481 pie base recipes

Mock apple pie made with crackers instead of apples, boiled in sugar syrup with cream of tartar. A Depression-era trick pie that tastes surprisingly like real apple pie without a single apple.

Flaky pie pastry using both shortening and butter for the best of both worlds. Stand mixer method cuts fat into flour in 30 seconds. Makes two crusts.

Mock apple pie made with soda crackers instead of real apples, using cream of tartar, cinnamon, and nutmeg to mimic apple flavor. A Depression-era classic that fools almost everyone.

Mock apple pie made entirely from Ritz crackers, sugar syrup, and cinnamon. The Depression-era classic that fooled families when apples were scarce or expensive, still uncannily convincing today.

Mama's rhubarb pie is a heirloom double-crust dessert with a tart, juicy filling thickened just enough by flour and a beaten egg. Old-fashioned, fuss-free, and ready for ice cream.

Southern chocolate chess pie: a one-bowl classic with butter, cocoa, sugar, eggs, and a touch of cornmeal in an unbaked pie shell. Crackly sugar top, fudgy interior.

Granny's chocolate pie is an old-fashioned Southern stovetop cocoa custard pie with evaporated milk, finished with toasted meringue. The kind of pie that recipe-card heirlooms are made of.

Classic short pastry crust with cold butter and shortening cut into flour. The flaky, buttery, all-purpose pie shell that works for sweet pies, quiches, and tarts alike.

Raspberry-lemon pie with a tangy condensed-milk lemon filling layered under a glossy raspberry topping in a graham crust. The summer berry-and-citrus combination served chilled.

Lemon sponge bakes in individual custard cups in a hot-water bath. The filling separates magically into a tangy curd layer below and a feather-light cake-like sponge on top.

Lite 'n easy crustless pumpkin pie sets pumpkin puree with skim evaporated milk, gelatin, and brown sugar substitute. No crust, no oven, no eggs. A 7-ingredient dessert friendly to weight watchers and diabetics.

Piña colada pie: a four-ingredient frozen graham-crust pie with piña colada yogurt, crushed pineapple, and whipped topping. The easiest tropical dessert in the freezer playbook.

Irish whiskey pie is a no-bake chiffon dessert: a light, boozy whiskey-spiked custard set with gelatin, folded with whipped cream, and chilled in a pie shell under shaved chocolate. A grown-up treat.

Jan's 1940s apple pie heaped with McIntosh and Cortland apples, finished with a quick water-rinse trick on the top crust that produces an exceptionally flaky finish.

Brown sugar apple pie thickened with tapioca and spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. Granny Smith apples and lemon juice give it a sharp, bright filling.

Classic no-bake grasshopper pie with a chocolate cookie crust and a creamy mint chiffon filling spiked with creme de menthe and creme de cacao. A pale green retro icebox pie for holidays and dinner parties.