Several months ago I had the opportunity to review a gluten-free website. Part of the deal was that I got a gift voucher to use to buy whatever I wanted to from the site. One of the items I chose was graham cracker crumbs from Kinnikinnick called Graham Style Crumbs. When I needed such crumbs in the past, I used cookies and crushed them up myself in a large baggie and rolling pin.
The box of crumbs got pushed behind other things in my crowded (and poorly designed pantry) so I sort of forgot I had them. Finally, just before Christmas I whipped up some lemon bars and used the Kinnikinnick Graham Style Crumbs to make the crust for them. Even though I much prefer using a ginger cookie crumb crust for lemon bars, the graham cracker crumbs made a wonderful tasting crust. One box makes an 8” x 8” sized crust.
When I make my own crumbs using cookies, I don’t get them all crushed to a consistent texture. That method works fine and it’s not like I have half a cookie pressed into the pan, but they are not perfectly even. What I like about the Kinnikinnick product is that the crumbs are very fine as you would expect from a machine made crumb.
It’s simple to make up a crust with the Kinnikinnick crumbs. You just add a little melted butter to them and mix them up. Then you press the mixture into whatever pan or dish you’re using just as you’d do with a gluten crumb crust. It’s that simple! There are instructions for making a baked or non-baked pie on the box. The crust tastes just like a gluten graham cracker crust and is good enough to fool even the most persnickety gluten eater you know.
In addition to being gluten-free, the Kinnikinnick Graham Style Crumbs are also suitable for people with other allergens as the product is also:
- Tree Nut-free
- Peanut-free
- Dairy-free
- Corn-free
- Fish-free
- Egg-free
- Casein-free
Below is a list of the ingredients:
When I read the first ingredient on the box – pea starch – and then other ingredients like pea protein and pea fiber, my first thought was that the crumbs would have a grainy, bean flavor to them. Nothing could be farther from the truth. They taste pretty much like crumbs made with Honey Maid graham crackers. At least, they taste like what I remember those gluten crumbs tasting like.
The obvious dessert the Kinnikinnick crumbs will work for is cheesecake which is one dessert I don’t particularly care for. However, when warm weather rolls around this Spring I’m going to use this product to make a crust for this Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie. It is sinfully delicious and all it takes to make it gluten-free is changing the crust. To date, I’ve not been thrilled with any of the gluten-free crusts (all ready-made items) I’ve used to make it. The Kinnikinnick Graham Style Crumbs are just the ticket for that pie and any others that call for a graham cracker crust!
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