Ingredients
Crust:
16 sheets honey graham crackers, rolled fine
½ cup butter or margarine (one stick), melted
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Filling:
2/3 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2½ tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3 cups milk (I used two-percent)
3 eggs, separated
1 tablespoon butter
1½ tablespoons vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix together the ground graham crackers, melted butter, and one-half cup of sugar for the crust in a medium bowl until cracker crumbs are all evenly moist. Set aside one-half cup of the mixture for topping, and pat the remainder into a deep, nine-inch pie pan (I used a glass Pyrex dish). Pat firmly in the bottom and up the sides of the baking dish. Bake for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.
While the crust bakes, separate the eggs, adding the yolks to a large mixing bowl and discarding the whites (or reserve them in the refrigerator for another recipe). Beat the egg yolks lightly.
Mix together sugar, salt, cornstarch, and flour in a large saucepan. Turn stove on medium heat, and stir milk in gradually, mixing well. Cook until mixture thickens and begins to boil, stirring constantly. Allow to boil for one minute, then remove from heat. Remove half of the mixture from the saucepan and add it slowly to the egg yolks, stirring constantly to keep the yolks from starting to cook. Once this has been fully mixed, add the mixture back into the saucepan and boil for one minute longer, stirring constantly, then remove from heat. Add in butter and vanilla and stir to combine. Allow to cool completely.
When crust and filling have both cooled, spoon filling into crust and spread evenly. The original recipe also included instructions for making a meringue topping, but I’m personally not a fan of meringue (it’s a texture thing). Instead, I thawed a frozen tub of Cool Whip, stirred it well, and spread evenly on top of the pudding filling. Then I drizzled the one-half cup of reserved graham cracker crumbs across the top of the torte as evenly as possible.
NOTE: The original recipe didn’t call for any seasoning in the crust, but I added in one-half teaspoon of ground cinnamon for a bit more flavor. You could also use cinnamon-flavored graham crackers for the same effect.
Review
With the winter holidays approaching, I was in search of a dessert with a Badger connection that would be acceptable to the variety of folks that will show up for the family festivities ahead. The original recipe came from the 1955 Elizabeth Waters Cookbook, and its age showed on the barely legible typewritten pages. I found the instructions to be a bit challenging to decipher, as they jumped back and forth between which part of the recipe (crust, filling, or topping) they were addressing. After making this dish, I took the liberty of slightly rewriting the instructions to make it easier for the modern reader to understand. Also, while the original recipe didn’t make note of any pre-baking preparation, I used the “leftover butter” on the wrapper of the stick I used for the crust to grease the pan before adding in the graham cracker crumbs.
While working through the instructions was a bit time-consuming, the finished product was quite tasty. I’ll share a family secret: whatever amount of vanilla a recipe calls for, triple it. Trust me on this. The original recipe called for one-and-a-half teaspoons of vanilla, but I used one-and-a-half tablespoons instead, and my instinct was right. The recipe also didn’t give any information about what needed to happen after the whipped topping was added. Both the pudding and the topping were very loose, so I put the torte in the refrigerator overnight to firm up.
The filling was rich and flavorful, and had a delightful scent. Because the filling is a basic vanilla flavor profile, it could easily be customized to suit many different tastes. For example, chocolate sandwich cookies, gingerbread, or shortbread could be crumbled to replace the graham crackers as the base ingredient for the crust.
I wanted to make it look festive for the upcoming holidays, so I added cut strawberries to the top, but you could easily change the topping décor to other fruits like sliced bananas, raspberries, cranberries, or blueberries. Whole or pieced cookies or candies would also make this a feast for the eyes as well as the palate (think crushed candy canes, gum drops, peanut butter cups, etc.). Overall, I’d give this recipe a solid 9 out of 10.
