@Lambchop, in the Bahamas and very often in the Keys, key lime is poured into a crust made of crushed Ritz (preferred) or Townhouse crackers.
The salty-sweet-tart-buttery play is delicious amd my preferred crust for key lime pie.
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Part of my heritage is a steamed blueberry pudding with hard sauce (my grandmother put enough rum in the hard sauce that you could get a DUI from it). That part of the family came to America on a land grant from the king. Anyway, I still make it every xmas. Its delicious and I have the steamer mould too.
Would you care to share the recipe?
I was just thinking of hard sauce while reading the fruitcake discussion further up!
I don’t like Christmas pudding, but I do love the brandy based hard sauce that accompanied it…
I’ve had it bookmarked for ages, but haven’t made a sweet tart with non-runny filling…
There is a similar oil-based crust I found for savory tarts/pies for vegetarian friends, because all the butter ones needed an egg.
Looking for the recipe…
ETA:
I’ve used this one - usually needs at least 1.5x recipe for my preferred thickness
And this similar one from KAF (slightly less oil):
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I’ll have to look around grey. But if I can find it I’ll share it. Have to find it before xmas anyway.
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I’m never quite satisfied with the deconstructed desserts, so will order something different. Would be irritated if I ordered a lemon tart and they came out with a deconstructed version @shrinkrap.
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So funny you should mention that @Sunshine842. The other night I was thinking of things you could make pie crusts out of and Ritz came to mind as well as Cheezits; I was thinking savory applications for those 2. I would never have thought to use Ritz for key lime pie! I’ll give it a try next time I make one. KLP is my favorite dessert to both eat and make. 
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Nugget is not carrying Leadbetter’s French Picnic right now. I may have to try home made, but I’m going to try Mrs Smith’s and Wholly wholesome first.
I used to make quiche often. I saved stale chips, crackers, nuts, and/or unsweetened dry cereal, crushing them all up and mixing with melted virgin coconut oil to make crumb crusts.
For fruit tarts, any basic cookie dough, pressed into the pan. Prebaking is optional. Oatmeal cookie dough is especially good. Snickerdoodle for apple tarts.
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I grew up on the Mazola oil stir and roll between wax paper pie dough. My favorite to this day but somewhere down the line we gradually switched over to PB ready pie crusts. They’re ok. One word of warning for the frozen crusts in aluminum disposable pans, One year I made two pies for Xmas gifts using them. Thank goodness I baked them on a large cookie sheet instead of directly on the oven rack. They oozed butter all over the place. What a greasy mess. Probably invisible pinholes ion the bottom of the pan. Haven’t trusted them ever since. If for home use I would suggest placing the pie crust in your own pie plate.
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Same! I baked a commercial pie crust in its pan—just once—and this happened to me too. Tiny perforations in the bottom of the pie pan showed themselves as we cut slices of pie from the pan.
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Thanks for sharing that article reviewing the commercial pie crusts. I agree with their evaluation of Trader Joe’s frozen pie crusts. Even when you defrost them completely and unroll very carefully, the crust cracks into pieces. When that happens I use my rolling pin to smooth the crust back into one flat piece.
The repair is way easier when you keep the crust between the waxy paper in which it’s rolled. TJ’s is still my favorite frozen pie crust even with this obvious flaw.
I haven’t been to TJ’s in months so I tried ready-to-bake crusts from a brand called Immaculate Baking Company. A fail in my book. The dough was a breeze to work with, but the taste was unacceptably industrial. I’ll never buy that brand again.
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The only thing I can bake is a pie crust. I use Rose Levy Beranbaum’s recipe from the The Pie and Pastry Bible. I always make several batches and freeze appropriately sized discs and use them as needed. I use her food processor version and love her technique of putting the ingredients in a large plastic bag to finish the dough.
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Another review, with better results for Mrs. Smith! Phew! I almost tossed it. Just goes to show you can find support for whatever you want to believe on the internet!
From The Kitchn
The Frozen Pie Crust Taste Test: We Tried 7 Brands and Here’s Our Favorite
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I prefer to use whole wheat flour whenever possible, and white whole wheat is my go-to. I am happy to forsake textures in my bakes in exchange for the added flavor and fiber of whole wheat. Logically, and from what I’ve read, a whole wheat crust should require more water than all purpose flour. Yet my experience is the opposite. Maybe I didn’t allow enough time for the pie dough to hydrate? It’s been years; I don’t recall the details.
Can anyone explain, or have you observed the same thing?
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I don’t use WW in pastry, but perhaps your recipe had enough fat in it, so increased water may not have been essential. Maybe it was a humid day, or if you were making a single crust pie, the difference wasn’t enough to necessitate more water. All guesses on my part @greygarious.
Don’t know if I mentioned upthread that I too make a quickie version of the stirred oil crust pastry. Requires one bowl, a fork, measuring cup and couple measuring spoons only. Incredibly easy. I roll out between 2 sheets of waxed paper with the waxed sides next to the pastry. The key is to work quickly with the dough, and transfer from the waxed paper to pie plate, then edge it, and pierce, if for a cream pie. Prebake in the oven, cool and fill. No piercings for a baked filling, such as pumpkin. Don’t find it easy to use for a two crust pie, as the pastry doesn’t hold up to much fiddling IME.
Remember too, all sorts of tarts, pies, and fruity desserts can be made with frozen puff pastry (galettes/rustic pies, turnovers, hand pies, etc) and filo dough. Great to have the convenience of these products.
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Trader Joe’s went away from rolled pie crusts. They have a flat box now.
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