This is the Perfect Pie Crust for any fall-flavored pie or cheesecake. It will make your Apple Pie or Pumpkin Cheesecake over-the-top delicious. Your whole kitchen will smell like gingerbread cookies. It is easy-to-make, only 5 ingredients, gluten-free and vegan. What else do you need?
Hands up, who loves pie season? Me! Me! My husband is busy making holiday dishes like Vegan Lentil Loaf or Hearty Vegan Beef Stew or Veggie Pot Pie. But I bake and bake and bake. Finally, it is not too hot to turn on the oven! Yeah! Have you seen my yummy Apple Crisp Pie or my Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake? Those are my staples for fall. And both of them are ideal candidates to use this Gingerbread Pie Crust.
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What is Gingerbread Pie Crust?
No, it is not ready-made gingerbread cookies that are dropped in a food processor with some butter and are pulsed to get crumbs. Nope. Not at all.
It is a made from scratch pie crust that tastes and smells like soft gingerbread cookies.
Gingerbread cookies are these soft cookies that are typically flavored with cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg and sweetened with honey or molasses. You know when they are in the oven because the whole house just immediately smells like Christmas.
It is the perfect pie crust to make any fall-flavored pie. If you need an example, check out below this drool-worthy photo of the Best Damn Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake I’ve ever tasted. And yes, I used Gingerbread Pie Crust to make it even more special.
What do you need to make Gingerbread Pie Crust?
It is an easy-to-make, easy-to-roll, easy-to-handle pie crust with only 5 ingredients. This recipe is egg-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free and gluten-free. So this gingerbread pie crust is one of the healthiest pie crust you can make.
- oat flour
- ground pecans or walnuts
- molasses or maple syrup (honey if you’re not vegan)
- ground flax seeds
- spices: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves (or pumpkin spice mix)
I eat gluten-free for a long time now, so I use certified gluten-free flours. However, if you have regular all-purpose wheat flour, you can sub 1:1 for oat flour.
How to make Gingerbread Pie Crust?
Do you want the quick method or the super-quick method?
The super-quick method is to drop all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until combined. However, this pie crust dough is so easy to handle, I usually use my hands to make it.
First, you need to make the flax egg. I use 2 Tbsp ground flax seeds and 6 Tbsp water. If you wait for like 10 seconds, it becomes thick and rubbery. See in the photo #2 below, that it becomes like a thick paste.
The next step is to combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl: flour, finely chopped nuts, and spices (photo #1). Now, add flax egg and maple syrup to the dry ingredients (photo #2) .
Finally, combine until you form a ball and the gingerbread pie dough doesn’t stick to the sides.
- No need to chill!
- No need to wait!
- No need to knead!
- You can roll it out immediately!
How to roll out Gingerbread Pie Crust?
If I am working with any kind of pie crust, I always use two sheets of cling foil to make sure that the pie crust dough doesn’t stick to the rolling pin or to the board. This little trick guarantees me 100% success even if the dough is super crumbly. For a more eco-friendly approach, you can use a re-useable pie crust bag*.
THIS PIE DOUGH is the easiest dough to roll out! No magic trick is needed!
Why? Flax eggs give the dough great elasticity. It is the easiest dough you can work with seriously. I was over the moon happy when I got this pie crust dough to this consistency. Super easy to handle.
Where can you use Gingerbread Pie Crust?
For any pie or cheesecake, where you think the smell and the taste of gingerbread cookies would complement the filling:
- Apple (I have a delicious Apple Crisp Pie recipe)
- Pumpkin (I have the Best Damn Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe)
- Sweet potato
- Sour cherry
Let us know in the comments what is your favorite combination! Below is another drool-worthy photo of the pie crust in action. I just can’t get enough of this pumpkin cheesecake recipe.
FAQs and Substitutions
What can I add instead of oat flour?
I think oat flour works best here. I would imagine buckwheat or millet flour maybe. Nothing high starch as that will make the dough sticky. If you have regular all-purpose wheat flour (and you don’t need the crust to be gluten-free), you can use that 1:1 instead of oat flour.
What other nuts can I use?
Walnuts and pecans remind me the most of gingerbread, but you are welcome to substitute it with almonds or cashews. You can read about the variety of nut meals in our Gluten-free Flour Guide.
Can I make this pie crust ahead of time?
Yes, this Gingerbread Pie Crust keeps in the fridge overnight as a ball wrapped up in cling foil or in an airtight container. I recommend you roll it out only right before adding the filling.
Can I freeze this pie crust?
Yes, it freezes well. Again I recommend to freeze it as a ball wrapped up tightly.
This Gingerbread Pie Crust recipe is vegan, so dairy-free and egg-free. It is also suitable for vegetarians, WFPB (whole foods plant-based) and gluten-free diets.
