterscotch pudding pie recipe! The pie was inspired by Oatmeal Scotchies. Do you remember those? They are oatmeal cookies with butterscotch pieces! Naturally, this pie had to have a crunchy oatmeal pie crust!
Oatmeal Scotchies are my dad’s all-time favorite cookies. He’s not a chocolate person. He can live without sugar cookies. But Scotchies? He’ll hide the container! He’s also a lover of shortbread, but that might be because of all the time he’s spent in Scotland.
Ready to jump in? Learn how to make oatmeal pie crust right away!
Oatmeal Pie Crust Experimentation
Anyway, I tried 3 different recipes for this oatmeal pie crust! There are some oatmeal pie crust recipes out there in the world, but I really wanted to bring in some of those Oatmeal Scotchie flavors. The best Oatmeal Scotchies are delicately flavored with cinnamon and molasses, so this crust has those, too!
For one of the recipes I created, I actually made something like the topping on my apple crisp. I was sure that would be the best crust, but it wasn’t!
After making FOUR crusts for this recipe, we decided each time that this one was the very best. It was light, but crispy. Sweet and slightly spiced. It had a great crunch, and was the easiest to make! We also loved that we could make this solely with items we already keep on hand in our pantry.
Win-win all around, right?
I used a technique for this one similar to making a graham cracker crust – I combined the dry mixture with melted butter. This is part of what makes this crust so perfect.
I can’t tell you how much we enjoy this crust. It’s different than graham cracker, it’s not a pastry crust, it’s its very own thing. I hope you enjoy this recipe! It’d be great fun to use with cheesecake, custard pies, and other pudding pies.
What’s the difference between rolled oats and quick oats?
So, both of these are oats that were steamed and rolled. However, quick oats are rolled even thinner than rolled oats. This helps them cook faster in oatmeal.
In a baking recipe, you’ll typically like the texture of rolled oats more as they stand up better to the heat. Quick oats will soften and cook down faster. Learn more about the difference between rolled and quick oats here.
For this oatmeal pie crust recipe, either option is fine. The quick oats won’t be in the oven for too long to worry about them losing their texture. Rolled oats would also work just fine!
As long as you’re using either rolled or quick oats, you should have a great oatmeal crust!
How to Make Oatmeal Pie Crust
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
In a food processor, add all of your dry ingredients: oats, flour, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
Don’t skip the brown sugar! It gives texture and flavor. If you run out, make brown sugar from scratch with 2 common pantry ingredients!
In the microwave or on the stove, melt 6 tbs of butter. Once the butter is melted, mix in the molasses for easier distribution.
Add the melted butter to the food processor in parts. Add a little bit at first, pulse the processor 1-2 times, then add more butter.
Continue alternating melted butter and pulsing a couple of times until all the butter is incorporated. You may need to help the molasses get out of your pan with a spoon. Be sure to get it all in!
Once your pie crust mix looks a little darker from being wet and you can see nice chunks of crust collecting, it’s ready! You should not see any clumps of dry flour and you should be able to pick up some of the mixture, squeeze it, and see it hold together.
Dump all the oat pie crust in your pan and spread it evenly up the sides and around the base. I used my index and middle fingers on my right hand to press the sides in while moving the pan slowly with my left hand.
A Word on the Right Type of Pie Pans
Please learn from my mistake. The first two times I made this pie, I put it in a straight-sided fluted pan. Do you know how hard it is so remove anything from a straight-sided fluted pan, let alone a PUDDING PIE?! We were basically scooping it out of the pan. Still tasted good…
Anyway, please use a STRAIGHT-SIDED pie pan. I have these sweet little ones from Anchor Hocking. You can also use taller pans; just know you’ll have a slightly thinner crust. That should be fine especially if you follow my next tip! You can also use pans with fluting on the top where the crust edge normally goes with baked pastry. Basically, if the sides of your pan are not fluted like a tart pan, you’re good. 🙂
Once your crust mix is evenly distributed, add it to a preheated oven for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, bring the crust out and use a spoon or a fork to compress the crust. I double-check the base for any gaps between the crust pieces so my pudding filling won’t run out.
You can see here that I pressed over the entire base, pushed the sides in evenly, and even went around the inner edge to make sure I didn’t have a huge clump of oat pie crust where the sides and base meet.
I’ve done this without this technique and the crust was still fine, but I find this really helps ensure my crust is an even layer! It also resolves any issues with the oatmeal pie crust shifting during baking.
Then, put the crust back in the oven for 3-5 minutes. Let cool before using.
Uses for Oatmeal Pie Crust
I definitely recommend using this crust as a replacement for graham cracker crusts at times! Since it is prebaked, it’s best for pies that don’t require additional baking, like:
- No-bake cheesecakes
- Pudding pies
- Cream pies
Looking for some extra fall flavor in your life? Check out 70 Cozy Fall Desserts to Make From Scratch!
Oatmeal Pie Crust Recipe Adaptations
Feel free to exclude the cinnamon here or add your own spices. I really like the additional molasses, but I’m sure you could bake this without it. It just might not stick together as well and I have not tried it.
You could consider substituting maple syrup for the molasses but, I have not tried those options.
Gluten-Free Oatmeal Pie Crust
Several readers have messaged me to share that they substituted almond flour for the wheat flour and had great success! I have not tested out this substitution yet, but will let you know how it goes.
Oatmeal Pie Crust
Equipment
- 9-in pie plate with straight sides
- Food processor (can be made in a bowl, too)
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup oats, We used quick cooking oats.
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tbs molasses
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 6 tbs butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- In the base of your food processor or in a mixing bowl, add all of the dry ingredients.
- Melt the butter in the microwave or on the stove. Once melted, add the molasses to the butter.
