Is It Possible To Fix A Slumped Graham Cracker Crust After Baking?

If the home baking projects you enjoy taking on include whipping up pies, we're willing to bet you've baked — and happily eaten — the types of pie that utilize a graham cracker crust. From decadent peanut butter pie filled with no-bake mousse to tart key lime pie to, of course, that VIP of the pie canon known as cheesecake, so many delicious pie recipes take their flavor and texture, in part, from this crispy, crumbly, time-honored style of crust.

It can be considered a fringe benefit that graham cracker crusts are extremely simple to make at home, bypassing all the fuss and fret of the ice-cold butter and careful rolling out of standard pie crusts by coming together in just minutes (via King Arthur Baking). Typically, graham cracker crusts call for just three ingredients — graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and sugar — which simply need to be stirred together and then pressed out into a pie plate.

There aren't a whole lot of ways homemade graham cracker crusts can go wrong, but it does happen.

You can quickly correct a slumped graham cracker crust while it's still warm

When making pies that call for a graham cracker crust, the crust is often par-baked before the filling is added — meaning that the crust goes into the oven without anything supporting it. While par-baked pastry crusts will often utilize pie weights to help keep their shape in the oven, graham cracker crusts don't often need them (via Southern Living). Still, with all that slippery butter involved, graham cracker crusts can sometimes slide down the pan they're par-baked in, losing their shape and the surface area needed to receive the filling, according to Bon Appétit.

If this has happened to you, don't panic when you remove a sunken graham cracker crust from the oven. Instead, reach for a water glass or straight-sided measuring cup when you spot the damage. While the crust is still warm, Bon Appétit notes, you can quickly push the crumbs back into place, just as you did when you were molding the crust into the pan pre-baking. 

Once it cools, the crust will retain its corrected shape — and no one needs to know about the par-baking snafu.