⇒ If you need an Easy 7-day VEGAN MEAL PLAN, click to download our free e-book with a shopping list.
More vegan dessert recipes
You can browse through our Vegan and Gluten-free Dessert Recipes or check out
- Vegan Gluten-free Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Peach Galette
- Vegan Chocolate Pudding
- Vegan Sweet Potato Brownies
- Vegan Tapioca Pudding
Gingerbread Pie Crust
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup Oat flour
- ¾ cup Nut meal (ground walnuts or pecans) aka nut flour
- 3 Tbsp Maple syrup or molasses
- 2 Tbsp Finely milled ground flax or ground chia
- ½ tsp Cinnamon
- ¼ tsp Ginger
Instructions
- Combine ground 2 Tbsp flax or chia in a small bowl with 6 Tbsp fresh water. (It will thicken within a minute!)
- Take another bowl and add all dry ingredients: oat flour, ground nuts, cinnamon, and ginger. Mix until combined.
- Add the maple syrup and the thickened flax or chia egg. Mix it with your hand until you can form a ball and the dough no longer sticks to the sides. (You can use a food processor to finish even quicker!) - If it sticks too much, add 1 Tbsp oat flour.
- You can roll it out the pie dough right away or place it in an airtight container (or wrap it in cling foil) and store it in the fridge overnight.
Notes
Video
Nutrition
UPDATED: This recipe was originally posted in Oct 2019, but was rewritten and republished with new photos and tips in Oct 2020.
Andrea
I have celiac can I use a oat flour because I know a lot of oatmeal is not gluten-free!?
Emese
Yes, you need to look for certified oat flour.
Kiki B.
Do you need the moisture from the syrup/molasses, or could a low carb Sweetener be used, such as Lakanto or Allulose? I know they make low carb maple syrup alternatives, so I wonder if that would work if the moisture is needed. Thank you!
Emese
Yes, it is partly because of moisture. I am unfamiliar with low-carb sweeteners, but if you lack moisture, just add one Tablespoon of water.
Alissa
Can I use pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds instead of tree nuts?
My Pure Plants
Hi Alissa, I haven’t tested it with seeds. If you can get them in the consistency of nut meal / almond flour then it may just work. Let me know if you do try it.
Eunice
What temperature setting for the oven please.
My Pure Plants
I almost always bake at 350 Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius)
Cntrychk
HELP,
I used 2T ground flax seed to 6T water, why did it not thicken?
My Pure Plants
Have you used ground flax seeds? Whole flax seeds will not thicken.
Devi
This looks amazing and exactly what I was looking for. How long would you bake the crust if pre-baking for a no bake pie filling? Thank you!
My Pure Plants
Hi Devi,
Around 20 minutes or so before it turns too crispy and dry. You don’t really need a pie weight as there is no butter to melt and shrink the crust.
Stacey
Can you use aquafaba instead of the flax egg? If so, how much ? Thanks.
My Pure Plants
I haven’t tried aquafaba with it. As I use 1 Tbsp ground flax with 3 Tbsp water, I would sub it with 3 Tbsp aquafaba per flax egg. Let me know how it turns out as I would love to have all possible substitutions.
Rochelle Winston Davies
So admittedly It, stumped. What is cling foil? Are you talking about plain old foil or something special?
My Pure Plants
Hi, it is also called as clean plastic cling wrap. Like this one on Amazon*.
Diane
I made the pie crust this morning, and it was so hard I could barely cut it with a knife. Is it suppose to be this hard? Followed the instructions exactly and even used a scale to measure the ingredients.
My Pure Plants
What was the filling? How long did you bake it with/without filling?
Diane
I’m going to try it again, I made a pumpkin pie and baked it for 60 minutes. It was still very tasty, I’m sure I done something wrong, perhaps I rolled it too thin. It’s still quite tasty
My Pure Plants
It should be good with a pumpkin pie as this pie crust works the best with moist filling like cheesecake or pumpkin puree or custard. You don’t need to blind bake it, but try to fill the pie crust completely. If you baked it for 60 minutes, the parts where there were no filling, can get very hard for sure.
Katie Crenshaw
Brilliant! I can think of so many things this gingerbread pie crust would be great for! Can’t wait to make it!
Valerie
You can always tell when someone’s taken the trouble to use a freshly made pie crust! This is perfect for the upcoming holiday season.
Megan Ellam
Now this looks amazeballs and so does your whole pie. 5 star all the way x
Mahy
The way this pie crust looks makes me want to sing! 🙂 Can’t wait to use it for my next pumpkin pie creation or pretty much anything else that will require pie crust. So excited!
Danielle Wolter
I’m not much of a pie crust maker, but I’m sold on this gingerbread crust. i just LOVE gingerbread and can’t wait to try this out!