- Add the melted butter and molasses mixture to the dry mix in parts, pulsing 1-2 times after each addition. We added the butter in about 4 small pours.
- The crust is ready to go in the pan when there are no more clumps of dry flour, the crust mix looks darker than before because of the added moisture, and the mix will stick together in your hand if you squeeze it. Use our photos for reference, if that helps!
- Add the mixture to your pie plate and spread an even layer across the base and sides.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees F for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, bring the crust out and use a fork or spoon to press down the crust along the sides and base. This ensures an even layer.
- Return the crust to the oven for 3-5 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Notes
Nutrition
What do you think? Is this any good? How did you use it? I can’t wait to hear all about it in the comments!
Linking to:
Full Plate Thursdays at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage
Vintage Charm at My Thriftstore Addiction
My SO has recently become gluten intolerant. With only 1/4 cup of flour, I hop I can get away with rice or almond flour with this recipe. We both like oatmeal and he loves molasses. Trying to learn to cook gluten free and diabetic has not been easy. Thanx!
Kathy, thanks so much for your comment! I was definitely thinking about how to adapt this to be totally gluten-free since we’re so close with the oats! I haven’t tried out any substitutions yet. I think that if you maybe added a bit more melted butter, that might help hold things together a bit more, but it may still be a little crumbly. You might also be able to blitz up oats into oat flour to sub for the regular flour, but I’m not totally sure without more testing! If you try this with your substitutions will you let me know?
The little bit of molasses and cinnamon in here really add that cookie flavor, so I hope you do try this out! 🙂
I love the different texture for the pie crust! Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm!
It’s so tasty! Thanks for the visit!
I would like the filling recipe also, but wondering how this might taste as a cheesecake crust?
Great question, Joyce! I’m sure it would be delicious with cheesecake.Since I prebake this shell for pudding pie, I’m not sure if it’d need to be prebaked for a traditional baked cheesecake. It would be an easy swap for a no-bake cheesecake, though! I’ll test out baking a cheesecake and not prebaking the shell in the future, and I’ll update this post. If you try this crust with cheesecake, will you let me know how it goes? Thanks so much! 🙂
This looks so delicious! I’ve never tried making an oatmeal pie crust but I definitely will now!
Thank you! I bet you could find a way to make it gluten-free, too!
What a perfect combination of flavours in this pie crust. Just what I was looking for!
Thanks for this easy and yummy crust recipe! It’s great to have another option beside just graham cracker all the time.
Right? Plus, I don’t keep graham crackers on hand so when I want to bake with them, that means a trip to the store. I like having a way to skip that trip!
This looks so great! Your technique of pressing the mixture after partially baking is interesting, I’ll bet that works really well! I’ve got a couple no-bake pies I’ll have to try out with this! Thank you!
Yum!
Hope you enjoy! The pressing really helps get a nice, even, crispy crust.
I guess it could be done without a food processor. At home we don’t have enough electricity (solar/wind) to run appliances. I do all my mixing by hand except for a coffee grinder for spices and a small blender for smoothies. But I love the challenge. – Margy
Definitely! It just might be a little chunkier as the oats break down a bit in the food processor. It’s a fun recipe and I hope you enjoy!
I like this cookie inspired oatmeal pie crust. I am going to try this crust for next pie bake.
Please let me know how it goes! It’s such a nice crust and I hope you love it!
This looks fantastic. I’m not great at making pie crust so always willing to try new recipes and this was awesome!
So glad to hear it! Thanks for the visit!
This Cookie-Inspired Oatmeal Pie Crust looks really delicious!
Thanks so much!
What a great idea, I love the sound of the molasses flavour. Can’t wait to try it with a cheesecake filling. thanks for sharing.
It’s so tasty and will be perfect with your cheesecake filling! Thanks for visiting!
i am beyond thrilled with this pie crust! it was a huge hit this past weekend!
I’m so glad to hear that, Kerri! Thanks for the feedback!
It looks delicious. I wish this were in front of me right now.
Thank you so much!
I love this! I use gluten-free oats and coconut flour so my gluten sensitive relatives can eat it! They love it!
Excellent Idea….love it. Pinning because there are so many great pie fillings to use this with.
Hi Rachael!
This oatmeal pie crust sounds amazing and super simple! I never liked traditional pie crusts, so this one sounds amazing!
Thanks for sharing this post with us on the Homestead Blog Hop!
I also have a link-up party on my blog on Fridays called, “Embracing Home and Family”, and would love to have you like up with us on Friday also!
-Cherelle
Your oatmeal pie crust looks awesome! Thanks so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday,499 and hope you have a great week!
Miz Helen
Oh I just LOVE oatmeal scotchies!! This sounds delicious. Pinned.
Thanks so much, Joanne!
Excellent recipe and I love how you explain everything in details, Rachel.
Thank you for sharing with us at Meraki Link Party
Naush
This looks fabulous! I’m pinning it to make later. Sounds like a great crust.
Thanks for sharing this at the Homestead Blog Hop!
Laurie
Ridge Haven Homestead
Thanks so much! We love this crust with our butterscotch pudding pie!
I baked this oatmeal crust with a baked cheesecake recipe for my husband’s retirement party. I loved it and my guests loved it! I did not use my food processor- I just mixed the ingredients by hand. I pre-baked the crust for 5-7 minutes. Then I let it cool for a few hours. After that time, I added my cheesecake batter and baked it for 45-50 minutes. One of my guests was so elated that he felt like he had two desserts in one- a delicious cheesecake and a wonderful cookie! I intend to use this with other recipes also. Thanks for sharing!!
Yay! June, this comment made my whole day. I am so thrilled you love it so much! Here’s to many more happy cheesecakes. 🙂